Here’s a breakdown of important dates to know, Election Day information, and what to know about California’s 2024 ballot propositions.

Important Nov. 5 general election dates

• Last day to register is Oct. 21
• Registered voters will get a vote-by-mail ballot. County elections office will begin mailing ballots by Oct. 7
• Ballot drop-off locations open Oct. 8. Click here for map of locations in Los Angeles County.
• Vote centers open for early in-person voting in all Voter’s Choice Act counties starting Oct. 26
• Election Day is Nov. 5.
• Vote-by-mail ballots must be postmarked on or before Election Day and received by Nov. 12

Plan Your Vote

Use NBC News’ Plan Your Vote tool to supplement your voter guide and for more information on early voting, mail-in voting rules, Election Day voting rules, voter ID requirements, key-races in your state and more.

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How to track your ballot

Voters can track a ballot they have mailed or submitted at a drop-off location by signing up at WheresMyBallot.sos.ca.gov to receive text, email, or voice status alerts.

How long are polls open on Nov. 5 Election Day?

Polls will be open from 7 a.m. to 8 p.m. on Election Day.

Find your Southern California county election office

Your county elections officer is the go-to source for information on voting in the 2024 General Election. Find a link to your county office below.

• Los Angeles County
• Orange County
• Riverside County
• San Bernardino County
• Ventura County
• All California county elections offices

What are the California propositions on the November ballot?

California voters will see 10 propositions on their ballot:

• Proposition 2: Authorizes bonds for public school and community college facilities.
• Proposition 3: Constitutional right to marriage.
• Proposition 4: Authorizes bonds for safe drinking water, wildfire prevention, and protecting communities and natural lands from climate risks.
• Proposition 5: Allows Local bonds for affordable housing and public infrastructure with 55% voter approval.
• Proposition 6: Eliminates constitutional provision allowing involuntary servitude for incarcerated persons.
• Proposition 32: Raises minimum wage.
• Proposition 33: Expands local governments’ authority to enact rent control on residential property.
• Proposition 34: Restricts spending of prescription drug revenues by certain health care providers.
• Proposition 35: Provides permanent funding for Medi-Cal health care services.
• Proposition 36: Allows felony charges and increases sentences for certain drug and theft crimes.

How to serve as a poll worker

If you’re interested in serving as a poll worker, visit pollworker.sos.ca.gov to apply.

The once-routine business of running elections in America has become much more fraught with risk in the wake of the 2020 campaign, with poll workers facing harassment, violent threats and chaotic protests. It’s a dynamic that has forced many election officials out of the industry, while those who remain have taken in some cases dramatic steps to protect poll workers and voters ahead of Election Day. Some poll workers are also receiving pay bumps as incentives to stay on through a stressful voting period.

In interviews, county and state election officials shared details of security plans with NBC News.

Maricopa County, Arizona, has been a hotbed of conspiracy theories, protests and threats for years, fueled by baseless voter fraud claims from former President Donald Trump and his allies.

The county, the largest in one of the most critical battleground states on the map, will have some of the most intense security in the nation. Its tabulation center will have snipers on the roof, metal detectors and security at every entrance, drones surveilling overhead, and security cameras and floodlights to help law enforcement monitor the area.

There are also two layers of security fencing, and some workers will be bused in from off-site parking to accommodate the newly implemented measures.

“They spared no expense in 2022, they’re all in again this cycle,” Maricopa County Recorder Stephen Richer, a Republican, said of local law enforcement’s plans.

In Cobb County, Georgia, the sheriff will have officers at every early voting site and patrolling local precincts. The county has set up an emergency operations center at the local 911 call center, where the sheriff’s office, fire department and local utilities will be monitoring CCTVs and social media to keep an eye on everything from traffic and long lines to any potential disturbances at the polls.

“They’re going to pull up the cameras closest to all the 148 polling places to monitor for traffic, accidents, things like that — high volume,” said Tate Fall, the county’s director of elections.

The county allocated money for so-called panic buttons that would allow election workers to quickly contact authorities in emergencies. But officials found implementing the technology difficult since the county doesn’t give poll workers smartphones. They decided to give police radios to election workers instead.

In nearby Gwinnett County, the sheriff will be overseeing security for all its polling sites, even in unincorporated areas typically monitored by local police. The local schools are closed on Election Day, so school police officers will be deployed at polling sites there.

The local election office will have police officers, who been trained specifically on how to best work around an election, monitoring early voting and absentee ballot counting once it begins, said Zach Manifold, the county’s director of elections.

Daniel Baxter, the Detroit election official who oversees absentee counting, said poll worker pay was doubled in 2022 in hopes of easing recruitment and attracting more qualified personnel.

Poll workers this year who agree to work three shifts counting absentee ballots in the convention center, where Republican protesters tried to shut down ballot counting while making baseless allegations of fraud in 2020, will make $2,250.

In Milwaukee County, Wisconsin, police plan to shut down the street outside the building where the election results are tabulated to control access to the building, said Aaron Dobson, inspector for the Milwaukee County Sheriff’s Office.

In Colorado, where counties are required to undergo an election-related security analysis, the state is making funds available so that officials can make recommended upgrades.

For some county officials, that means upgrading their locks and cameras, while others have installed bulletproof glass and purchased bulletproof vests, according to Colorado Secretary of State Jena Griswold, a Democrat. Poll workers who work this election will also make an additional $3 an hour in pay, the same premium rate they made in 2020.

A new state law to fend off insider threats also requires that election equipment be under 24/7 surveillance and protected by keycard access.

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Griswold said officials in the state are preparing for threats they’ve never seen, including those stemming from artificial intelligence.

“We have layers of security — we have military and law enforcement joining our team to protect our cyber support systems,” she said. “People are voting on paper so that, of course, can’t be hacked, but what they’re doing is protecting our support systems.”

She and her staff routinely face threats. One person who made threats against her was arrested while Griswold was in the hospital giving birth.

“We are definitely on top of it, and take all of our security very seriously,” she said. “But the No. 1 thing we do is vote on a piece of paper.”

This story first appeared on NBCNews.com. More from NBC News:

• Fact check: Harris says law enforcement officers were killed on Jan. 6
• Steve Kornacki: The polls were off in 2020. Will they be again in 2024?
• Inside the New York elections that could decide control of Congress

 While it’s possible the election results could be known within hours and not days, the Democratic campaign is preparing for a much longer stretch — perhaps even an election “week” — without an outcome, these people said.

That plan could include several different speeches and venues for delivering them. Precisely what Harris says publicly and the backdrop for her remarks would depend on how Election Day and the rest of the week unfolds, the people familiar with the planning said.  

“Bottom line: we have to be ready for anything,” one of the people said.

The Harris campaign did not return a request for comment. 

The careful planning reflects the new reality presidential campaigns face after the drawn-out counting process in 2020, only heightened by how close the 2024 race appears to be and how long it could take for the final tallies to materialize in the key battleground states. 

Howard University is currently a leading contender for Harris’ election night headquarters, but no final decisions have been made. Other locations are being scouted as well, according to four of the people involved in the planning. Two of those people said that the D.C. convention center is one of the other options.

The idea of spending election night where the Harris campaign headquarters is located — President Biden’s hometown of Wilmington, Delaware — wasn’t a natural fit for the vice president, who is from California. She inherited the campaign and location of its headquarters from Biden when he dropped out of the race in July.

If a winner remains undeclared for days, it’s possible Harris could address the country multiple times, the people familiar with the planning said. If former President Donald Trump were to declare victory before the results are in, as he wrongly did in 2020, there would be a campaign strategy for handling that, they said.

The Harris campaign is also preparing for possible legal challenges that could end up deciding the race and has been assembling a team of lawyers to handle the potential battle with Trump’s attorneys, one of the people familiar with the planning said. 

Harris aides are also bracing for the possibility that Trump could lose but then seek to overturn the results through the courts, this person said. 

Though there are preparations developing behind the scenes, Harris aides don’t expect the vice president to talk about these various scenarios on the campaign trail because they don’t want to depress voters with the idea that their ballots could ultimately be discounted somehow by a legal outcome.  

“People need to go out and vote. You don’t want people thinking about legal challenges,” one Harris aide said. 

Beyond the length of time it took to call the election in 2020, the Harris team is also looking to lessons from the 2000 election as a guide and hoping to avoid a very protracted battle. 

As a trained attorney, Harris herself has thought about how Trump could react in various scenarios, one Harris aide said. 

And as the vice presidential nominee last cycle, she had a front row seat to how the process played out when Trump lost but repeatedly claimed he won. That began with Trump declaring himself the winner during remarks at the White House in the overnight hours of Election Day.

Biden, for his part, also spoke briefly on election night, slightly before 1 a.m. He appeared from Wilmington, Delaware, and urged Americans to be patient as the nation awaited results. 

“We feel good about where we are, we really do,” Biden said at the time. “We’re gonna have to be patient until the hard work of tallying votes is finished and it ain’t over until every vote is counted.”  

Biden then spoke several more times that week, both to reporters and to the nation, saying he was “confident” he and Harris would be declared the winners once all was settled but said they were still waiting for a final call. 

Once that happened on Saturday, four days after the election, Biden and Harris both delivered victory speeches from Wilmington.

NBC News’ Peter Alexander and Tara Prindiville contributed.

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“If something seems off, it probably is,” Dawson warns in the video spot, shared exclusively with NBC News. 

Other celebrities featured in the video include Chris Rock, Laura Dern, Michael Douglas, Amy Schumer and Jonathan Scott delivering the message that Americans should rely on state secretaries of state for information about voting in the 2024 election and not to fall for unverified claims about alleged changes at polling stations.

The celebrities say Americans may receive a fake message claiming voting has been extended, or a polling location has closed or changed due to an emergency, or that new documentation is required to vote. “These are all scams designed to trick you into not voting. Don’t fall for it,” the celebrities say.

At the end, the video reveals that some of the Hollywood stars are mere deepfakes, with their voices and images superimposed on other actors.

