Atlanta election workers to get ‘panic buttons’ amid rising threats

A key swing county in suburban Atlanta approved nearly $50,000 this week to purchase “panic buttons” for election workers, a move that comes as those who administer elections have faced increased threats and harassments.

Commissioners in Cobb county approved the purchase of about 200 of the devices, which are about the size of a credit card, according to NBC News, which first reported on the purchase.

The devices alert authorities to someone’s location by pairing with a user’s smartphone. The commission also approved more than $14,000 to hire a security guard for the election office as part of a $2.43m budget for election contingencies.

“With the severe increase in concern for election worker safety, we’re requesting funds for a security guard for our office, as well as panic buttons for Poll Managers,” Tate Fall, the Cobb county election director wrote in a memo accompanying the request.

Ever since Donald Trump’s pressure campaign to overturn the 2020 election, local election officials have faced an increase in scrutiny. Election skeptics have bombarded their offices with public records requests and verbally attacked them at public meetings.

Turnover in election offices has been increasing for years, and has reached its highest point in decades, according to a survey by the Bipartisan Policy Center from earlier this year. More than half of election officials surveyed by the Brennan Center for Justice this year said they were concerned about the safety of colleagues and staff.

Earlier this year, Georgia became the first state to require police officers in the state to learn election law as part of their state certification.

An election services company and a security company that have partnered to sell the devices have seen wide interest in them, according to NBC News. They are in discussions to sell at least 1,500 in five states, NBC reported.

“We thought maybe 10 or 20 counties would show interest, and it’s been every county or state that we’ve talked to has shown interest in this,” Jeff Ellington, the chief executive of Runbeck Election Services, which is selling the buttons, told NBC.