Arizona prepares for the 2024 election: tourniquets and door-blocking devices issued to all election offices

[essentialsaltes]

On a glorious spring day in Phoenix, in an atrium beneath the majestic cupola of the old state capitol, the secretary of state, Adrian Fontes, is celebrating Arizona’s 112th birthday.

There is only one discordant note on this otherwise joyous day: Why is Arizona’s chief election administrator, responsible for the smooth operation of November’s presidential election, in need of a bodyguard?

Until 2020, election officials were the largely anonymous folk who did the important yet unseen work of making democracy run smoothly.

“Nobody knew who we were, what we did,” Fontes said ruefully. “It’s a little bit different now.”

No longer faceless bureaucrats, they had become public enemy No 1.

Specialists from the Department of Homeland Security have been deployed to advise counties on physical and cyber security. Active-shooter drills have been rehearsed at polling stations.

As the Washington Post reported, kits containing tourniquets to staunch bleeding, hammers for breaking glass windows and door-blocking devices have been distributed to county election offices. “These are not things we would ever want to train anybody on,” Fontes said. “But given the environment … ”

[Despite Kari Lake and other election deniers losing and re-losing in AZ] If anything, the debate around stolen elections has intensified. “New political careers have been created out of it. A whole industry and infrastructure now exists to make sure that it perpetuates itself,” said Stephen Richer, the Republican recorder of Maricopa county tasked with maintaining the voter files of 2.6 million citizens.

Of the first 13 cases prosecuted by the election threats taskforce, the unit set up within the US justice department in 2021 to protect election officials from the attacks unleashed by Trump, by far the largest number – five – relate to Arizona. Two of those involved death threats against Fontes’s office, including a bomb threat.

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Recent bills proposed by far-right lawmakers include:

• House bill (HB) 2472, which would make it easier to challenge election results in court, removing legal hurdles that led to Lake and Hamadeh’s lawsuits being dismissed for lack of evidence;

Who needs evidence when you are a loser and sore about it?

 

[essentialsaltes]

Pro-Trump disruptions in Arizona county (Maricopa) elevate fears for the 2024 vote​

As the board of supervisors for Arizona’s largest county abruptly ended a meeting late last month, a swarm of people rushed toward the dais, shouting that the members were illegitimate.

The Maricopa County leaders made a beeline for a side door and were swiftly escorted out of the chamber by security guards, who called for backup from the sheriff’s office. After the meeting’s live-feed went dead, a member of the crowd yelled that a “revolution” was underway.

“I’m here today to put you on public notice and to inform you that you are not our elected officials,” said Michelle Klann, co-founder of a pro-Trump group, from a podium she had commandeered. “This is an act of insurrection. Due to all the voter fraud, you have never been formally voted in.”

“This was an organized, coordinated attack,” said one top county official who spoke on the condition of anonymity to discuss sensitive security matters. “It was a dress rehearsal for the election.”

[T]he chaotic ending to last month’s meeting marked for some a new level of menace — one reminiscent of the tone preceding the Jan. 6, 2021, attack on the U.S. Capitol — and illustrated the lengths to which Trump’s supporters are willing to go in disrupting public proceedings. Trump’s fraud claims were debunked long ago, but his most ardent backers remain unconvinced.

The crowd that confronted county leaders on Feb. 28 included supporters of a new Arizona-based anti-government group that Klann co-founded called The Peoples Operation Restoration. The group’s website features a painting of Trump dressed as a Founding Father and riding a horse.

“We’d like them replaced,” said Brenda Ireton, a pro-Trump Republican who said she views the board as “corrupt” and “bought and paid for” by unknown interests.

 

[DaisyDay]

Pro-Trump disruptions in Arizona county (Maricopa) elevate fears for the 2024 vote​

As the board of supervisors for Arizona’s largest county abruptly ended a meeting late last month, a swarm of people rushed toward the dais, shouting that the members were illegitimate.

The Maricopa County leaders made a beeline for a side door and were swiftly escorted out of the chamber by security guards, who called for backup from the sheriff’s office. After the meeting’s live-feed went dead, a member of the crowd yelled that a “revolution” was underway.

“I’m here today to put you on public notice and to inform you that you are not our elected officials,” said Michelle Klann, co-founder of a pro-Trump group, from a podium she had commandeered. “This is an act of insurrection. Due to all the voter fraud, you have never been formally voted in.”

“This was an organized, coordinated attack,” said one top county official who spoke on the condition of anonymity to discuss sensitive security matters. “It was a dress rehearsal for the election.”

[T]he chaotic ending to last month’s meeting marked for some a new level of menace — one reminiscent of the tone preceding the Jan. 6, 2021, attack on the U.S. Capitol — and illustrated the lengths to which Trump’s supporters are willing to go in disrupting public proceedings. Trump’s fraud claims were debunked long ago, but his most ardent backers remain unconvinced.

The crowd that confronted county leaders on Feb. 28 included supporters of a new Arizona-based anti-government group that Klann co-founded called The Peoples Operation Restoration. The group’s website features a painting of Trump dressed as a Founding Father and riding a horse.

