Public Safety Resources for Election Season

This document provides guidance for law enforcement on protecting the vote counting process. ​ It outlines steps for pre-ballot processing preparations, rules for handling demonstrations, and the legal framework for ensuring both public safety and the protection of First Amendment rights.

This list of eight key priorities will help focus law enforcement agencies’ election safety preparedness efforts, particularly as Election Day approaches.

Political events in a given jurisdiction—like candidate visits, debates, rallies, etc.—place specific demands on law enforcement agencies. Some of these events, like a candidate visit, may get scheduled with little warning. This resource provides recommendations for how law enforcement agencies can better prepare to manage political events that take place in their jurisdictions.

Law enforcement plays a critical role in ensuring that every eligible voter can exercise their right to vote. In the upcoming election, police leaders and their personnel should know the rules, understand the appropriate responses, and promote safe participation in the democratic process.

This guidance outlines the law and best practice for law enforcement to respond to drivers and multi-vehicle caravans that express support for a candidate or political cause while engaging in conduct that can threaten public safety, violate traffic laws, and/or cross the line into illegal voter intimidation.

States United partnered with the U.S. Department of Justice’s Office of Community Oriented Policing Services (DOJ COPS) to produce an episode of its ongoing series “What’s New in Blue,” in which law enforcement leaders share lessons learned in the field. This episode features Chief Chris Davis of Wisconsin’s Green Bay Police Department and Sheriff (Ret.) Paul Penzone of Maricopa County, Arizona sharing their approaches to keeping elections safe for all in their respective jurisdictions.

This compendium of field-tested law enforcement strategies for keeping elections safe collects insights from over 60 federal, state, and local law enforcement leaders across the country. Published by States United along with the National Policing Institute (NPI) and 21st Century Policing Solutions (21CP), this resource provides comprehensive advice about how best to prepare to protect public safety during election season, divided into seven manageable modules. NPI’s website also features brief videos with prominent law enforcement leaders attesting to the importance of such preparation.

Law enforcement at every level has a vital role to play in keeping election officials and workers safe and ensuring that they feel protected. This resource is an overview of how law enforcement leaders can prepare to do both.

This document aims to provide practical First Amendment guidance for law enforcement leaders.

This fact sheet examines the role of law enforcement in ensuring safe and fair elections, highlighting the risks posed by the “constitutional sheriffs” movement, which claims sheriffs have supreme authority within their counties. ​ This resource clarifies the legal limitations on sheriffs’ powers, especially regarding election oversight and fraud investigations, and offers guidance on addressing potential overreach.

This resource offers recommendations for election officials as to how to initiate and sustain productive working relationships with their law enforcement counterparts in advance of and during election season.

State law determines whether poll observers are permitted and what rules govern their selection, conduct, and duties. Against this backdrop, questions sometimes arise about how the U.S. Constitution, specifically, the First Amendment right to freedom of speech and peaceable assembly, applies to poll observers. This guidance is intended to help answer these questions.

With the help of the Institute for Strategic Dialogue, States United compiled the policies related to election and voting disinformation of some of the most used platforms, including Gab, Meta (Facebook, Instagram, and WhatsApp), Reddit, Telegram, TikTok, Truth Social, Twitter, and YouTube.

Planning and preparation before Election Day can help elections officials and their staff protect the rights of voters and the public and mitigate efforts to disrupt elections. This toolkit provides ideas and practical advice to help with that planning.

Given the heightened interest in understanding American election administration and procedures, this guide provides an overview of how states have chosen to provide election access—through both observation and direct participation—to political parties and their representatives.

States United Action conducted a nationally representative survey of over 3,000 American adults in the week leading up the 2022 midterm elections. This resource provides a detailed analysis of Americans’ views on political violence and extremism and guidance for how leaders, researchers, and journalists should effectively communicate on the issue—offering solutions to protect Americans’ rights to engage safely in civic and political life.