Several states have restricted guns at the polls this year. Two succeeded

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Several states have restricted guns at the polls this year. Two succeeded

Election workers are trained, prepare ballots for mailing and testing at the Reo Elections Office on October 3, 2024 in Lansing, Michigan.

Since then, two more states have passed bills restricting the use of guns at the polls Trace reported in March that several states are considering such measures.

Colorado, which already bans open carry of firearms at polling places, has expanded its ban on concealed weapons. In Massachusetts, a new law prohibits anyone from possessing a firearm within 150 feet of a polling place.

The measures reflect growing concerns about shootings and voter intimidation as an already violent election season draws to a tumultuous close.

Working group of the Ministry of Justice on threats before the elections charged On October 21, two persons were threatened to beat up or kill election workers. One of the suspects was a Pennsylvania man accused of texting death threats to a party official who was recruiting volunteer poll watchers, a standard practice in every election.

A day later, police arrested an Arizona man for allegedly firing several shots at a Democratic Party office in Tempe. Prosecutors said the man had more than 120 guns and more than 250,000 rounds of ammunition in his home, leading them to believe he planning a mass shooting.

On October 28, there were ballot boxes in Portland, Oregon, and Vancouver, Washington set fire to with what law enforcement authorities called incendiary devices.

“There’s no doubt that political violence is on the rise,” said Heidi Beirich, co-founder of the Global Project Against Hate and Extremism, which tracks election-related extremist activity. “The fewer weapons we introduce into this environment, the better off everyone involved in this election will be.”

The Colorado and Massachusetts measures were among 10 gun restrictions at the polls considered by states this year. Six of those bills — in Connecticut, Illinois, Indiana, Michigan, Pennsylvania and Vermont — failed to reach a final vote. Legislation to expand Virginia’s ban radius from 40 to 100 feet passed both houses of the General Assembly but was vetoed by Republican Gov. Glenn Youngkin, who raised concerns about the Second Amendment.

California has already banned guns at the polls, but in September, Democratic Gov. Gavin Newsom signed a bill allowing voters to sue violators for intimidation.

Trace

States are banning guns at polling places as officials tighten election security

A graphic representation of states that restrict the use of guns at the polls.

Twenty-two states and Washington directly restrict firearms at the polls. Laws vary in scope: In 15 states and the District of Columbia, civilians cannot carry firearms openly or concealed at the polls. The remaining seven states prohibit only one or the other.

Ten states — Connecticut, Delaware, Hawaii, Maryland, New Jersey, New Mexico, New York and Washington, as well as Colorado and Massachusetts — have passed their laws in the past two years in response to growing concerns about election-related violence .

On November 1, representatives of the FBI and the threat prevention group before the election launched A national command center in Washington and several other cities to monitor and respond to threats of Election Day violence, according to the Justice Department. The center was scheduled to close in a week, but could remain open longer if threats of violence continue.

In November of this year, state and local governments also developed plans to protect against possible election-related violence. In the survey of 2024 of the Brennan Center for Justice’s nearly 1,000 election officials, about 40% of respondents said they had increased physical security at their polling places since 2020.

Officials of Georgia alarm buttons are installed at polling places to alert law enforcement to threats, and in Arizona, law enforcement sent snipers to the rooftops of a Maricopa County polling place and used drones to spot potential attackers. In other states, election officials have reinforced windows to make them resistant to shrapnel and hired armed guards.

Brian Michael Jenkins, a senior advisor at the RAND Corporation, who wrote a report on addressing threats of political violence during this year’s elections, said banning guns at polling places is an important part of protecting voters from intimidation and preventing hostile interactions from escalating into deadly violence.

He recalled an incident on Oct. 24 in which a Texas man punched a 69-year-old poll worker after he was asked to remove a Donald Trump hat, which violated a state law that prohibits the display of campaign memorabilia at polling stations. “The concern is that if someone is armed there, it could easily escalate into a shooting,” Jenkins said.

“Given an angry, polarized population that’s already very vocal about their disapproval of the election and ready to use violence if their candidate doesn’t win,” Jenkins said, “I generally support the idea that we’re trying to keep guns out of the question.” .”

Republican state lawmakers have generally opposed gun restrictions at polling places. Bills in Colorado and Massachusetts passed without a single GOP vote. In New Mexico, the next-to-last state to pass a ban, state Senate Republicans signed the legislation into law only after House Caucus Chairman Mark Moores added an amendment exempting concealed-carry permit holders.

“It’s the right thing to do under the circumstances,” Moores said after the Senate unanimously approved the bill.

In 2022 national survey Beirich’s organization, the Global Project Against Hate and Extremism, found that 63 percent of respondents supported banning guns at the polls, including more than half of Republicans polled. Voters said they fear firearms can lead to both intimidation and shootings.

Beirich said the poll shows a bipartisan consensus on the bans. “If it makes it less likely that someone fires a gun and makes voters feel safer,” she said, “then that’s what we should do.”

This story was made Trace and reviewed and distributed by Stacker.