“We’d like them replaced,” said Brenda Ireton, a pro-Trump Republican who said she views the board as “corrupt” and “bought and paid for” by unknown interests.

On that website is:

Will you stand as living men and women fully in your power, or will you bend a collective knee to tyranny?​

I find it interesting that when football players "bend a knee" it means defiance, but in every other usage it means submission.

 

[wing2000]

Inside the chamber, the board moved quickly through its agenda. When the pro-Trump activists entered, about 15 minutes after the meeting had begun, at least one of them live-streamed on a phone while another carried professional-looking camera gear. As the meeting entered a period reserved for public comment, the group began to loudly complain that they were not allowed to speak. They had missed the deadline — 10 minutes after the meeting had started — to submit paperwork to do so.

As the meeting barreled to an end and supervisors spoke about community events in their districts, the shouting began. Supervisor Thomas Galvin (R) thanked officers in the room for protecting them.

“You’re an insurrectionist,” a woman jeered.

Galvin shot back: “Your performance is noted.” The board chair stepped in, warning those disrupting the meeting that he would have them removed if they continued shouting.
“Every single two weeks we try to do this here,” Galvin told the attendees. “This is the people’s business — we represent 4.5 million people in this county. You don’t get to control what people get to hear.”


As one of the 4.5 million people, I hope all the those individuals who are disrupting county business are black listed and banned from public meetings.

 

[rambot]

I'm inclined to say American democracy is healthier than Russia's given the video clips I saw coming out of that absurdist nonsense.

But geez. Doesn't sound like it's THAT much better in certain areas. Boy, some people are just really sore losers.

 

[essentialsaltes]

Arizona expects to be back at the center of election attacks. Its top officials are going on offense​

Turning around public perception is proving to be an uphill battle in the county where election lies have proliferated even after a Republican-led audit and other post-election reviews found no evidence of widespread fraud or inaccurate results in the 2020 vote.

 

[essentialsaltes]

Meanwhile, in Georgia...

Racist slurs and death threats: The dangerous life of a Georgia elections official​

When Milton Kidd leaves work at the end of the day, he slips out the back door of the domed Douglas County Courthouse, avoiding the public entrance where people might berate him or demand his home address.

He never takes the same route home two days in a row, and he makes random turns to avoid being followed.

“Milton Kidd is a nasty [n-word] living on tax money like the scum he is,” one voter wrote in an email Kidd shared with Stateline. “Living on tax money, like a piece of low IQ [n-word] [poop].”

He is dumbfounded that he’s the target of such vitriol for administering elections in 2024 — but he knows where it originated.

“It’s an idea that has become insidious in the mindsets of Americans, that because a single individual did not win an election, that now I can behave like this,” said Kidd

[Kidd] and his eight full-time staff members have attempted to bolster their public standing by going to local churches, fairs and political party meetings of both parties to share details about how they run elections and tabulate the vote securely.

“In 2024, I work a job that I have to allow myself to be called [an n-word]” he said. “But I do it because I want to make sure people have access to the ballot box.”

Kidd’s colleagues in neighboring counties also have felt the hostility.

In the green hills of Bartow County, a rural community in northwest Georgia, Election Supervisor Joseph Kirk has taken steps to protect himself, though he won’t disclose specifics. While harassment has not reached the level it has in other counties, he said he has lost staff members who left their positions because of the changed atmosphere.

Cobb County Director of Elections Tate Fall is also fortifying her suburban Atlanta elections office. In the coming weeks, her office will install a shatterproof safety film on the glass that shields the front desk. More access points will require key cards for entry, and there will be additional panic buttons.

 

[essentialsaltes]

Alabama man pleads guilty to threatening Arizona election officials: ‘You are so dead’​

 

[essentialsaltes]

With voting under attack, many Arizona schools don’t want to be polling locations​

As false information about elections continues to spread, many school leaders in Maricopa County have closed their doors to the democratic process.

The reasons have been building for years, but the final straw for Mesa Public Schools officials came last November with a small, low-turnout election that became mired in misinformation and menace.

Although voting was supposed to be done mostly by mail, mistrust led many voters to drive to the schools to fill out their ballots in person, causing traffic jams and confrontations. Voters confused school staff for election workers and harangued them. Some accused school staff of “disenfranchising voters” for hosting secure ballot drop boxes.

In 2022, [a PHX superintendent] had to tell a man who showed up with a firearm in this open-carry state that weapons were not allowed on school property, he recalled.

Heightened school safety protocols and sustained attacks on voting systems and the people who run them — largely by Trump and his supporters — have prompted school leaders across America in both red and blue states to close their doors to the democratic process, according to interviews with nearly 20 school district leaders, county officials, school safety officials and election experts. In at least 33 states, the law says public buildings, including schools, can or should be made available as polling locations. In many districts, administrators now cancel classes on Election Day.

[To belabor the obvious, since it's a Tuesday in November, it's a school day.]

Schools in the state can opt out of elections if principals say they don’t have enough space or if the safety of students is at risk.

