How election officials are preparing to fight voter intimidation and potential violence

The threat of political violence still hangs over the country nearly four years after a violent mob tried to overturn the will of the voters. With just one day left of voting, what lessons have we learned and how does the threat compare to the last cycle? Amna Nawaz discussed more with Mary McCord of Georgetown Law School.
Amna Nawaz:
Well, as we have been discussing, the threat of political violence still hangs over the country nearly four years after a violent mob stormed the U.S. Capitol and tried to overturn the will of the voters.
With just one day left of voting, what lessons have we learned, and how does the threat compare to the last cycle?
Joining us now is Mary McCord. She’s a former acting assistant attorney general for national security, now teaches at Georgetown Law School.
Good to see you, Mary.
Mary McCord, Former Justice Department Official:
Nice to be here.
Amna Nawaz:
So, law enforcement, we know, is on alert for Election Day. We have seen election offices and other locations ramping up security. How worried are you about violence on Election Day or the days to follow?
Mary McCord:
I’m more worried about the days to follow.
Many things have come into play to protect voters and election workers on Election Day. First of all, unlike four years ago, I mean, we have seen this movie before, right? So election officials at the local level, at the state level, law enforcement across parties, community organizations, mayors have all worked together really over these four years to make sure that they can provide a safe voting venue, not only for the voters, but also for the poll workers, right?
And if that means more security, they have it. If it means different facets of law enforcement presence, again, carefully, so it doesn’t intimidate voters, because law enforcement in voting sometimes itself can be intimidation. But they have worked individually, community by community, to create plans that will work.
I also think that the effect of over 1,500 prosecutions coming out of the January 6 attack has made — has been a real deterrent for those who would otherwise maybe think about engaging in armed and even unarmed forms of voter intimidation.
There’s been tons and tons of public education and statements and people in positions of authority talking about voter intimidation. DOJ has been forward-leading. And a lot of these people, I think they see others who’ve gotten in trouble. That wasn’t voter intimidation. That was a violent attack.
But, still, they know this could cross — things could cross the line. I’m more worried about after the election.
Amna Nawaz:
Well, let me ask you about the scenario that Nick reported on as well. It’s likely we may not have a result on the night on the presidential election.
If former President Trump comes out and declares victory, Elon Musk, his supporter, amplifies that on X, does that change or alter the potential for violence?
Mary McCord:
So this is exactly what I think — why I’m more worried about the post-election period, particularly during the time of uncertainty, because, as you said, and as we saw in 2020, Donald Trump, I think will, as he did before, come out and say he won, he won in a landslide, the voting should stop, and that votes counted after this period are fraudulent.
He will attack mail-in voting, absentee voting, drop boxes, election workers, et cetera. And false — and that — he will be aided because we know from Nick’s reporting and from the intelligence community’s warnings that Russia and Iran and China, all our adversaries, have an interest in seeding additional false information that, frankly, we as Americans do a great job of propounding and spreading.
And those false narratives are what become the justification for people to engage in political violence. That’s what we saw in 2020. That’s what led to January 6. And that might be individual acts. It might be physical. It might be threats, intimidation, harassment. It might be pressuring election officials not to certify, governors not to certify, state legislatures to try to somehow take their own action and send up their own slates of electors.
All of those are things that could be — could happen if this false narrative spreads and people either believe it or pretend to believe it.
Amna Nawaz:
There’s been some reporting and tracking of online chatter, in particular in the kinds of social media platforms that are very lightly moderated, where we know a lot of far right and extremist groups gather and share information, like Telegram and Gab.
There was one nonprofit that said in October that election denialism increased by 317 percent on Telegram, by 105 percent on Gab. How likely is that online chatter to fuel real-world violence or action of any kind?
Mary McCord:
So what we’re not seeing as much of — or I should say we. I get all my information through researchers, right?
Like, I’m a lawyer and a former prosecutor and former national security official. But I talk with researchers regularly. And what we are not seeing is actual mobilization, logistics, planning. Now, some of that could be because there’s more operational security now than there was back in 2020, they’re more careful about not speaking on public forums and public chat rooms about those plans.
But, still, if it was big enough and massive enough, these kind of things would start to leak out. So I do think there’s probably planning going on, again, at that hyper-local level, and there will be some disruptions tomorrow and disruptions going forward.
But something massive like a January 6, we’re not seeing that kind of mobilization.
Amna Nawaz:
Mary, briefly, before we let you go, people want to know that they can vote, and vote safely, and they’re worried about what’s ahead.
What would you say to folks out there as we head into this last day of voting?
Mary McCord:
I do not think voters should be concerned about going to the polls tomorrow.
But even armed groups who have agitated online, a lot of it is all talk. We see very little uptick in those who actually want to show up. And, again, they are worried about prosecution. I think voting — I think this election will be safe for voters. I think it’ll be secure in terms of the results. And we just have to take a breath and wait for those results to come.
Amna Nawaz:
Good advice.
Mary McCord, always good to see you. Thank you.
Mary McCord:
Thank you.