Detroit strengthens election security measures following 2020 chaos
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Illustration: Maura Losch/Axios
Security at Detroit's downtown ballot-counting headquarters is incredibly tight this election — a direct response to the mayhem four years ago.
Why it matters: Election officials say Detroit was less prepared for potential disturbances in 2020.
- "We were in the midst of COVID. The world was upside down. We had a turbulent America going on at the time, but we didn't anticipate the type of shenanigans that occurred," Daniel Baxter, the city's elections operations chief, said last week.
Flashback: Huntington Place, the city's downtown convention center, is where former President Trump's supporters descended four years ago, chanting "stop the count" and banging windows as workers counted ballots.
State of play: Since election workers began counting absentee ballots last week, a significant police presence has been inside and outside Huntington.
- Elections officials noted that 10 police officers were present during last week's press conference to discuss the city's election operations.
- Metal detectors have been installed outside Huntington's vote-counting area, and those permitted to enter — poll workers, election challengers, public observers, and the media — must scan their IDs first.
- Detroit, Hamtramck and Warren are among 87 voting jurisdictions that the Department of Justice will monitor to enforce voting rights laws.
The latest: As of Monday, a spokesperson said he was not aware of any threats to the city's elections operations.
The bottom line: "There are aerial views of Huntington Place to ensure that this operation maintains its safety throughout Election Day. So we're very confident that we have a security program in place to ensure that every person in here feels safe and can do their job," Baxter said Thursday.