Rooftop SWAT Teams, Mounted Officers, and Caged Ballots: Inside Arizona’s Most Secure Voting Center

Fearing a rerun of the post-2020 election protests inspired by President Trump that culminated in the January 6 riot at the Capitol, one county is taking no chances when it comes to voters’ and employees’ safety. In just the last four years, officials in Arizona have turned the voting center in the state’s most populous county into a fortress. In details shared with The New York Sun, the Maricopa County Recorders’ office says their security measures have seen a complete overhaul since the 2020 election. Thousands of protesters traveled to the office building where the county’s votes were being tallied to protest on behalf of Trump, who has claimed for years that he won the state. When asked for details about the building’s new security protocols, the County Recorder’s office shared a list that included 32 bullet points outlining the measures taken since 2021. “Since Recorder Richer took office in January 2021, he has done everything within his power to increase security and transparency in our elections process,” the communications director for the count record, Taylor Kinnerup, said in a message to the Sun. “We are grateful for our incredible relationship with the Maricopa County Board of Supervisors, as well as, local and federal law enforcement to ensure the safety of our workers and the election process.”The details of the new security measures make the voting center sound more like a military installation than a building for tallying ballots. New measures include an enhanced police presence at every entrance and exit and law enforcement escorts for individuals coming and going from the building. SWAT teams will be stationed on the roof. The office will even have officers mounted on horses patrolling outside of the building. Security teams will be able to monitor every part of the building and the area surrounding it with new cameras and lighting. The recorder’s office can also keep an eye on ballot drop boxes with security cameras and lighting. In one of the county’s largest cities, Mesa, the recorder’s office plans to deploy portable camera systems that will be able to capture all activities within a 75-foot radius of their drop box area. Inside the vote counting center, security measures have been improved to keep those vote counters and partisan observers safe from any additional disruptions. Monitoring systems include new cameras and armed patrols, as well as assessments of physical security risks to ballots by a federal organ, the Cyber Security and Infrastructure Security Agency. For those full-time and part-time employees who will be involved in the election activities, the recorder’s office is providing new resources to keep people safe from threats. Ballots will be locked in cages to help avoid allegations of fraud that may very well come as the votes are being counted. Employees will receive training from the recorder’s office on how to “stay safe online.”The county recorder, Stephen Richer, is an elected Republican who supported Trump in the 2020 presidential election. When the former president lost Arizona and Mr. Richer was left as the county’s top vote-counting official, it was his responsibility to prove to Arizonans that there was no evidence of fraud. His new security assessments are a result of the threats he and his office have received over the course of the last four years as a result of Trump’s decision to spread lies about the Arizona vote. In a profile by 60 Minutes just days ago, Mr. Richer discussed the stresses of the job as a result of the dishonesty coming from election deniers. Just this year, he ran for reelection while defending the security of the county’s voting systems and his assertion that President Biden did win the county. He lost renomination in the Republican primary to a state representative who denies the results of the 2020 election.

Rooftop SWAT Teams, Mounted Officers, and Caged Ballots: Inside Arizona’s Most Secure Voting Center

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