Burned ballot boxes. Harassing messages. Accusations of fraud. For the lives of thousands of local election teams charged with tallying votes on election day, the job has become nerve-wracking, if not outright dangerous.
According to U.S. Attorney General Merrick Garland, there was a surge of threats made against elections officials and workers following the controversial 2020 presidential election. These included bomb and death threats, despite no evidence of the widespread fraud critics claimed.
"[T]he promise of our democracy is that people will not employ violence to achieve their preferred outcomes," said Garland in a prepared statement. "The public servants who administer our elections must be able to do their jobs without fearing for their lives."
Balancing priorities
The process of running elections in the United States is not universal. There are over 10,000 independent precincts, county elections offices, and municipal offices. Five states—Colorado, Hawaii, Oregon, Utah, and Washington—conduct elections using mail-in ballots that can either be mailed or returned via a drop box or voting center. Each state also has its own rules regarding absentee voters and how mail-in ballots may be requested.
Whether voters cast ballots in person or by mail, elections teams must balance a number of priorities. These include creating a safe space at voting precincts, ensuring the validity of each ballot, and protecting elections workers from harassment or physical harm.
Some older election facilities don't have the type of robust security that would give elections workers peace of mind. This has led some election staff to wear bullet proof vests and install fortified plexiglass barriers and panic buttons, according to reporting by ABC News in 2022.
It gets even harder for election officials when they are required to provide 24/7 surveillance at voting and ballot box locations to protect workers, voters, and ballots. There are really only two options to provide the 24/7 security—police officers stationed at the location or video surveillance. Most cities and counties don’t have the manpower or the budget to station officers at every location for the weeks between when the ballots are mailed out and election day. It isn’t cost effective either.
Remote surveillance
Mobile surveillance units are another solution county elections offices have used to monitor ballot box locations, in some cases with short notice. These solar and battery-powered units feature security cameras and live, cloud-based streaming capabilities that require no access to local power. Elections officials in Maryland's Anne Arundel County, which includes the state capital, Annapolis, had to scramble to find a quick way to secure ballot boxes for the November 2020 elections when the government announced in March it would switch to vote by mail due to the COVID-19 crisis.
While other counties ultimately spent hundreds of thousands of dollars to station police and security guards at drive-up drop box locations, Anne Arundel officials placed mobile security units at 32 drop box sites throughout the county, spending 84 percent less than 24/7 human monitoring.
“The crowds were calm. We didn’t have any altercations,” said elections official David Garreis. “Because the cameras were so visible, it discouraged people from instigating anything.”
The latest security measures
Newer election buildings are showcasing other digital technology and procedures that are in direct response to the claims of voting fraud that followed federal elections in 2020 and 2022. These modern tools are intended to improve the transparency and safety of the election process and give voters confidence that the election process is tamper-proof.
One example of a state-of-the-art elections facility is the $32 million Pinal Votes Election Center in Florence, Arizona, which opened in June 2024. The complex covers 53,000 square feet, which is four times larger than Pinal County's previous elections headquarters.
During a September event in Tuscon hosted by the League of Women Voters and posted online, election officials described the innovations utilized to safeguard the integrity of the voting process.
The building uses "GEO fencing" technology around the main building, as well as 17 different drop boxes throughout the county. This allows officials to track the movement of paper ballots collected and transported back to headquarters. Security cameras also keep drop boxes under 24 hour surveillance.
"We do that to let people know there's not going to be any tomfoolery on our watch," said Dana Lewis, the Recorder for Pinal County.
Bipartisan couriers, GPS tracking
During the early voting period in Arizona, the Pinal office sends bipartisan pairs of couriers to collect ballots from drop boxes. They place the ballots into a heavy plastic case—called a transfer box—that is equipped with a GPS tracking device, as well as a tamper-evidence seal. Once they transfer the ballots to the box, the couriers lock and seal the case and drive directly to the election center. While en route, the transfer box transmits its location every five seconds.
"There is an individual box for every drop box," said Lewis. "The system logs that the transfer box was locked in the field and unlocked in the main facility. Any movement of five feet and the box sends a ping every five seconds."
Curing ballots
When ballot envelopes arrive at the main building, they go through a verification process. Bipartisan teams confirm signatures on the affidavit envelopes. If there is an anomaly, such as an unsigned envelope or a signature that has changed, staff will attempt to contact the individual voter for clarification, a process called "curing." Lewis said that in one case when a signature looked noticeably different from what was on file, the elections team learned the voter had lost the tip of his finger in a fishing accident, impacting the way he wrote his signature.
"If by any chance there is some kind of anomaly, it's not like that vote doesn't count," said Lewis. "We reach out and we'll ask some questions like, 'How did you vote? Where did you drop off your ballot? How did it get to me? Explain why maybe your signature is maturing or why you forgot to sign your ballot?'"
Digital trail
Pinal County uses barcodes and tracking software to log the status of ballots as they are processed, creating a digital chain of custody. In fact, voters can track their ballots in real time from the Pinal County website.
Another key feature of the elections center is a viewing area, nicknamed "The Fishbowl," that gives members of the public a 360-degree view of election staff at work. Rather than keep observers at bay, the facility invites them to watch the proceedings, albeit behind thick glass.
"The Fishbowl really embodies what this entire activity is about," said Arizona Secretary of State Adrian Fontez, in a video shown during the presentation. "I've always been a big advocate of transparency in these processes. The way that Pinal County designed the Fishbowl and all the election activities that happen around the observer is really a testament to their dedication here in Florence to that kind of transparency. I think they hit it out of the park."
Additional precautions
On election day, the same tamper-proof measures apply as couriers collect ballots at voting sites and deliver them to headquarters. For additional accountability, poll workers file official ballot reports detailing the names of voters who checked in. Election teams at headquarters will later cross-reference the ballots received with the ballot report to make sure the names and numbers of ballots match.
In terms of physical security, election officials make it known that voter intimidation is a crime. Only voters, polling workers, and official observers are allowed within a 75-foot zone surrounding voting locations. Firearms are prohibited, as is campaigning of any kind.
"When people go in to vote, they should have a safe experience," said Jeremy George, Deputy Elections Director for Pinal County.
Workers from both major political parties remain involved through the entire tabulation phase. In fact, access to especially secure areas of the election center require two workers, one from each party, to badge in simultaneously.
No tabulation machines or internal servers are ever connected to the internet. Data from the offline servers must be transferred using physical media. (This is a separate process from ballot tracking, which uses secure servers connected to the internet). All ballot images, tabulation data, and original ballots are later sealed and sent to the State Treasurer's office for 22 months.
A blueprint for the future
This modern approach to processing votes leverages strict protocols, digital tracking, and bipartisan cooperation to ensure accuracy and accountability in a process that is an easy target for conspiracy theorists.
"It's clear to me that this facility was designed by the people who are actually going to work here and who are familiar with the way elections work," said Fontez. "This place ought to really be looked at as setting the national standard because it's a really great facility for this purpose."
