Officials prepare to protect polls

Elections officials are taking every precaution to ensure that voters and precinct officials will be safe at the polls on Election Day.

Gary Bartlett, executive director of the N.C. Board of Elections, said he was told at a meeting in Raleigh last week that the FBI has not received any credible evidence that there will be a terrorist attack in North Carolina or the United States.

Even so, the board sent out guidelines for use in the event of a terrorist attack to the state's county elections offices. The guidelines were created by the U.S. Department of Homeland Security.

"My biggest concern is, because there are no known threats, some elections officials might not take this as serious as I would like them to take it." Bartlett said. "The most important thing is to ensure the safety of the voter and election official every step of the way."

He emphasized that each election official should know his or her duties and responsibilities and how to secure the polling place if need be. He also said it is important that counties have a backup polling place, if necessary.

Bartlett plans to send follow-up instructions to county elections boards this week, asking each one to pick an alternative polling site. He is concerned that security plans might not be emphasized because of the rush of early voting and everything else officials have to do before Election Day.

Mike Ashe, director of the Durham County Board of Elections, said he is not worried about any terrorist attacks affecting the voting process this year, but officials still are taking precautions to keep voters and precinct officials safe.

He mentioned that the Durham County BOE has several disaster plans in place and does a risk analysis every year. More than 9,000 people already have voted at the Durham location without incident.

"In the history of Durham county there has never been a terrorist attack at a polling place," he said. "I see no reason why that is going to change. We have not been advised of a specific increased threat."

Maj. David Munday of the N.C. Highway Patrol said he wants citizens to know the patrol is ready and willing to respond if there is a credible threat.

The patrol has an "unusual-occurrence plan," which is a response to natural or man-made occurrences in the state. Included in the plans is what to do when faced with the threat of terrorism.

Munday said that if the state receives a credible threat, it will be passed through the Secretary of Crime Control and Public Safety, passed on to the public information officer and then distributed to the public.

The efforts might seem unnecessary to some, but Bartlett and others say it's better to be prepared.

"It is important that election officials practice what they are going to do in the event of a terrorist attack, so they don't have to think, because if they think, they will lose valuable seconds."

Contact the State & National Editor at stntdesk@unc.edu.