The public service announcement, organized by the nonpartisan group RepresentUs and set to appear on YouTube, comes amid growing concern that artificial intelligence technology could be used to confuse Americans about the time, place or manner of voting at their local polling places.

False information and other dirty tricks aimed at discouraging people from going to the polls is nothing new. But increasingly advanced A.I. tools could make it easier to confuse and deceive voters with video and audio that looks and sounds plausible, experts say.

“We’re not going to stop this from coming into existence,” said Miles Taylor, one of the organizers of the campaign. “But what we can do is make people aware that this is the new spam, that this is going to be the type of thing they see all the time online that tries to deceive them, and to make sure that they don’t fall for that deception, especially in a critical period of democratic transition.”

In January, AI-generated deepfake robocalls mimicking President Joe Biden’s voice urged voters to stay home and not take part in the New Hampshire Democratic primary. And last month, a deepfake caller posing as Ukraine’s former foreign minister held a Zoom meeting with the chairman of the Senate Foreign Relations Committee, Democratic Sen. Ben Cardin of Maryland. 

If the technology “can be deployed against sitting U.S. senators effectively, then your average voter could be a potential target,” said Taylor, a former senior official in the Department of Homeland Security during the Trump administration who resigned in 2019 and publicly criticized the former president.Taylor and other organizers said that as AI technology improves at a rapid pace, raising public awareness will be crucial to inoculating Americans against attempts to spread false information, especially during an election year.

Joshua Graham Lynn, CEO and founder of RepresentUs, said that using a light-hearted approach with celebrities offered a way to alert Americans to the issue without causing panic.

“It was really important on this particular issue to get the point across, to not freak people out, but to get them thinking about it,” Lynn said. 

All the celebrities involved “were enthusiastic about doing it because they want to get the message in front of voters,” Lynn said.

Instead of trying to mimic a nationally known figure, the effort to mislead voters could try to use a deepfake to persuade a voter that they are hearing from a local election official or a church leader, experts and former election officials say. 

“You could make quite a lot of havoc just by hitting a number of precincts across the country, and because it’s not a known individual, it would be a little harder to verify quickly,” said Kathy Boockvar, the former secretary of state in Pennsylvania.

Organizers of the campaign ran simulations over the past year to try to anticipate what might happen in this year’s election with AI-powered tools. “The most alarming scenarios were the ones where deep fake technologies were used to target local voters and to try to deceive them about their right to vote,” Taylor said.

The campaign does not attempt to tackle or fact-check the flood of false information circulating this election cycle, from candidates, commentators, deepfakes or other means. Instead, it focuses on verifiable, concrete details about when, where and how Americans can cast ballots on Election Day, Lynn said.”No one should come between an American and their vote,” Dawson said in a statement. “Unfortunately, it’s safe to say people are going to try.”

To assist understaffed state and local election offices in handling the onslaught of false information, including deepfakes, a nonpartisan coalition of more than 70 nonprofits have organized to help election authorities identify and debunk false information about voting before it goes viral. 

Efforts to mislead Americans about their ability to vote may have already begun, according to rights groups.

Last week in Wisconsin, voting rights advocates asked state and federal authorities to investigate anonymous text messages that seemed aimed at intimidating college students from voting. 

College students in Wisconsin are permitted to register to vote either at their home or their school address.

In the 2020 election, U.S. authorities accused Iran of sending emails to Democratic voters in multiple battleground states aimed at intimidating them into voting for then-President Donald Trump. The emails falsely claimed to be from the far-right group Proud Boys and warned the recipients that “we will come after you” if they didn’t vote for Trump. It’s unclear to what degree it had any effect. Iran has denied trying to interfere in U.S. elections.

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Ysabel Jurado, a candidate for LA Council District 14, is addressing the backlash she received after her comments during a meet and greet with constituents at Cal State Los Angeles. In the recording, a student asks the councilmember hopeful what her stance on the police force is, and what her thoughts are on Councilmember Kevin De Leon’s funding for overtime for officers.

In response, Jurado is heard saying, “What’s that rapper’s? F— the police, that’s how I see them.”

Jurado issued a statement clarifying why her beliefs are shaped in that manner.

“In a meeting with students at Cal State LA, I quoted a lyric from a song that’s been part of a larger conversation on systemic injustice and police accountability for decades,” she said, referencing an NWA song. “But it was just a lyric — and I’m proud to be accessible to young people and students, listening to their concerns and treating them like the future leaders they are. That’s something my opponent has failed to do.”

Read below for Jurado’s full statement.

Some constituents expressed they thought Jurado’s response was crass.

“I just thought it was very immature,” said Margarita Amador, a resident of District 14. “Not only insulting LAPD, but law enforcement in general.”

Others didn’t think much of the candidate’s choice of words.

“I hear that every day from young people,” said Carlos Montes, another resident of District 14. “They wear little baseball caps with ‘FTP’ on it.”

In response to Jurado, LAPD Chief Dominic Choi issued a statement decrying her sentiments.

“Hearing the words ‘f— the police,’ is disappointing and diminishes the hard work and dedication of the men and women of the LAPD,” Choi said in his statement. “This divisive language only serves to erode what should be a positive and collaborative relationship between the police and the people we serve. Every day the men and women of the LAPD put their lives on the line to keep the people of Los Angeles safe, and I wish more people valued their sacrifice”

Incumbent candidate De Leon also denounced his opponent’s remarks.

“Those comments are simply disrespectful,” he said in a statement. “I stand where I’ve always stood, 100% behind our frontline officers who go out every day risking their lives to protect Angelenos across our city.”

Two years ago, De Leon was embroiled in his own scandal after a conversation between him, then-council president Nury Martinez and former councilmember Gil Cedillo was leaked. The recording included racist remarks against Indigenous Mexican immigrants and Councilman Mike Bonin’s son.

Jurado’s full statement below:

In a meeting with students at Cal State LA, I quoted a lyric from a song that’s been part of a larger conversation on systemic injustice and police accountability for decades. But it was just a lyric — and I’m proud to be accessible to young people and students, listening to their concerns and treating them like the future leaders they are. That’s something my opponent has failed to do.

My commitment to public safety remains as strong as ever. Let’s focus on what matters, as laid out by the LA Times last week: our city is teetering on the edge of a fiscal emergency. We’re in this mess because of reckless decisions, including massive payouts for police misconduct. The result? A city broke, unable to fix busted sidewalks, broken streetlights, or trim trees—services that keep us safe and whole; services that we desperately need. The safest cities in America invest in parks, recreation, youth development, and public infrastructure—departments that my opponent has voted to gut down to less than 1% of the budget.

When I’m elected, I’m ready to roll up my sleeves and fight for the services and departments that keep us safe, healthy, and whole. It’s not enough to be tough on crime — we’ve got to be tough and smart, and operate with the fiscal responsibility necessary to fix our lopsided budget. And I’m prepared to work with whoever I need to—whether it’s the LAPD or colleagues I may not always see eye to eye with—because my priority is delivering for our district, plain and simple. Our campaign is about real solutions, not distractions.

The once-routine business of running elections in America has become much more fraught with risk in the wake of the 2020 campaign, with poll workers facing harassment, violent threats and chaotic protests. It’s a dynamic that has forced many election officials out of the industry, while those who remain have taken in some cases dramatic steps to protect poll workers and voters ahead of Election Day. Some poll workers are also receiving pay bumps as incentives to stay on through a stressful voting period.

In interviews, county and state election officials shared details of security plans with NBC News.

Maricopa County, Arizona, has been a hotbed of conspiracy theories, protests and threats for years, fueled by baseless voter fraud claims from former President Donald Trump and his allies.

The county, the largest in one of the most critical battleground states on the map, will have some of the most intense security in the nation. Its tabulation center will have snipers on the roof, metal detectors and security at every entrance, drones surveilling overhead, and security cameras and floodlights to help law enforcement monitor the area.

There are also two layers of security fencing, and some workers will be bused in from off-site parking to accommodate the newly implemented measures.

“They spared no expense in 2022, they’re all in again this cycle,” Maricopa County Recorder Stephen Richer, a Republican, said of local law enforcement’s plans.

In Cobb County, Georgia, the sheriff will have officers at every early voting site and patrolling local precincts. The county has set up an emergency operations center at the local 911 call center, where the sheriff’s office, fire department and local utilities will be monitoring CCTVs and social media to keep an eye on everything from traffic and long lines to any potential disturbances at the polls.

“They’re going to pull up the cameras closest to all the 148 polling places to monitor for traffic, accidents, things like that — high volume,” said Tate Fall, the county’s director of elections.

The county allocated money for so-called panic buttons that would allow election workers to quickly contact authorities in emergencies. But officials found implementing the technology difficult since the county doesn’t give poll workers smartphones. They decided to give police radios to election workers instead.

In nearby Gwinnett County, the sheriff will be overseeing security for all its polling sites, even in unincorporated areas typically monitored by local police. The local schools are closed on Election Day, so school police officers will be deployed at polling sites there.

The local election office will have police officers, who been trained specifically on how to best work around an election, monitoring early voting and absentee ballot counting once it begins, said Zach Manifold, the county’s director of elections.

Daniel Baxter, the Detroit election official who oversees absentee counting, said poll worker pay was doubled in 2022 in hopes of easing recruitment and attracting more qualified personnel.

Poll workers this year who agree to work three shifts counting absentee ballots in the convention center, where Republican protesters tried to shut down ballot counting while making baseless allegations of fraud in 2020, will make $2,250.

In Milwaukee County, Wisconsin, police plan to shut down the street outside the building where the election results are tabulated to control access to the building, said Aaron Dobson, inspector for the Milwaukee County Sheriff’s Office.

In Colorado, where counties are required to undergo an election-related security analysis, the state is making funds available so that officials can make recommended upgrades.

For some county officials, that means upgrading their locks and cameras, while others have installed bulletproof glass and purchased bulletproof vests, according to Colorado Secretary of State Jena Griswold, a Democrat. Poll workers who work this election will also make an additional $3 an hour in pay, the same premium rate they made in 2020.

