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Today is Saturday, October 19th. Election

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Day is just over two weeks away now,

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but the preparations have been going on for

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years at this point, in part because of

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a more contentious, sometimes violent political environment. Steps

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are being taken to avoid another capital riot. Polling

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places are getting security upgrades. And

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there's been record turnover among election workers who

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have faced more threats in recent years. So

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today, our guest is Chris Harvey. He worked

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as Georgia's elections director for the most volatile

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years in elections in the state's history so

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far. And in 2021, he

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got back into law enforcement, setting training standards

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for all of Georgia's peace officers. He's

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also a member of the Committee for Safe

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and Secure Elections, a nonpartisan group that brings

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law enforcement and elections experts together. Here's

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our conversation about the state of political violence

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in America, how election officials are preparing, what

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it felt like to face death threats, and

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more. Welcome

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welcome to the Newsworthy special edition Saturday, when

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we sit down with a different expert or

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celebrity every Saturday to talk about something in

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the news. Don't forget to tune

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in every Monday through Friday for our regular

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episodes, where we provide all the day's news

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in 10 minutes. I'm Erica Mandy. It's now

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time for today's special edition Saturday. Chris

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Harvey, thanks for joining us again on the Newsworthy.

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My pleasure. Before we talk about

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the specifics that you're looking at there in Georgia,

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I am curious if you have

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a sense of the current state of political

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violence in America. Anytime you're

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looking at very close elections, everything

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gets amplified. People have

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had four years of listening to different

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theories and people espousing different ideas about

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what they think happened or didn't happen.

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I think the potential for political

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violence is higher than it's been

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in my lifetime, certainly. Some

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reports have said there are new measures

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around the country for election officials like

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bulletproof glass and panic buttons. Are you

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seeing that where you are? I

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am. I can tell you

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that in many of the new elections offices

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that have either been built or renovated since

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2020, many of them

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have included things like bulletproof glass, things like

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ballads that are put up in

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front, extra locks, lighting, cameras, things

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like that. One county in Georgia

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is gonna be using panic buttons

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that poll workers will have that

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will send a signal to law

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enforcement and to a representative to alert them

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that there's a problem at a polling place.

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They're still working through some of the details

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about determining what constitutes a pushing

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of the panic button because you don't want

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somebody that's too eager to push a panic button

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if somebody's just having a disagreement, but

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you also want the ability

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to summon law enforcement very quickly if

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there's an emergency. How do you

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feel about the fact that some of these measures are

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at least perceived as needed now and

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really only in the last four years?

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Unfortunately, I agree that a lot of

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them are needed and that's just the

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sad experience that election officials in Georgia

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had been living with for four years

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that I lived through 20 and 2021

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when I was the elections director. It would be

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great to go back to a time when elections

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were boring and

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they happened without a lot of fanfare and

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people focused on the results. I don't think

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that time is happening anytime

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soon and in the meantime, it's

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really the responsibility of the election

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officials to keep themselves safe, keep

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the voters safe and keep the

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process safe and continuing. I

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know you've personally been threatened in the past.

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Can you tell us again about that and

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what it was like? After the

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2020 election, when all the controversy was

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swirling after it was determined that Joe

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Biden had won Georgia in a surprise

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victory, we had to do

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a statewide runoff for

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the U.S. Senate that unusually involved

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two U.S. senators that was gonna

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determine who controlled the Senate.

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And the day before that election, I got a

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call from somebody in D.C. who said that I

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had been docked at my home address

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and picture my house and picture me had been

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put on the dark web and that... obvious

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intimidation, things like that. But

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law enforcement should not be the center of attention

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of a polling place. Do you expect to

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see anything similar to what happened after the

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2020 election and the Capitol

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riot on January 6, 2021?

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I do expect to see in

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cases where you've got very close elections, I expect

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to see a tremendous amount of scrutiny after

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the election when you get into

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things like audits and recounts and

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reconciliation and people that are

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nitpicking and looking through the details of

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the election. I do expect that. I

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certainly would not expect and certainly don't hope

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for the kind of violence we

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saw on January 6. So I

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do expect the post-election time to

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be maybe even more

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tense than the election time because

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while people are still voting, nobody

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really knows the results. And then

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afterwards is when people will be

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more likely to start making allegations

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and accusations. Do you feel that the

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2024 election can continue to

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be smooth even with some of

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these concerns? Oh, absolutely. And

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I'm confident that people in

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Georgia and hopefully around the

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country are going to do a great job. I

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think the one silver lining out of this dark

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cloud is that I think most people have kind

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of doubled down on their procedures and some of

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the stuff that maybe they had taken for granted,

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they've really shored up and they realize that there's

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very little margin for error.

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Do you have just a final thought or takeaway

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for our audience? One of the worst

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things that could come out of these increased tensions

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is that people stop voting and

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people acquiesce in the

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face of threats and tensions and

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strife. And that's not

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the America that's sustained for

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almost 250 years. And

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so I hope everybody, regardless of

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their political persuasion, goes out proudly

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and bravely and strongly and exercised

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the right to vote. Well,

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thank you so much to Chris Harvey for

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sharing his experience and expertise with us. And

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for any election officials, law enforcement or community

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leaders who... want to be more prepared

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for this year's election, it's not too late.

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Check out the resources at safuelections.org. Thank you

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so much for listening today. Stay up to

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date with all the news you need about

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the election and beyond with our 10 minute

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news roundups every Monday through Friday. You can

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follow us in your favorite podcast app for

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free so you never miss an episode. We'll

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be back with the news you need to start the

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week on Monday. So until then, have a great weekend.