“In this environment, where you have people with body cameras and weapons that are being brandished, that is a concern — that is intimidating for many people,” said Scott Menzel, superintendent of the Scottsdale school district. “It just takes one flash point to ignite something that’s catastrophic and I absolutely don’t want that to happen on any one of my campuses.”

Maricopa County has a three-person team in charge of finding polling sites. They have grown accustomed to hearing the refrain: “Sorry.”

[The other refrain is "Pay us."]

As polling places ask for increasing amounts of compensation, the county plans to spend $916,000 in 2024 to pay such locations, 17 times its spending in 2016.

 

[essentialsaltes]

Broader efforts.

Scarred by 2020 smears, voting companies and election officials brace for November​

Even as they adapt for 2024, some people involved in administering elections still fear for their lives. There has been an exodus of election workers who have quit or retired instead of putting up with the abuse for another cycle. Just this week, the Justice Department announced charges against a Colorado man who threatened to kill election officials in two states for committing “treason.”

”Before the lies about recent elections, spread by losing candidates, those vendors were largely anonymous, known only to regulators and election officials,” said David Becker, an election industry expert who advises officials from both political parties.

The increased harassment has also spilled over to the thousands of election officials who are closest to the voters, on the local level, CNN previously reported. An Arizona-based company that specializes in ballot printing recently branched out to provide election offices with wearable “panic buttons” that call the police with one touch.

A spokeswoman for the company, Runbeck Election Services, said the new product “was a reaction to what we’ve seen in 2020,” and that the company is in talks with officials in at least five states to deploy potentially 1,500 of its badges in the fall.

‘Death by a thousand papercuts’​

In addition to the physical harassment, suspicious letters, and “swatting” attacks targeting election workers, troublemakers have found other creative ways to disrupt election administration.

Byrum, the county clerk in Lansing, has seen a major increase in voters using the Freedom of Information Act, or FOIA, to request information about the 2020 election. [From an average of 3/year before 2020, it rose to 53 FOIA requests in 2022] “It’s not so much about truly seeking public information, but rather about directing our resources away from election administration, and toward the requirements of fulfilling the FOIA requests.”

 

[iluvatar5150]

Broader efforts.

Scarred by 2020 smears, voting companies and election officials brace for November​

Even as they adapt for 2024, some people involved in administering elections still fear for their lives. There has been an exodus of election workers who have quit or retired instead of putting up with the abuse for another cycle. Just this week, the Justice Department announced charges against a Colorado man who threatened to kill election officials in two states for committing “treason.”

”Before the lies about recent elections, spread by losing candidates, those vendors were largely anonymous, known only to regulators and election officials,” said David Becker, an election industry expert who advises officials from both political parties.

The increased harassment has also spilled over to the thousands of election officials who are closest to the voters, on the local level, CNN previously reported. An Arizona-based company that specializes in ballot printing recently branched out to provide election offices with wearable “panic buttons” that call the police with one touch.

A spokeswoman for the company, Runbeck Election Services, said the new product “was a reaction to what we’ve seen in 2020,” and that the company is in talks with officials in at least five states to deploy potentially 1,500 of its badges in the fall.

‘Death by a thousand papercuts’​

In addition to the physical harassment, suspicious letters, and “swatting” attacks targeting election workers, troublemakers have found other creative ways to disrupt election administration.

Byrum, the county clerk in Lansing, has seen a major increase in voters using the Freedom of Information Act, or FOIA, to request information about the 2020 election. [From an average of 3/year before 2020, it rose to 53 FOIA requests in 2022] “It’s not so much about truly seeking public information, but rather about directing our resources away from election administration, and toward the requirements of fulfilling the FOIA requests.”

How long before election denialism like this is considered a form of terrorist ideology?

 

[essentialsaltes]

Barbed wire, high fences: some election spots in Arizona close, but others step up​

Barbed wire. Six-foot, barred gates. Badge-access doors.

Those are the elements around one Phoenix-area voting location. It’s a public school district office and the superintendent there said those precautions are why he is comfortable making it a polling location at all.

The superintendent spoke to NPR last week on condition of anonymity out of concern for increased threats. He said his school district used to provide 17 polling locations. That number is now one, with only his highly secure district office as an option.

Arizona is among states where the FBI has reported unusual levels of threats to election workers.

 

[rambot]

Barbed wire, high fences: some election spots in Arizona close, but others step up​

Barbed wire. Six-foot, barred gates. Badge-access doors.

Those are the elements around one Phoenix-area voting location. It’s a public school district office and the superintendent there said those precautions are why he is comfortable making it a polling location at all.

The superintendent spoke to NPR last week on condition of anonymity out of concern for increased threats. He said his school district used to provide 17 polling locations. That number is now one, with only his highly secure district office as an option.

Arizona is among states where the FBI has reported unusual levels of threats to election workers.

I guarantee every threat against an election worker is coming from a Trump supporter.

100% of them. Every.Single.One.

And Trump LOOOOOOOOOOOVES it. He loves that kind of devotion [edit]. He can say he doesn't like it into a mic but not in his chambers or heart.