| A(NOTHER) WAKE UP CALL — America’s state and local election workers know as well as anyone the costs of politically charged violence. That might be why many of them were among the first — and most credible — voices to step into the breach following the attack on Donald Trump on Saturday. — State officials speak up: “I condemn political violence in the most unequivocal terms. NO American political figure should ever be threatened with OR acted against with violence,” Arizona Secretary of State Adrian Fontes, a Democrat, posted on X Saturday night only minutes after the shooting was first reported. “There is zero space for political violence — as Americans we unite together and handle our disputes peacefully at the ballot box,” Georgia Secretary of State Brad Raffensperger told MC in a text. Raffensperger, who said he and his wife Tricia are praying for Trump’s swift recovery, posted a similar message on X within an hour of the shooting. — Place of experience: State, local and federal election officials across the U.S. faced harassment and death threats for months after the 2020 election, when Trump and his allies sought to overturn Joe Biden’s win. Fontes, Raffensperger and top election officials in other swing states, who also quickly condemned the violence against Trump, bore the brunt of many of those post-election attacks — but expressed hope, not bitterness, that the country could draw the right lessons from Saturday. “May this disturbing incident provide a turning point – away from hateful rhetoric and threats and towards civility for all,” Michigan Secretary of State Jocelyn Benson, a Democrat, shared on X. — Not just cyber: Still, the attack on Trump is a harrowing reminder of how bitterly divided American politics has become since 2016 — and how that is changing elections administration. Chris Harvey, a former senior elections official in Georgia and now the deputy director of the nonprofit Committee for a Safe and Secure Elections, said many local officials have refocused their energies from cyber to physical security since 2020. Whereas elections were all “cyber, cyber, cyber” after 2016, many officials are now touting things like the installation of bulletproof glass, said Harvey. “That is not something that formerly had been a feature in elections offices.” — This ain’t easy: Kim Wyman, a Republican and Washington state’s former top election official in 2020, echoed Harvey in describing how much officials have pivoted from thinking about keeping out hackers to stopping “angry mobs around election offices.” But she argued the events this weekend show how critical it is for political leaders to be more mindful of whipping up their voters with dire rhetoric about Election Day. “I hope that Saturday is making people stop and pause and think about all the vitriol in campaigns,” she said.
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