Congress' Stinginess Is Putting Democracy at Risk, State Election Officials Say
WASHINGTON — A few weeks ago, more than 2,000 election officials from across the country participated in a virtual-training program known as a table-top exercise. Organized by the Department of Homeland Security, the training brought home the many obstacles facing state and local election officials in this pandemic year.
Election officials discussed how to expand access to the ballot box — by mail or in-person — and keep people safe during a public-health crisis. They brushed up on the latest cybersecurity threats and how to protect themselves against such attacks. They were also told by federal officials to prepare for physical threats around election time. During one training session, local officials were advised to consider taking classes to identify improvised explosive devices, according to a local election official who attended the training. (A DHS spokeswoman says physical-security scenarios “have always been a part” of the department’s table-top exercises and “are not tied to any specific, credible, imminent threat and should not be viewed as likely or expected to occur.” The spokeswoman added that these scenarios “are developed based on input from election officials and oftentimes address ‘worst case’ instances in order to foster discussion and raise ideas we may not yet be thinking about.”)
In this unprecedented election year, the challenges facing the on-the-ground civil servants doing the nitty-gritty work of running our elections have never been greater. Rolling Stone recently interviewed nearly a dozen election chiefs — Democrats and Republicans — at the local and state level, and there was one common refrain: Additional funding is needed as part of the Phase 4 Covid-19 relief bill being negotiated in Congress to ensure that everyone can vote safely and that every vote is counted.
“We are running multiple types of elections this time,” says Tonya Wichman, the director of the Board of Elections in Defiance County, Ohio.
https://www.rollingstone.com/politics/politics-features/election-voter-suppression-mail-in-ballot-absentee-trump-coronavirus-1042331/
