Elections and Emergency Management

I woke up this morning and started thinking about election day. I was thinking about the title of this blog post, “Elections and Emergency Management.” What is our role if any? Are we totally “consequence management” available if needed? And, then for what purpose?

To answer the first question, I’d highlight that elections are run by governments and we are part of government. Back when I served at King County as the Emergency Management Director, our office was in an administrative department that included elections. At least weekly I would be in management team meetings with my elections counterpart. There was a “tough election” that he went through and the most I could do at the time was to encourage him with words like, “What doesn’t kill you makes you stronger!” Really helpful---I know.

In this day and age we also have to do some worst case planning and for elections that could mean violence. While security is more of a law enforcement function, like everything in government and beyond we should be involved and help when and where necessary. Our key role would be what we do best, which is coordination in an emergency—if it gets big enough to warrant.

Hopefully, today November 5th and the days following will be peaceful throughout the land…and emergency management won’t have a role to play.

Earlier in October I had this Disaster Zone Podcast: How Secure is our Election System?  You might find it helpful to understand all the measures that are being taken by the 3,000 plus counties that are conducting safe and secure elections today.