While much has been reported about the security of the 2020 election, there is one critical area many news reports are missing—the security and protection of the people carrying out the election, and that has fallen woefully short.
Securing elections is about more than protecting the physical security and cybersecurity of the systems and assets that support elections. It is also about protecting the people who secure these systems, including state and local election officials, information technology staff, temporary staff such as poll workers, and vendor support staff. The U.S. appears to have done an admirable job protecting the former during the 2020 cycle, but on the latter, there is still much room for improvement. From exposure to the coronavirus to armed protesters demanding access to people tabulating votes, those conducting our elections have faced an onslaught of threats.
