From bulletproof glass to drones & snipers, here's how US is securing Election Day

When you would think of a fenced buildings with snipers on rooftops, offices protected by bulletproof glass, drones buzzing all around the area, and kits in reach for chemical attacks, you would likely imagine a war-torn nation.

However, this description is not of a war-torn nation. This is the description of an election office in the United States.

Ahead of the Election Day on November 5, polling booths, election offices, and counting centres have been wrapped in multi-layered security blanket. While the primary threat is from far-right mobs loyal to Republican nominee Donald Trump, there are also fears of sabotage by foreign agents.

These concerns are a result of election violence that Trump’s supporters unleashed after the 2020 presidential election. While there were incidents around voting as well, the biggest attack was of course the attack by Trump’s loyalists on the US Capitol in a foiled bid to hijack the election certification and unlawfully overturn it in Trump’s favour. Till date, Trump has continued to falsely maintain that he won the 2020 election and the Democrats stole it.

From bulletproof glass to fencing & GPS tracking

At several vote-counting headquarters, snipers have been deployed, drones have been deployed, and officials have been provided with panic buttons.

Washington and the battleground state of Nevada have activated the National Guard to contain any situation on the Election Day.

Arizona Secretary of State Adrian Fontes, who is in charge of conducting elections, has said he is wearing bullet-proof vest during work.

At several places, bulletproof glass, steel doors, and surveillance equipment have been fitted in election offices, according to Washington Post.

The newspaper reported that fearing chemical attacks, election offices have also stocked anti-contamination suits and opioid antidote Narcan.

Maricopa County in the swing state of Arizona is the site of some of the most intense preparations

Sheriff Russ Skinner told the paper that while no more than 50 police personnel would be deployed before 2020 for elections, he has now mobilised up to 200.

“2020 changed that paradigm,” said Skinner.

Since 2020, the Maricopa County Tabulation and Election Center has built additional 10-foot-high fencing and added more security cameras, according to PolitiFact.

Maricopa election office and voting centre has security fencing, metal detectors, security checks, floodlights, and a ring of snipers on rooftop, according to Wired.

Every door in the counting centre will be fitted with metal detectors, as per the outlet.

Moreover, the entire buildings would be covered in security cameras that livestream everything online for anyone to watch, which would double as a transparency measure as well, according to the outlet.

At places, officials are using GPS-tracked ballot bags and dedicated power supplies and motion detectors to protect ballots, according to Mother Jones.

In New Mexico’s Sata Fe, Clerk Katharine Clark has not just got GPS tracking devices and all travelling ballot bags but has also installed an accelerometer that measures vibrations inside ballot tabulators to check if anyone improperly touched the device overnight, according to the magazine.

Santa Fe County has also issued personal alert devices for all presiding judges and has hired additional security that will “have eyes and ears on all the public sites”, as per the magazine.

In swing state Georgia, a security fence has been put up around the state Capitol and, in Arizona, locks have been upgraded on some facility doors and enhanced camera systems have been installed, according to The Post.

In swing state North Carolina’s Durham County, a dedicated mail-sorting room with a separate exhaust system has been made in the election office so that the entire office is not contaminated if a potentially hazardous substance is mailed, according to Wired.

Threats from mobs, vigilantes, foreign sabotage

The post-election violence by Trump’s supporters is central to such preparedness.

Since 2020, Trump and his far-right base have falsely claimed that he won the election and Democrats stole it from him. In this election, he has not said that he would accept the result. There are expectations that he could decare victory and his supporters could then go on a rampage if he actually ends up losing and calls for his loss are subsequently made.

It is also feared that Trump could trigger his supporters like the last time. On January 6, 2021, Trump egged on his supporters at a rally in Washington DC and then they went on to attack the US Capitol to disrupt and hijack the election certification to unlawfully overturn the election in his favour.

Other than mobs and Trump-loyalist movements like Proud Boys and anti-government militia groups, there is also a risk of vigilantism from Trump supporters who believe the system is required and requires purported patriotic action, according to The Post.

The threats would not end with the Election Day. In the days following the voting and results, foreign adversaries are expected to try to stoke violent protests a the back of disinformation campaigns, US officials have warned.

US officials have said that adversaries, primarily China, Russia, and Iran, will likely seek to “stoke concerns of interference or fraud regardless of evidence, could push for large-scale protests or demonstrations, and even violence”, according to Washington Examiner.

The US intelligence community has assessed that “foreign actors are highly likely to conduct information operations in the period after voting ends, to create uncertainty and try to undermine the legitimacy of the election process”, said an official at the Office of the Director of National Intelligence (ODNI), as per Examiner.

“Iran and Russia are probably willing to at least consider tactics that would contribute to such violence,” said the official.

The adversaries will attempt to capitalise on whichever way the election concludes by various means, whether “that’s pushing disinformation about voter fraud impacting the results or pushing for ordinary Americans to join protests about the results”, said officials.