A new state law to fend off insider threats also requires that election equipment be under 24/7 surveillance and protected by keycard access.

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Griswold said officials in the state are preparing for threats they’ve never seen, including those stemming from artificial intelligence.

“We have layers of security — we have military and law enforcement joining our team to protect our cyber support systems,” she said. “People are voting on paper so that, of course, can’t be hacked, but what they’re doing is protecting our support systems.”

She and her staff routinely face threats. One person who made threats against her was arrested while Griswold was in the hospital giving birth.

“We are definitely on top of it, and take all of our security very seriously,” she said. “But the No. 1 thing we do is vote on a piece of paper.”

This story first appeared on NBCNews.com. More from NBC News:

• Fact check: Harris says law enforcement officers were killed on Jan. 6
• Steve Kornacki: The polls were off in 2020. Will they be again in 2024?
• Inside the New York elections that could decide control of Congress

The once-routine business of running elections in America has become much more fraught with risk in the wake of the 2020 campaign, with poll workers facing harassment, violent threats and chaotic protests. It’s a dynamic that has forced many election officials out of the industry, while those who remain have taken in some cases dramatic steps to protect poll workers and voters ahead of Election Day. Some poll workers are also receiving pay bumps as incentives to stay on through a stressful voting period.

In interviews, county and state election officials shared details of security plans with NBC News.

Maricopa County, Arizona, has been a hotbed of conspiracy theories, protests and threats for years, fueled by baseless voter fraud claims from former President Donald Trump and his allies.

The county, the largest in one of the most critical battleground states on the map, will have some of the most intense security in the nation. Its tabulation center will have snipers on the roof, metal detectors and security at every entrance, drones surveilling overhead, and security cameras and floodlights to help law enforcement monitor the area.

There are also two layers of security fencing, and some workers will be bused in from off-site parking to accommodate the newly implemented measures.

“They spared no expense in 2022, they’re all in again this cycle,” Maricopa County Recorder Stephen Richer, a Republican, said of local law enforcement’s plans.

In Cobb County, Georgia, the sheriff will have officers at every early voting site and patrolling local precincts. The county has set up an emergency operations center at the local 911 call center, where the sheriff’s office, fire department and local utilities will be monitoring CCTVs and social media to keep an eye on everything from traffic and long lines to any potential disturbances at the polls.

“They’re going to pull up the cameras closest to all the 148 polling places to monitor for traffic, accidents, things like that — high volume,” said Tate Fall, the county’s director of elections.

The county allocated money for so-called panic buttons that would allow election workers to quickly contact authorities in emergencies. But officials found implementing the technology difficult since the county doesn’t give poll workers smartphones. They decided to give police radios to election workers instead.

In nearby Gwinnett County, the sheriff will be overseeing security for all its polling sites, even in unincorporated areas typically monitored by local police. The local schools are closed on Election Day, so school police officers will be deployed at polling sites there.

The local election office will have police officers, who been trained specifically on how to best work around an election, monitoring early voting and absentee ballot counting once it begins, said Zach Manifold, the county’s director of elections.

Daniel Baxter, the Detroit election official who oversees absentee counting, said poll worker pay was doubled in 2022 in hopes of easing recruitment and attracting more qualified personnel.

Poll workers this year who agree to work three shifts counting absentee ballots in the convention center, where Republican protesters tried to shut down ballot counting while making baseless allegations of fraud in 2020, will make $2,250.

In Milwaukee County, Wisconsin, police plan to shut down the street outside the building where the election results are tabulated to control access to the building, said Aaron Dobson, inspector for the Milwaukee County Sheriff’s Office.

In Colorado, where counties are required to undergo an election-related security analysis, the state is making funds available so that officials can make recommended upgrades.

For some county officials, that means upgrading their locks and cameras, while others have installed bulletproof glass and purchased bulletproof vests, according to Colorado Secretary of State Jena Griswold, a Democrat. Poll workers who work this election will also make an additional $3 an hour in pay, the same premium rate they made in 2020.

A new state law to fend off insider threats also requires that election equipment be under 24/7 surveillance and protected by keycard access.

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Can you spot the celebrity ‘deepfakes' in a new ad warning against election disinfo?

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Want to follow election results like a pro? Here's what to watch in key states

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Griswold said officials in the state are preparing for threats they’ve never seen, including those stemming from artificial intelligence.

“We have layers of security — we have military and law enforcement joining our team to protect our cyber support systems,” she said. “People are voting on paper so that, of course, can’t be hacked, but what they’re doing is protecting our support systems.”

She and her staff routinely face threats. One person who made threats against her was arrested while Griswold was in the hospital giving birth.

“We are definitely on top of it, and take all of our security very seriously,” she said. “But the No. 1 thing we do is vote on a piece of paper.”

This story first appeared on NBCNews.com. More from NBC News:

• Fact check: Harris says law enforcement officers were killed on Jan. 6
• Steve Kornacki: The polls were off in 2020. Will they be again in 2024?
• Inside the New York elections that could decide control of Congress

Though former President Donald Trump visited a Pennsylvania McDonald’s location on Sunday, the fast-food giant is trying to stay neutral in the presidential race.

“As we’ve seen, our brand has been a fixture of conversation in this election cycle. While we’ve not sought this, it’s a testament to how much McDonald’s resonates with so many Americans. McDonald’s does not endorse candidates for elected office and that remains true in this race for the next President,” the company said in an internal message viewed by CNBC and confirmed by a source familiar with the matter.

Trump learned how to operate a fry cooker and work the drive-thru line during his short shift at a Feasterville, Pennsylvania, restaurant. He used the stunt as an opportunity to take more shots at his opponent, Vice President Kamala Harris.

Trump often accuses Harris of lying about working at McDonald’s for a summer in her twenties, but has offered no proof backing up the claim. Harris has denied the accusation. McDonald’s and its franchisees don’t have all of their employment records for workers dating back to the early 1980s, when the 60-year-old Harris would have worked there, the company said in the Sunday memo.

“Though we are not a political brand, we’ve been proud to hear former President Trump’s love for McDonald’s and Vice President Harris’s fond memories working under the Arches,” McDonald’s said.

Both McDonald’s and the franchisee who operates the location emphasized that the chain opens its doors to “everyone.”

“As a small, independent business owner, it is a fundamental value of my organization that we proudly open our doors to everyone who visits the Feasterville community,” franchisee Derek Giacomantonio said in a statement. “That’s why I accepted former President Trump’s request to observe the transformative working experience that 1 in 8 Americans have had: a job at McDonald’s.”

Although McDonald’s publicly supported the Black Lives Matter movement in 2020, it has tried to portray itself as an apolitical brand to avoid alienating customers. It follows a broader shift in Corporate America away from politics or initiatives perceived as ideological.

A number of companies, including Ford, Lowe’s and Harley-Davidson, have walked back their diversity, equity and inclusion policies and practices this year.

And that’s a change that many Americans want; only 38% of U.S. adults believe that businesses should take public stances, down from 48% in 2022, according to a Gallup-University of Bentley study conducted this spring. 

But McDonald’s has already been involved with another controversy this election cycle.

In late May, several viral social media posts criticized the burger giant’s affordability, citing everything from an $18 Big Mac meal at a Connecticut location to charts that alleged the chain’s prices had more than doubled over the last five years. Republicans latched onto the controversy, tying a jump in McDonald’s menu prices to Biden’s economic policy in a bid to win over voters fed up with inflation.

To quell the controversy, McDonald’s U.S. President Joe Erlinger wrote an open letter and released fact sheets about the company’s pricing.

— CNBC’s Kate Rogers contributed reporting

Vice President Kamala Harris is campaigning for president against Elon Musk at least as much as she is against former President Donald Trump, Mark Cuban said Monday, as he advocated for the Democratic nominee as the pro-business choice.

“It’s the Harris campaign versus Elon, not even versus Trump,” the billionaire investor and former “Shark Tank” host said on CNBC’s “Squawk Box.”

Cuban took a swipe at the Tesla and SpaceX CEO over Musk’s promise to give $1 million per day to the winner of a swing-state voter sweepstakes, calling it “innovative” and “desperate.”

But Cuban later predicted that if Harris wins, she “100%” could mend her relationship with Musk.

Cuban’s remarks were the latest volley between the two billionaires, who have taken on increasingly prominent campaign roles while ramping up attacks against each other.

Musk, who has contributed tens of millions of dollars to a pro-Trump super PAC, repeatedly mocked Cuban’s looks, after Cuban said that few other CEOs are backing the GOP nominee.

Cuban shot back on Thursday: “You can’t stop thinking about me @elonmusk Can you?”

“It’s ok. I understand. If I supported a candidate that was so incompetent I had to take over and fund their ground game, I would be looking for a distraction too,” Cuban added in the post on X, the social media platform Musk owns.

You can't stop thinking about me @elonmusk Can you ? It's ok. I understand.
If I supported a candidate that was so incompetent I had to take over and fund their ground game, I would be looking for a distraction too. https://t.co/2xkjac6fTB

— Mark Cuban (@mcuban) October 17, 2024

Cuban called out Musk again Monday morning on CNBC.

Asked for his view on the latest polls, which broadly show a neck-and-neck race between Harris and Trump, Cuban said, “Nobody really knows, and so really it comes down to get out the vote.”

“And the crazy thing is, it’s the Harris campaign versus Elon, not even versus Trump,” said Cuban.

Musk, the world’s richest man, has indeed emerged as one of the Trump campaign’s most prominent surrogates, as well as one of the biggest spenders in the 2024 election. He has led get-out-the-vote efforts in the key swing state of Pennsylvania and given nearly $75 million to his America PAC between July and early September alone.

Trump now regularly boasts of having Musk’s support, and has suggested that the CEO could take on a prominent role in his administration if he wins the election.

Musk, in turn, is embracing his status as one of Trump’s top backers.

pic.twitter.com/psdFwVL1PF

— Elon Musk (@elonmusk) October 21, 2024

On Saturday, Musk said he would randomly give $1 million per day to registered voters who sign a petition for that PAC.

