Wisconsin
Report: Need tighter security for Wisconsin election workers
MADISON, Wis. (AP) — The safety of election employees and tools in battleground Wisconsin’s second-largest county is not ample in mild of the threats that officers and employees are going through in a local weather of lies and misinformation about supposed fraud, in accordance with a committee report launched Monday.
Native clerks do not have the assets they should adequately shield employees and to securely retailer election tools and supplies, the Dane County Election Safety Activity Pressure reported.
“I’ve been to all these places of work across the county, and entry to the workers is kind of simple. That should change. There must be some form of barrier to guard workers,” Dane County Clerk Scott McDonell mentioned throughout a information convention.
McDonell is requesting a brand new facility for elections administration in Dane County and the state’s second-largest metropolis, Madison.
Native elections officers across the nation have reported being subjected to dying threats and harassment because of conspiracy theories and misinformation following the 2020 presidential election, which former President Donald Trump has falsely claimed was stolen. A 2021 survey of elections officers by the Brennan Heart for Justice discovered that one in three felt unsafe due to their job.
President Joe Biden carried Wisconsin by almost 21,000 votes, a margin upheld by recounts, a number of courtroom rulings, a nonpartisan audit and a conservative evaluate. A GOP-led investigation by a former Wisconsin Supreme Courtroom justice has additionally did not uncover proof that Trump gained.
Madison Metropolis Clerk Maribeth Witzel-Behl, a member of the duty drive, mentioned she has acquired a number of dying threats. Different elections officers within the state have additionally been harassed.
The duty drive report advisable budgeting for clerks so as to add entry controls, limitations and video surveillance to their places of work, in addition to placing elections officers by risk response coaching from the Dane County Sheriff’s Workplace. It additionally advisable a devoted and safe workspace in Dane County and in Madison, noting that in the course of the state’s February major, some elections workers have been engaged on non-sensitive duties within the hallways of the Metropolis-County Constructing.
“Our fundamental conclusion is that the present bodily infrastructure of election administration in Dane County and municipalities in Dane County is insufficient for a perform recognized as ‘important infrastructure.’ Resolving this may require consideration and assets,” mentioned Ken Mayer, the duty drive’s chair.
Along with restricted area, McDonell raised issues concerning the bodily safety of the Metropolis-County Constructing. “There’s too many entry factors, it’s too simple to get out and in,” he mentioned. To restrict safety dangers, the Dane County clerk’s workplace has stopped processing marriage licenses in individual and added plexiglass limitations.
The duty drive’s report mentioned that on the day of a Homeland Safety evaluate of the town and county clerks’ places of work in March, an individual sporting camouflage and a facemask entered the town clerk’s workplace with a digital camera and tried to open a number of locked doorways. The individual left earlier than regulation enforcement arrived and was by no means recognized.
McDonell mentioned Monday that he’ll be making a funds request for a brand new facility for storage and elections administration that meets clerks’ wants “as quickly as doable.” Different Dane County municipalities have begun making their very own upgrades.
Though McDonell and Mayer say there have been no identified bodily assaults on election employees or tools in Dane County, it’s not unusual for municipalities to retailer voting tools basically storage areas the place entry isn’t restricted to clerks. It’s additionally not unusual for voting tools to be in danger from climate and humidity. In response to McDonell, Madison has needed to change its voting tools twice because of flood harm. He mentioned he hopes a brand new facility will supply climate-controlled storage.
If safety issues aren’t addressed at election administration places of work, the duty drive is anxious that recruiting and retaining clerks and election employees will grow to be much more tough.
“There was large turnover since 2020,” mentioned McDonell.
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Hurt Venhuizen is a corps member for the Related Press/Report for America Statehouse Information Initiative. Report for America is a nonprofit nationwide service program that locations journalists in native newsrooms to report on undercovered points. Observe Hurt on Twitter.