AYESHA RASCOE, HOST:
In these final days of the presidential campaign, the Justice Department is increasing its efforts to protect polling places. It has set up a hotline for tips, and is publicizing cases when it has prosecuted people who've allegedly threatened election workers. But the Feds can't be everywhere, so now some local police departments are preparing to play a role. Except, NPR's Martin Kaste reports, that carries its own risk.
MARTIN KASTE, BYLINE: When Tina Barton was an elections clerk in Michigan in the days after the 2020 vote, she got an anonymous voicemail threatening her and her family. The caller was found, and he's now in prison. But since then, she's heard from other colleagues around the country who are also feeling under pressure.
TINA BARTON: When you've seen a mass exodus in a profession because they no longer feel safe, or they feel mentally drained from the constant harassment. Certainly, I think it has caught the attention now of law enforcement, of, we have a problem here.
KASTE: Barton now leads the Committee for Safe and Secure Elections, a nonpartisan organization. For the last couple of years it's been holding training sessions for police and first responders, encouraging them to coordinate with local elections officials and to make contingency plans. One thing they're preparing for is swatting - that's fraudulent calls to 911, meant to send an armed response to polling places or to poll workers' homes.
JOSEPH TRIGG: The biggest eye-opener for me was the stress to those working the polls, and that our presence could help alleviate some of that.
KASTE: That's Joseph Trigg, the deputy police chief in Grand Rapids, Michigan, which had one of these planning sessions this spring. He says they don't plan to post officers at the polling places, but they will have more officers in the area.
TRIGG: An occasional drive-through, just to be seen. Maybe it's getting out of your car and walking through if the need arises.
KASTE: But this can be delicate, because some voters feel intimidated by the police.
JUDITH BROWNE DIANIS: They should actually stay in their cars and not be a visible presence.
KASTE: Judith Browne Dianis is executive director of Advancement Project. It's a racial justice organization that focuses both on voting rights and on criminal justice. She'd rather see Election Day disputes de-escalated by civilian poll monitors. And she says things are even more fraught this year because the nation's biggest police union has endorsed one of the candidates on the ballot.
BROWNE DIANIS: Trump spoke to the national board of the Fraternal Order of Police and urged them to watch for voter fraud, and told them that people are afraid of their badge. Their motives of being present and the role that they play that day will be questionable.
KASTE: About half of American police belong to that union, and in private, rank-and-file officers tend to lean Republican. Things are also complicated because state laws vary so much when it comes to things like the presence of police or firearms at polling stations. Recruits are rarely trained on local election laws, which is why the Committee for Safe and Secure Elections has now posted state-by-state quick reference guides on their website, for officers to download and carry with them in case they're called in on Election Day. Martin Kaste, NPR News.
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