“It’s innovative and it’s desperate,” Cuban said of that giveaway on CNBC. “You only do that because you think you have to.”

Cuban conceded that a sweepstakes is “not a bad idea,” but he wasn’t convinced that it would work.

“It just as easily could backfire,” he said, “but you don’t know until you try.”

Cuban went on to deliver a multipronged argument for Harris as a better presidential candidate for small businesses and the economy while contrasting her with Trump.

He said that Harris has promised not to raise taxes on Americans making $400,000 a year or less, which Cuban noted is a group that covers most small-business owners.

Cuban, the founder of Cost Plus Drugs, also pointed to Harris’ focus on lowering health care and pharmaceutical prices by taking on pharmacy middlemen. He argued that those savings could offset inflation for households and small businesses.

“She has come out and talked about it. Donald Trump hasn’t said a word.”

He also argued that Harris’ approach to addressing illegal immigration would be better for businesses than the mass-deportation plan put forward by Trump.

“I sat in front of restaurant owners and I asked, ‘What would it be like if all of a sudden you’ve got a knock on your door and there was somebody from Stephen Miller squad asking you for the names and addresses and immigration status of everybody that works for you?'” Cuban said.

“That’s not how you can run a country.”

Cuban also repeated his criticisms of Trump’s vow to use sweeping tariffs as a main tool of both his economic and foreign policy. Cuban said it was “insane” that Trump proposed using tariffs to deter a Chinese incursion into Taiwan.

The campaign visit in the critical battleground state just over two weeks from Election Day was designed to troll Harris, who has talked about working at one of the fast food chain’s restaurants when she was younger. Without evidence, Trump has accused Harris of lying about the experience as a way to improve her working-class credibility.

Trump repeated his unsubstantiated claims Sunday.

“It was a big part of her resume that she worked at McDonald’s — how tough a job it was,” Trump said at the restaurant in Feasterville, Pennsylvania. “She … made the french fries, and she talked about the heat: ‘It was so tough.’ She’s never worked at McDonald’s.”

Harris spokesperson Ian Sams shot back in a statement to NBC News.

“When Trump feels desperate, all he knows how to do is lie,” Sams said. “He can’t understand what it’s like to have a summer job because he was handed millions on a silver platter, only to blow it.”

Harris, according to her campaign, worked at a McDonald’s in Alameda, California, during the summer of 1983. She was a student at Howard University at the time and worked the register, as well as the french fry and ice cream machines.

Trump’s own love of fast food is well-documented. During a government shutdown in 2019, he famously served McDonald’s, Burger King, Wendy’s and Domino’s pizza on silver platters to welcome and celebrate the national college football champion Clemson Tigers during their White House visit.

During his half-hour shift Sunday, Trump traded his suit jacket for an apron and received a brief tutorial from a fry cook. He then took a turn at the deep fryer himself, dropping two batches of potatoes into hot oil and waiting for them to cook. He mostly followed instructions, though he forgot to fully drain the oil from one batch and appeared to be more generous with the salt.

Trump marveled repeatedly about how the fries are packaged, with the aid of a scooper-like device.

“Never touched by a human hand,” he said at one point. “Nice and clean.” 

Trump then turned his attention to the drive-through window, filling several orders and chatting with customers as they came by in their cars.

“This is not a normal situation, is it?” he remarked, before assuring customers they would not have to pay for their food and bragging that he had made their fries himself.

“There will be no charge,” he said. “Trump is paying for it. … This is all on Trump, am I allowed to do that?”

Several customers called out Trump’s “Make America Great Again” slogan as they came through the line.

“I wouldn’t mind this job,” Trump said. “I like this job. I would come back and do it again.”

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The franchise was closed for normal business during Sunday’s visit, and it was not immediately clear how the drive-through customers served by Trump were selected. In a statement, the location’s owner and operator, Derek Giacomantonio, said that he decided to participate in the Trump campaign event because “it is a fundamental value of my organization that we proudly open our doors to everyone who visits the Feasterville community.”

Trump also served up fries to and took questions from gathered reporters. He dodged directly answering whether the federal minimum wage should be raised.

“Oh, you’re very stingy with the product,” he said to an employee filling bags with fries. “Look at that. She’s a good worker. That’s the kind of people you want to have. She gave them one french fry for 30 reporters.”

Toward the end of his appearance, Trump was informed it was Harris’ 60th birthday.

“I think I’ll get her some flowers,” he said. “Maybe I’ll get her some fries.”

This story first appeared on NBCNews.com. Read more from NBC News here:

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Elon Musk said Saturday that he would randomly award $1 million a day to registered voters who sign a petition for his pro-Trump political action committee in an effort to get his fans in swing states to the polls.

Speaking at an America PAC event in Harrisburg, Pennsylvania, Musk said, “I have a surprise for you,” adding that the prize money is available “every day from now until the election.”

Musk then called up a man named John Dreher, who he said was one of the petition signees in attendance, and handed him a giant check.

“I think think it’s kind of fun, and you know, it seems like a good use of money basically,” said the Tesla CEO, who is worth almost $250 billion.

Musk, who is also CEO of defense contractor SpaceX and owner of social media platform X, embarked on a speaking tour in Pennsylvania to drive voter registration in his support of the Republican nominee. He called the state the “linchpin” in this election.

“How Pennsylvania goes I think is how the election goes,” Musk said.

The deadline to sign the petition is Monday night, which is the day Pennsylvania’s voter registration closes. The petition, posted on the America PAC website, said that to be eligible for payments, signees “must be registered voters of Arizona, Georgia, Michigan, Nevada, North Carolina, Pennsylvania, or Wisconsin.”

Rick Hasen, a UCLA law professor and NBC news election law analyst, said in a blog post that Musk’s initiative appears to be a violation of federal election laws, specifically one that says a person who “pays or offers to pay or accepts payment either for registration to vote or for voting shall be fined not more than $10,000 or imprisoned not more than five years, or both.”

“Certain things in this country can be sold, and certain things we have decided should not be for sale,” Hasen told CNBC in an interview. “Congress has determined you should not be able to sell your vote to the highest bidder, and we should not have the political process distorted by people with the most wealth who may try to get you to vote in a certain way.”

CNBC reached out to Musk and one of his advisors for comment, but they didn’t respond.

In an interview with NBC’s “Meet the Press” on Sunday, Pennsylvania Democratic Gov. Josh Shapiro said Musk’s plan to give money to registered voters in his state is “deeply concerning” and “it’s something that law enforcement could take a look at.”

Floating conspiracy theories

At pro-Trump events, Musk has pushed debunked voter fraud conspiracies, called for deregulation, and repeatedly characterized President Biden and Vice President Kamala Harris, Donald Trump’s rival, as replaceable “puppets.”

“No one’s even bothering to try to kill Kamala, you know, because there’s no point,” Musk said on Saturday, repeating a line he’s used in the past that caught the attention of the secret service. “I’m not suggesting someone should try to kill her, it would be pointless, but I’m just saying. I’m just making an observation.”

Musk said in his appearances that he views many government agencies and regulations in the U.S. as ineffective and unnecessary. Trump has taken up an idea floated by Musk to create a government efficiency commission, and said the tech magnate would be a big part of the commission.

“We should not trust the government, really. We just shouldn’t,” Musk said Harrisburg. “Even if I’m in the government, don’t trust the government.”

While Musk’s companies have long relied on government spending and support, he’s berated the Federal Communications Commission, the Environmental Protection Agency, Federal Aviation Administration and National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration Fisheries for holding SpaceX back.

“We get crazy things,” Musk said, “like SpaceX got fined $140,000 for dumping potable drinking water on the ground at Starbase.”

As CNBC previously reported, SpaceX has repeatedly discharged hot, industrial wastewater into the wetlands surrounding the company’s launch pad in Boca Chica, Texas, which the EPA found was a Clean Water Act violation.

Musk mocked NOAA Fisheries for asking SpaceX to conduct a study to predict how its rockets could impact sharks and whales if they fall into the ocean.

“I’m like, it’s a big ocean, you know, there’s a lot of sharks. It’s not impossible, but it’s very unlikely,” Musk said. The agency’s mission is to “conserve America’s coastal and marine resources.”

Musk’s animosity towards President Biden picked up in 2021, when the White House declined to invite Tesla to an electric vehicle summit.

“You know, Tesla’s about 140,000 people — it’s like there’s a lot of blood, sweat and tears from people working hard to make great electric cars,” Musk said on Saturday. “To be could-shouldered like that for no reason. It’s like, what’s the deal?”

Musk has long battled unions, and Tesla was charged with union-busting before the EV summit. Biden has maintained a pro-labor platform throughout his presidency.

One attendee in Harrisburg asked Musk if he believed that self-driving cars should eventually be mandatory if they can perform more safely in traffic than human drivers. Tesla has promised customers a “robotaxi” for years, but never produced one.

Musk suggested he was against anything federally mandated.

“We should just get the government out of things and let the market figure it out,” he said. “I’m generally against government. With that, I’d like to thank you all for coming. It’s been an honor to speak with you.”

Musk only mentioned Trump sparingly throughout the evening, and didn’t discuss his policies or record as president in any detail.

WATCH: Elon Musk gives $75 million to pro-Trump PAC

“Bernie is radical left, and this one, Kamala, is further left,” Trump told the crowd at Arnold Palmer Regional Airport. “And then, so you have to tell Kamala Harris that you’ve had enough, that you just can’t take it anymore. We can’t stand you. You’re a s— vice president.”

Trump added the catchphrase from his bygone television show “The Apprentice” to cheers: “Kamala, you’re fired,” he said. “Get the hell out of here.”

Trump told the crowd that profanity helps him put emphasis on his arguments, but the more pointed attack also underscores a recent heightening of personal invective in a tight race that is in its final weeks. Trump regularly insults Harris’ intelligence, referring to her as “not a smart person” or having a “low IQ.” At a rally in Scranton, Pennsylvania, on Wednesday, he called her a “horrible person” and said he didn’t want to be nice.

Harris, campaigning in Atlanta on Saturday, ripped Trump for meandering in his public remarks. “He tends to go off script and ramble and generally for the life of him cannot finish a thought,” she said. “And he has called it the weave. But I think we here call it nonsense.”

Earlier in the day, in Detroit, Harris expounded on her case that Trump is not fit for the presidency.

“He’s becoming increasingly unstable and unhinged,” she said. “The American people are seeing it, witnessing it in real time. The American people deserve better than someone who seems to be unstable.”

Trump spent 12 minutes at the beginning of his roughly 90-minute speech telling stories about Palmer, the late professional golfer for whom the airport was named. At one point, he suggested that Palmer had unusually large genitalia.

“He was strong and tough, and I refuse to say it, but when he took showers with the other pros, they came out of there they said, ‘Oh, my God. That’s unbelievable,'” Trump said.

The Harris campaign quickly pounced on the anecdote. One Harris campaign spokesperson, Sarafina Chitika, suggested that someone should do a “wellness check” on the former president, while another, Matt Corridoni, posted on X that Trump was “Having a totally normal one.” In a statement, her campaign sarcastically chided Trump for focusing on “the issue most important to voters in this election: a deceased golfer’s … anatomy.”

An NBC News poll earlier this month showed Harris and Trump tied at 48% apiece nationally, while state polls in Pennsylvania and other battlegrounds have consistently placed them within the margin of error of each other.

Harris portrayed Trump Saturday as too tired for the job they both seek, a partisan reversal of Republican claims that President Joe Biden is incapacitated. Trump, for his part, called Biden “mentally deficient” Saturday.

Biden dropped out of the race this summer and helped Harris lock down the Democratic nomination with his endorsement after he stumbled badly in a debate against Trump.

“Now he’s ducking debates and canceling interviews because of exhaustion,” Harris said. Trump canceled an interview with NBC News’ senior business correspondent Christine Romans that was scheduled to tape on Monday; his campaign said it would reschedule but had not yet done so.

He also backed down from a CNBC interview and a planned appearance at a National Rifle Association event in recent days.

On Friday, during an exchange with reporters in Michigan, Harris took a cleaner swing at Trump over his energy level.

“Being president of the United States is probably one of the hardest jobs in the world,” Harris said. “And so, we really do need to ask if he’s exhausted being on the campaign trail, is he fit to do the job?”

This story first appeared on NBCNews.com.  More from NBC News:

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Former President Donald Trump on Saturday railed against fellow billionaire Mark Cuban, who has been vigorously campaigning for his Democratic opponent, Vice President Kamala Harris.

“Mark Cuban is a Loser,” Trump wrote in a Saturday Truth Social post. “Wouldn’t take his phone calls anymore while at the White House, and he went rogue. A weak and pathetic ‘bully,’ he’s got nothing going. Really low clubhead speed, a total non-athlete!”

Trump’s insults come several days after Cuban mocked the Republican presidential nominee’s tariff proposals at a Harris campaign rally.

“Let me just tell you, this man has so little understanding of tariffs, he thinks that China pays for them,” Cuban said of Trump at a Harris rally in Wisconsin on Thursday.

Trump has proposed a 20% universal tariff on all imports and an even higher 60% rate for Chinese imports. The plan has faced criticism from economists, who note that U.S. importers and consumers would ultimately shoulder the cost burden of such a hardline approach.

The animosity between two billionaires is a stark pivot from 2015 when Cuban praised Trump as the “best thing to happen to politics in a long time,” in a “Fox & Friends” interview.

Trump in turn thanked him for the kind words.

Cuban ended up endorsing former Secretary of State Hillary Clinton in the 2016 election. And in the years since, his once-friendly relationship with Trump has only grown icier.

This election cycle, Cuban has become a regular Harris campaign surrogate as the vice president works to frame herself as a pro-growth capitalist.

The former “Shark Tank” host could have his sights on a government position of his own, repeatedly floating the idea of replacing Securities and Exchange Commission Chair Gary Gensler, for example.

Meanwhile, Trump has enlisted Elon Musk as his own mega-billionaire campaign surrogate, fueling another rivalry with Cuban.

“You can be one of the world’s greatest entrepreneurs literally of the last century and be a f—ing troll at the same time,” Cuban said of Musk in a Friday interview on “Real Time With Bill Maher.”

Former President Donald Trump’s pledge to “launch the largest deportation operation in the history of our country” would hamstring construction firms already facing labor shortages and push record home prices higher, say industry leaders, contractors and economists, according to NBC News.

“It would be detrimental to the construction industry and our labor supply and exacerbate our housing affordability problems,” said Jim Tobin, CEO of the National Association of Home Builders. The trade group considers foreign-born workers, regardless of legal status, “a vital and flexible source of labor” to builders, estimating they fill 30% of trade jobs like carpentry, plastering, masonry and electrical roles.

Nearly 11 million undocumented immigrants were living in the U.S. as of 2022, the latest federal data shows, down from an 11.8 million peak in 2007. The construction sector employs an estimated 1.5 million undocumented workers, or 13% of its total workforce — a larger share than any other, according to data the Pew Research Center provided to NBC News. Industry experts say their rates are higher in Sun Belt states like Florida and Texas, and more pronounced in residential than in commercial construction.

For Brent Taylor, home building has been “a very, very difficult industry the past few years, and it seems to only be getting worse.” His five-person, Tampa-based business hires subcontractors to perform all the labor, and if those firms’ employees “show up on my jobsite because they work for that company, I don’t know if they’re legal or not,” he said.

The labor pool is tight already, with the U.S. construction industry still looking to fill 370,000 open positions, according to federal data. If work crews dwindle further, “now I can only do 10 jobs a year instead of 20,” Taylor said. “Either I make half as much money or I up my prices. And who ultimately pays for that? The homeowner.”

Rhetoric or reality?

Trump hasn’t detailed how his proposed “whole of government” effort to remove up to 20 million people — far more than the undocumented population — would work, but he has made it central to his housing pitch. The Republican nominee claims mass deportations would free up homes for U.S. citizens and lower prices, though few economists agree. The idea has also drawn skepticism on logistical grounds, with some analysts saying its costs would be “astronomical.”

Doubts also run high among homebuilders that Trump would deliver on his promise.

“They don’t think it’s going to happen,” Stan Marek, CEO of the Marek Family of Companies, a Texas-based specialty subcontracting firm, said of industry colleagues. “You’d lose so many people that you couldn’t put a crew together to frame a house.”

Bryan Dunn, an-Arizona based senior vice president at Big-D Construction, a major Southwest firm, called “the idea that they could actually move that many people” out of the country “almost laughable.” The proposal has left those in the industry “trying to figure out how much is political fearmongering,” he said.

But while Trump has a history of floating outlandish ideas without seriously pursuing them — like buying Greenland — he has embraced other once-radical policies that reset the terms of political debate despite fierce criticism and litigation. That is especially true with immigration, where his administration diverted Pentagon money to build a border wall, banned travel from several Muslim-majority countries and separated migrant children from their parents.

Trump has emphasized his deportation pitch on the stump, at times deploying racist rhetoric like claiming thousands of immigrants are committing murders because “it’s in their genes.” This month he accused immigrant gangs of having “invaded and conquered” cities like Aurora, Colorado, which local authorities deny, saying they need federal assistance but want no part in mass deportations. Still, recent polling has found broad support for removing people who came to the U.S. illegally.

“President Trump’s mass deportation of illegal immigrants will not only make our communities safer but will save Americans from footing the bill for years to come,” Taylor Rogers, a Republican National Committee spokesperson for the campaign, said in a statement, referring to undocumented people’s use of taxpayer-funded social services and other federal programs.

Trump campaign press secretary Karoline Leavitt said in a statement that the former president’s remarks about genetics were “clearly referring to murderers, not migrants.”

Tobin said the NAHB has real concerns about the deportation proposal but is engaging with both campaigns. It has called on policymakers to “let builders build” by easing zoning and other regulatory hurdles and improving developers’ access to financing.

“The rhetoric on immigration, it’s at 11,” Tobin said. “We have to have a serious conversation in this country about immigration policy and reform, and we can no longer delay it.”

Marek, who has long advocated for more ways for undocumented people to work legally in construction, said reforms are decades overdue. As an employer, “I do everything I can to make sure everybody’s legal,” he said, even as the industry’s hunger for low-cost labor has created a shadow economy that he says often exploits the undocumented workers it depends upon.

“We need them. They’re building our houses — have been for 30 years,” he said. “Losing the workers would devastate our companies, our industry and our economy.”

‘The math is just not there’

There is evidence that foreign-born construction workers help keep the housing market in check. An analysis released in December 2022 by the George W. Bush Institute and Southern Methodist University found U.S. metro areas with the fastest-growing immigrant populations had the lowest building costs.

“Immigrant construction workers in Sun Belt metros like Raleigh, Nashville, Houston, and San Antonio have helped these cities sustain their housing cost advantage over coastal cities despite rapid growth in housing demand,” the authors wrote.

But builders need many more workers as it is. “The math is just not there” to sustain a blow from mass deportations, said Ron Hetrick, a senior labor economist at the workforce analytics firm Lightcast. “That would be incredibly disruptive” and cause “a very, very significant hit on home construction,” he said.

Private employers in the field have been adding jobs for the past decade, with employment levels now topping 8 million, over 1 million more since the pandemic, according to payroll processor ADP. But as Hetrick noted, “the average high school student is not aspiring to do this work,” and the existing workforce is aging — the average homebuilder is 57 years old.

Undocumented workers would likely flee ahead of any national deportation effort, Hetrick said, even though many have been in the U.S. for well over a decade. He expects such a policy would trigger an exodus of people with legal authorization, too.

“That’s exactly what happened in Florida,” he said.

Past as prologue

Last year, the state’s Republican governor, Ron DeSantis, enacted a series of restrictions and penalties to deter the employment of undocumented workers. Many immigrant workers hastily left the state even before the policies took effect, with social media videos showing some construction sites sitting empty.

“These laws show that they have no idea what we do,” said Luciano, a carpenter who is originally from Mexico and has worked on residential builds across South Florida for the past decade.

“No one else would work in the conditions in which we work,” the 40-year-old said in Spanish, asking to be identified by his first name because he lacks legal immigration status, despite living in the U.S. for over 20 years. Workers on jobsites “have an entry time but no exit time,” often logging 70-hour weeks in rain and extreme heat, he said.

Taylor recalled fellow Florida builders’ panic at the time of the statewide crackdown but said he reassured them, “Look, just give it six months. We don’t have enough people to enforce it, so they’re coming back.”

Republican state Rep. Rick Roth, who voted for the measure, later conceded that Florida was unprepared for the destabilization it would cause and urged immigrant residents not to flee, saying the law “is not as bad as you heard.”

Some workers returned after realizing the policies weren’t being rigorously enforced, Taylor said: “Sure enough, now things are more normal.”

DeSantis’ office didn’t respond to a request for comment.

When Arizona in 2010 enacted what were then some of the toughest immigration restrictions in the country, Dunn was working in Tempe as an executive at a construction management firm. As the legislation rolled out, he said, “a lot of people moved away, and they just never came back.”

By the time much of the law was overturned in 2012, he said, “Arizona had a bad rap” relative to other states that “were a lot more open and just less of a hassle to go work in.”

Dunn, a Democrat, said he’s “definitely” backing Vice President Kamala Harris, but other construction executives sounded more divided. Marek, a “lifelong Republican,” declined to share how he’s voting but noted that “a lot of Republicans aren’t voting for Trump.”

Taylor also wouldn’t say which candidate he’s supporting but praised Trump’s ability to “get things done.”

“There are many other issues with the economy that we are fighting daily that have nothing to do with immigration reform,” he said. “I am not a one-policy voter.”

This story originally appeared on NBCNews.com. Read more from NBC News:

• Harris focuses on winning over disaffected Republicans as the election draws near
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The once-routine business of running elections in America has become much more fraught with risk in the wake of the 2020 campaign, with poll workers facing harassment, violent threats and chaotic protests. It’s a dynamic that has forced many election officials out of the industry, while those who remain have taken in some cases dramatic steps to protect poll workers and voters ahead of Election Day. Some poll workers are also receiving pay bumps as incentives to stay on through a stressful voting period.

In interviews, county and state election officials shared details of security plans with NBC News.

Maricopa County, Arizona, has been a hotbed of conspiracy theories, protests and threats for years, fueled by baseless voter fraud claims from former President Donald Trump and his allies.

The county, the largest in one of the most critical battleground states on the map, will have some of the most intense security in the nation. Its tabulation center will have snipers on the roof, metal detectors and security at every entrance, drones surveilling overhead, and security cameras and floodlights to help law enforcement monitor the area.

There are also two layers of security fencing, and some workers will be bused in from off-site parking to accommodate the newly implemented measures.

“They spared no expense in 2022, they’re all in again this cycle,” Maricopa County Recorder Stephen Richer, a Republican, said of local law enforcement’s plans.

In Cobb County, Georgia, the sheriff will have officers at every early voting site and patrolling local precincts. The county has set up an emergency operations center at the local 911 call center, where the sheriff’s office, fire department and local utilities will be monitoring CCTVs and social media to keep an eye on everything from traffic and long lines to any potential disturbances at the polls.

“They’re going to pull up the cameras closest to all the 148 polling places to monitor for traffic, accidents, things like that — high volume,” said Tate Fall, the county’s director of elections.

The county allocated money for so-called panic buttons that would allow election workers to quickly contact authorities in emergencies. But officials found implementing the technology difficult since the county doesn’t give poll workers smartphones. They decided to give police radios to election workers instead.

In nearby Gwinnett County, the sheriff will be overseeing security for all its polling sites, even in unincorporated areas typically monitored by local police. The local schools are closed on Election Day, so school police officers will be deployed at polling sites there.

The local election office will have police officers, who been trained specifically on how to best work around an election, monitoring early voting and absentee ballot counting once it begins, said Zach Manifold, the county’s director of elections.

Daniel Baxter, the Detroit election official who oversees absentee counting, said poll worker pay was doubled in 2022 in hopes of easing recruitment and attracting more qualified personnel.

Poll workers this year who agree to work three shifts counting absentee ballots in the convention center, where Republican protesters tried to shut down ballot counting while making baseless allegations of fraud in 2020, will make $2,250.

In Milwaukee County, Wisconsin, police plan to shut down the street outside the building where the election results are tabulated to control access to the building, said Aaron Dobson, inspector for the Milwaukee County Sheriff’s Office.

In Colorado, where counties are required to undergo an election-related security analysis, the state is making funds available so that officials can make recommended upgrades.

For some county officials, that means upgrading their locks and cameras, while others have installed bulletproof glass and purchased bulletproof vests, according to Colorado Secretary of State Jena Griswold, a Democrat. Poll workers who work this election will also make an additional $3 an hour in pay, the same premium rate they made in 2020.

A new state law to fend off insider threats also requires that election equipment be under 24/7 surveillance and protected by keycard access.

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Griswold said officials in the state are preparing for threats they’ve never seen, including those stemming from artificial intelligence.

“We have layers of security — we have military and law enforcement joining our team to protect our cyber support systems,” she said. “People are voting on paper so that, of course, can’t be hacked, but what they’re doing is protecting our support systems.”

She and her staff routinely face threats. One person who made threats against her was arrested while Griswold was in the hospital giving birth.

“We are definitely on top of it, and take all of our security very seriously,” she said. “But the No. 1 thing we do is vote on a piece of paper.”

This story first appeared on NBCNews.com. More from NBC News:

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After Musk pushed a debunked voter fraud conspiracy theory Thursday evening at a pro-Trump town hall event in Pennsylvania, he announced in an X post that he was doubling his financial offer for engagement with the petition, which had been set at $47. He said the deadline to sign the petition is Monday night, the day that Pennsylvania voter registration closes. 

“If you’re a registered Pennsylvania voter, you & whoever referred you will now get $100 for signing our petition in support of free speech & right to bear arms,” Musk wrote.

Musk initially launched the petition and referral offer in early October. His America PAC released the petition, which is in support of the Constitution’s First and Second amendments. For anyone who refers a registered swing state voter to sign it, Musk promised to mail a check. For the current offer, he said checks will be mailed to voter addresses on file in Pennsylvania. 

The program appears to avoid breaking campaign finance laws, which make it illegal to pay people to register to vote, because the payment is for signing the petition and referring registered voters to sign the petition, rather than for registration. 

However, Musk, the world’s richest person, has vocally urged swing state voters in Pennsylvania to vote for former President Donald Trump, saying Thursday that the 2024 election will decide the “fate of America” and “the fate of Western civilization.” 

Previously vowing to stay apolitical, Musk has sharply veered to support conservatives since taking over X, formerly Twitter. Over the summer, he endorsed Trump and has ramped up various means of support for the candidate. Recent disclosures show that Musk has donated $75 million to his own pro-Trump super PAC. 

Musk also joined Trump at a campaign rally in Pennsylvania and plans to continue hosting town halls in the state, which he said is the “linchpin” for the election, through Monday. 

On X, where he is the most-followed person with over 200 million followers, Musk has repeatedly pushed false and inflammatory claims on topics including immigration, free speech and voter fraud. 

Musk’s America PAC has also paid to run ads on Facebook and Instagram for voter registration in swing states. In August, the PAC collected voter data but only directed certain zip codes to an official way to register to vote, a move that courted significant controversy. Election officials in Michigan and North Carolina investigated whether the website was misleading voters, but Michigan said it hadn’t found any evidence of violating state campaign finance law. 

This article first appeared on NBCNews.com. Read more from NBC News here:

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Trump also called special counsel Jack Smith, who has faced threats from Trump supporters as well, “a sick puppy” — a term he frequently deploys against figures he dislikes — during a podcast with right-wing media personality Dan Bongino.

Trump slammed the judge for releasing hundreds of pages of documents Friday — most of them heavily redacted — that Smith had submitted in connection with an earlier filing arguing against Trump’s motion to dismiss the case.

The filings released on Friday are heavily redacted and largely include information that was already public. They do show that Smith’s team is relying upon transcripts of interviews and other information disclosed by the House Jan. 6 Committee, which dissolved after Democrats lost the House in 2022.

Trump called the release of the documents “election interference” during his podcast appearance and said it was “a terrible thing, what’s happening. And the judges, this judge is the most evil person.”

“They all said, ‘Well, make sure you don’t get Chutkan.’ And who did I get? I got Chutkan. So, you know, they supposedly pick, they pick balls, right?” Trump continued, referring in lottery-like terms to the random selection system used to assign federal judges to cases. “It’s not — I don’t think it works that way, but that’s what they say. That’s the way it’s supposed to be. You pick out of a hat, and that’s the judge.”

In the other federal case brought by Jack Smith, Trump infamously drew one of his own appointees to the bench, Aileen Cannon, who regularly favored Trump in court and ultimately dismissed the entire case, a decision the Justice Department is appealing.

Chutkan’s security detail has noticeably grown since she was assigned the Trump case, and targets of Trump’s ire have time and time again been the subject of threats from his fan base.

Last year, a Texas woman was arrested and charged with making racist threats against Chutkan. “You are in our sights, we want to kill you,” Abigail Jo Shry allegedly said, according to federal authorities. “If Trump doesn’t get elected in 2024, we are coming to kill you, so tread lightly, b—-.”

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Shry has not entered a plea in the case, but her court docket shows she has undergone substance abuse treatment and her trial is set for next month.

Earlier this year, Chutkan was a victim of a separate “swatting” call, meaning a false report to law enforcement that triggers a police response to the target’s home.

Chutkan began overseeing the Trump case following his first federal indictment in the Jan. 6-related case in August 2023 and made clear from the beginning that Trump’s 2024 presidential candidacy would have no impact on her handling of the case. Trump’s team then engaged in a delay strategy, which paid off; their argument over presidential immunity made its way up to the Supreme Court, which ruled out the use of some of Smith’s evidence and kicked back the case until after the election.

When Chutkan got the case back from the Supreme Court, she set about implementing a schedule to determine outgoing issues, including settling what types of evidence could be used following the high court’s ruling. As part of that litigation, and in response to an argument from Trump’s lawyers that the indictment did not allege that Trump was not responsible for the Jan. 6 attack, Smith’s team said that Trump did, in their view, bear responsibility for the attack. On Friday, Chutkan unsealed redacted appendixes associated with Smith’s argument, which upset Trump, he said, because the election is less than three weeks away.

“What judge would do that?” Trump said on Bongino’s podcast. “Forget about deranged Jack Smith. You know, judge is supposed to keep— what judge would say ‘We’re going to release something, you know, a couple of days before.'”

Trump is facing four charges in the Washington-based case — conspiracy to defraud the United States, conspiracy to obstruct an official proceeding, obstruction of and attempt to obstruct an official proceeding and conspiracy against rights — to which he has pleaded not guilty.

One key to Smith’s case is his contention that Trump knew the lies he spread to his followers about the 2020 election were, in fact, false. Earlier in the week, Chutkan issued a ruling denying most of Trump’s requests for additional discovery, calling an argument from Trump’s team that he might’ve been worried about foreign election interference — instead of the false claims of election fraud in majority-nonwhite cities that he was publicly spreading at the time — “strained.”

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But for some 4 million Californians who have yet to register to vote, Monday is the last day to register via mail.

Registration must be postmarked or submitted electronically by Monday, Oct. 21, 2024.

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Qualifications to register to vote

To register to vote in California, you must be:

• A United States citizen and a resident of California 
• 18 years old or older on Election Day
• Not currently serving a state or federal prison term for the conviction of a felony 
• Not currently found mentally incompetent to vote by a court

Qualifications to pre-register to vote

To pre-register to vote in California, voters must:

• Be 16 or 17 years old, and
• Meet all the prior requirements 

Applicants will automatically become registered to vote on their 18th birthday.

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Where to register to vote in California

Voters can register here via the online application. The application is available in English, Spanish, Chinese, Hindi, Japanese, Khmer, Korean, Tagalog, Thai, and Vietnamese.

Voters can also register via pen and paper by visiting an elections office, library, Department of Motor Vehicles offices, or U.S. post office Paper applications must be delivered to an elections office before Oct. 21. 

Students studying abroad can register to vote using the Federal Post Card Application or by using the California Online Voter Registration system. 

Same-day voter registration

Same day or conditional voter registration is for Californains who miss the deadline to register to vote or update their voter registration information for an election to still cast their ballot. Eligible citizens can complete this process at a designated county elections office, polling place, or vote centers, found here. 

Members of the military, overseas voters and voters with disabilities should contact their local county elections office to learn about the conditional voter registration and available voting options. 

Safe Vote at home

Voters fearful for their safety and are eligible can enroll in the California Safe at Home voter program. Applicants are eligible to participate if they have experienced the following:

• Victim of domestic violence, stalking, sexual assault, human trafficking, child abduction, and elder or dependent adult abuse.
• Reproductive health care provider, employee, patient, or volunteer who has experienced threats of violence, violence, or harassment because of their affiliation with a reproductive health care services facility.
• Public entity employee/contractor who has experienced threats of violence, violence, or harassment because of their work for a public entity.
• Are a household member of a category listed above.
• Are in fear for their safety, or for the safety of a minor child or incapacitated adult.

Interested participants must visit their local enrollment agency after making an appointment. Completed applications are then sent to Safe at Home for review and approval.  

The deadline to register to vote with Safe at Home is Oct. 21. Voters who miss the deadline can still register up until Election Day, however, they will not be a confidential voter.

Am I already registered?

Voters can check here if unsure about their voting status. Voters can also check:

• Where they are registered to vote
• Check their political party preference
• Check their language preference for election materials
• Check the status of their vote-by-mail or provisional ballot
• Choose how they want to receive your state and county voter guides before each election
• Find their polling place.
• Find information for upcoming local and state elections.
• Find contact information for your county elections office.

Canceling voter registration

Voters currently registered to vote in California and would like to cancel your voter registration can complete the California Voter Registration Cancellation Request Form, and submit it to the county elections office.

Cancellation forms are available in English, Spanish, Chinese, Hindi, Japanese, Khmer, Korean, Tagalog, Thai, and Vietnamese. 

The once-routine business of running elections in America has become much more fraught with risk in the wake of the 2020 campaign, with poll workers facing harassment, violent threats and chaotic protests. It’s a dynamic that has forced many election officials out of the industry, while those who remain have taken in some cases dramatic steps to protect poll workers and voters ahead of Election Day. Some poll workers are also receiving pay bumps as incentives to stay on through a stressful voting period.

In interviews, county and state election officials shared details of security plans with NBC News.

Maricopa County, Arizona, has been a hotbed of conspiracy theories, protests and threats for years, fueled by baseless voter fraud claims from former President Donald Trump and his allies.

The county, the largest in one of the most critical battleground states on the map, will have some of the most intense security in the nation. Its tabulation center will have snipers on the roof, metal detectors and security at every entrance, drones surveilling overhead, and security cameras and floodlights to help law enforcement monitor the area.

There are also two layers of security fencing, and some workers will be bused in from off-site parking to accommodate the newly implemented measures.

“They spared no expense in 2022, they’re all in again this cycle,” Maricopa County Recorder Stephen Richer, a Republican, said of local law enforcement’s plans.

In Cobb County, Georgia, the sheriff will have officers at every early voting site and patrolling local precincts. The county has set up an emergency operations center at the local 911 call center, where the sheriff’s office, fire department and local utilities will be monitoring CCTVs and social media to keep an eye on everything from traffic and long lines to any potential disturbances at the polls.

“They’re going to pull up the cameras closest to all the 148 polling places to monitor for traffic, accidents, things like that — high volume,” said Tate Fall, the county’s director of elections.

The county allocated money for so-called panic buttons that would allow election workers to quickly contact authorities in emergencies. But officials found implementing the technology difficult since the county doesn’t give poll workers smartphones. They decided to give police radios to election workers instead.

In nearby Gwinnett County, the sheriff will be overseeing security for all its polling sites, even in unincorporated areas typically monitored by local police. The local schools are closed on Election Day, so school police officers will be deployed at polling sites there.

The local election office will have police officers, who been trained specifically on how to best work around an election, monitoring early voting and absentee ballot counting once it begins, said Zach Manifold, the county’s director of elections.

Daniel Baxter, the Detroit election official who oversees absentee counting, said poll worker pay was doubled in 2022 in hopes of easing recruitment and attracting more qualified personnel.

Poll workers this year who agree to work three shifts counting absentee ballots in the convention center, where Republican protesters tried to shut down ballot counting while making baseless allegations of fraud in 2020, will make $2,250.

In Milwaukee County, Wisconsin, police plan to shut down the street outside the building where the election results are tabulated to control access to the building, said Aaron Dobson, inspector for the Milwaukee County Sheriff’s Office.

In Colorado, where counties are required to undergo an election-related security analysis, the state is making funds available so that officials can make recommended upgrades.

For some county officials, that means upgrading their locks and cameras, while others have installed bulletproof glass and purchased bulletproof vests, according to Colorado Secretary of State Jena Griswold, a Democrat. Poll workers who work this election will also make an additional $3 an hour in pay, the same premium rate they made in 2020.

A new state law to fend off insider threats also requires that election equipment be under 24/7 surveillance and protected by keycard access.

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Griswold said officials in the state are preparing for threats they’ve never seen, including those stemming from artificial intelligence.

“We have layers of security — we have military and law enforcement joining our team to protect our cyber support systems,” she said. “People are voting on paper so that, of course, can’t be hacked, but what they’re doing is protecting our support systems.”

She and her staff routinely face threats. One person who made threats against her was arrested while Griswold was in the hospital giving birth.

“We are definitely on top of it, and take all of our security very seriously,” she said. “But the No. 1 thing we do is vote on a piece of paper.”

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Republicans were counting down the days until he left office, McConnell said at the time. He also called the “narcissistic” Trump unfit for office after he incited the attack on the U.S. Capitol on Jan. 6, and the Senate leader sobbed to his staff that day after their lives were put in danger, according to a copy of the book obtained by NBC News.

Those quotes and scenes are depicted in “The Price of Power,” a new book out this month by veteran journalist Michael Tackett, deputy bureau chief of The Associated Press. His reporting is based on almost three decades of private oral histories McConnell shared with Tackett, as well as more than 50 hours of interviews and thousands of McConnell’s personal and official records.

McConnell did not deny his statements about Trump as quoted in the book, when asked about it Thursday. “Whatever I may have said about President Trump pales in comparison to what JD Vance, Lindsey Graham, and others have said about him,” McConnell said in a statement, “but we are all on the same team now.”

In the book, McConnell, the longest-serving Senate leader in history, gives his unfiltered observations about presidents, House speakers, Cabinet officials, fellow senators and tech leaders. But his most scathing criticism was reserved for Trump.

Some of these remarks were reported earlier Thursday by the AP.

In late December 2020, a month after Joe Biden defeated Trump in the presidential election, McConnell skewered Trump for holding up billions of dollars in Covid relief funds.

“This despicable human being is sitting on this package of relief that the American people desperately need,” McConnell told his oral historian.

McConnell was also worried that Trump’s actions after losing the election — questioning Georgia’s election system and feuding with state officials there — could cost Republicans two Senate seats in the Peach State that same month. Republicans did end up losing both seats — and the Senate majority.

Trump is “stupid as well as being ill-tempered and can’t even figure out where his own best interests lie,” McConnell said at the time.

The GOP leader also said the American people showed “good judgment” in firing Trump in 2020, given his “erratic” behavior making false claims of election fraud and delaying the Covid package.

“I think I’m pretty safe in saying it’s not just the Democrats who are counting the days until he leaves on January 20,” McConnell said, “but the Republicans as well.”

An institutionalist who had served for decades in the Senate, McConnell was sickened by what happened at the Capitol on Jan. 6. The insurrectionists were “narcissistic, just like Donald Trump, sitting in the vice president’s chair taking pictures of themselves,” Tackett’s book quotes him saying. The events were “further evidence of Donald Trump’s complete unfitness for office.”

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After speaking on the Senate floor after the attack, McConnell addressed his staff, some of whom rode out the attack by barricading themselves in the Capitol, Tackett wrote. McConnell, a former Senate staffer himself, told his staffers how brave they were and that he appreciated them.

“McConnell, a man often characterized as almost soulless and possessing no emotion, started to sob softly, along with many on his staff,” Tackett wrote. “‘You are my staff, and you are my responsibility,’ McConnell told them. ‘You are my family, and I hate the fact that you had to go through this.’”

A month later, McConnell voted to acquit Trump in his Jan. 6 impeachment trial, though he called him “practically and morally responsible” for the attack.

In Tackett’s book, McConnell said he was certain that Trump’s actions amounted to an “impeachable offense” but he wrestled with the question of whether a former president could be impeached. Ultimately, McConnell voted to acquit Trump.

McConnell had also been furious at Trump over his racist attacks on McConnell’s wife, Elaine Chao, who served as Trump’s transportation secretary. The GOP leader said that he could take a punch but that his wife should be off-limits. “I can’t think of anybody I’d rather be criticized by than this sleazeball,” McConnell told Tackett. “So every time he takes a shot at me, I think it’s good for my reputation.”

Trump and McConnell, who is stepping down as the Senate Republican leader this year, have publicly feuded for years. But McConnell endorsed Trump for president earlier this year, saying he always planned to endorse the 2024 GOP nominee. The leader even appeared with Trump during his meeting with Senate Republicans in June just off Capitol Hill.

But less than three weeks before the election, the timing of McConnell’s damning remarks about Trump can’t be helpful to the nominee, who’s locked in a neck-and-neck battle with Vice President Kamala Harris.

“The Price of Power,” published by Simon & Schuster, will be out Oct. 29, one week before Election Day.

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The props include bond money for several projects, a change in how local governments get approval for those bonds and future money borrowing, the state minimum wage, rent control, prison labor, an existing tax for health-related funds and more.

Below, you’ll find summaries of each prop. Click on the prop number to learn more.

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Summaries of 10 California ballot props

• Proposition 2: Approval of bonds for public school and community college facilities.
• Proposition 3: Constitutional right to marriage.
• Proposition 4: Approval of bonds for protecting communities and natural lands from climate risks.
• Proposition 5: Allow for local bonds for affordable housing and public infrastructure with 55% voter approval instead of supermajority.
• Proposition 6: Eliminates constitutional provision allowing involuntary servitude in prisons.
• Proposition 32: Raises state minimum wage.
• Proposition 33: Expands local governments’ authority to enact rent control on residential property.
• Proposition 34: Restricts spending of prescription drug revenues by certain health care providers.
• Proposition 35: Provides permanent funding for Medi-Cal health care services.
• Proposition 36: Allows felony charges and increases sentences for certain drug and theft crimes.

How are propositions added to the California ballot?

There are two ways a ballot proposition can get on an election ballot in California.

First, the prop can be placed before voters by the California State Legislature.

Second, a prop can be added through a petition, which can be brought by anyone. If the petition receives enough signatures, it qualifies for the election ballot.

Important Nov. 5 general election dates

• Last day to register is Oct. 21
• Registered voters will get a vote-by-mail ballot. County elections office will begin mailing ballots by Oct. 7
• Ballot drop-off locations open Oct. 8. Click here for map of locations in Los Angeles County.
• Vote centers open for early in-person voting in all Voter’s Choice Act counties starting Oct. 26
• Election Day is Nov. 5.
• Vote-by-mail ballots must be postmarked on or before Election Day and received by Nov. 12

The complicated health policy and funding bill asks voters to make permanent an existing tax on managed health care insurance plans.

It has support from health and medical groups, and both Democrats and Republicans, but opponents say the plan could backfire. The debate over Prop 35 has made for some unusual coalitions of support and opposition.

Here’s what to know about Prop 35.

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What Prop 35 would do

The ballot prop would make permanent an existing tax on managed health care insurance plans. If the plan is approved by the federal government, the money would provide revenue for Medi-Cal health services, California’s public insurance program for low-income residents and people with disabilities. The money would fund programs for speciality care, emergency medical services, family planning, mental health, prescription drugs and more. Lawmakers would not be allowed to use the tax revenue to replace existing Medi-Cal spending.

Supporters say Prop 35 is necessary to secure needed funding without a new tax hike for health services. As Medi-Cal has grown, the state needs a reliable funding source to protect and and expand access to care under the program used by 15 million Californians, supporters say.

Opponents say restrictions on how the money is spent would limit future lawmakers’ ability to balance the state budget. The California Pan-Ethnic Health Network statement in opposition to the prop said its revenue structure likely would not receive required approval from the federal government, which would leave a funding gap and few options for lawmakers down the road.

From the ballot

Below is the language included on the election ballot for Prop 35.

A YES vote on this measure means: An existing state tax on health plans that provides funding for certain health programs would become permanent. New rules would direct how the state must use the revenue.

A NO vote on this measure means: An existing state tax on health plans would end in 2027, unless the Legislature continues it. The new rules would not become law.

Supporters of Prop 35

California Medical Association
Planned Parenthood Affiliates of California
California Hospital Association
California Dental Association
California Primary Care Association
California Democratic Party
California Republican Party

Opponents of Prop 35

League of Women Voters of California
California Pan-Ethnic Health Network
The Children’s Partnership
California Alliance for Retired Americans
Courage California

While Virginia isn’t a core battleground state this year, it does have more than two weeks of mail-in and early in-person voting already in the books, including hundreds of thousands of absentee ballots already cast. We closely monitor early-voting trends to set expectations for election night outcomes, and in Virginia a clear pattern has emerged that could be part of a national trend.

So-called consistent voters — those people who regularly show up to vote in most elections — have already made substantial use of early in-person voting in Virginia, particularly in the areas that tend to support Republican candidates. As several other states start early voting, we will be closely watching to see if similar patterns hold elsewhere, because early voting has important implications for how election results might unfold on election night.

Virginia’s first two weeks of voting by mail and early in-person voting suggest that the gap between the early vote in Republican and Democratic counties might be smaller in 2024 compared to 2020.

The table above shows how many votes and absentee ballots were cast in 2020 based on a jurisdiction’s overall lean toward Democratic or Republican candidates. In 2020, about 2.8 million, or 63%, of the roughly 4.5 million total votes in Virginia were cast before Election Day. However, there were substantial differences in the number of early voters based on a city or county’s partisan lean. In those cities and counties that strongly favor Democratic candidates, 70% of voters cast absentee ballots. In comparison, only about 50% of voters in Republican-leaning counties and cities cast absentee ballots.

The table below compares how many 2024 absentee ballots were recorded as returned by Oct. 11 in these same areas, according to TargetSmart, a voter data vendor. So far in 2024, more absentee voting has occurred in places that tend to support Republicans than places that tend to lean Democratic.

One way to capture this trend is by calculating the percentage of 2020 votes in an area that have already been cast in 2024 via absentee ballots. This ranges from about 12% in the areas that are most supportive of Democrats to almost 22% in those areas that lean toward Republicans. 

TargetSmart also provides information on how frequently these voters participated in the past three statewide general elections (the 2020 presidential election, the 2021 gubernatorial election and the 2022 midterm election).

Voters who have participated in most or all of these elections are almost certain to vote in the upcoming presidential election — which means that observing that these voters are casting their ballots well before Election Day instead of later does not tell us much about what the turnout will look like. However, if early voters are less consistent or new voters, it could signal a shift in electoral trends ahead of  November.

So far, it appears that about 90% of the people who have voted in Virginia are consistent voters who participated in at least two or three of these elections. And there are no meaningful differences in the share of consistent voters based on the partisan lean of the area.

While it might be tempting to interpret these patterns as evidence that consistent Democratic voters are going to cast ballots at lower rates than Republicans in Virginia, we assess that such a conclusion is premature. To see why, the table below uses data from the Virginia Public Access Project to show when voters cast absentee ballots in the state’s 2022 election.

Specifically, the table shows what share of the total absentee ballots cast were recorded 25 days before the election. The data shows that only about 21% of the early in-person ballots and 39% of the mail ballots had been cast at this point in 2022. Notably, a higher percentage of the absentee ballots had been cast in areas more supportive of Republicans than in areas more supportive of Democrats.

Why might voters in more Democratic-leaning areas cast their votes later than in areas more supportive of Republicans? One possible explanation is the availability of  “satellite voting locations” in some Virginia jurisdictions. These are additional locations, beyond the general registrar’s office of a county or city, where voters can cast early in-person ballots starting later in October. These satellite voting locations may make early in-person voting accessible in more populous areas, which tend to be more Democratic-leaning. We will be watching closely to see whether these differences by area even out, or possibly reverse, over the next couple of weeks as satellite voting begins.

If we continue to observe turnout lagging in Democratic areas relative to Republican areas after satellite voting begins, this would lead us to do more investigation about whether consistent Democratic voters appear to be less mobilized than normal this election cycle.

Why these patterns matter for the NBC News Decision Desk

Part of why the NBC News Decision Desk watches absentee voting so closely is because of its implications for the sequencing of how votes get reported on election night. The fact that Democrats were more likely to cast mail and early in-person ballots than Republicans made our work on the Decision Desk more challenging than normal in 2020.

We are accustomed to the fact that counties report election results at different speeds on election night. In some states, smaller, largely rural counties tend to report their votes first, while in others larger, mostly urban counties are the first to report. We have long used models that attempt to account for this unevenness by analyzing whether the counties that have reported more votes tend to lean more Democratic or Republican in past elections compared to counties that have reported fewer votes. These models help us assess what the current reported results suggest about the likely final outcomes.

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Prior to 2020, these models did not adequately account for the fact that counties also do not report different results by vote mode at the same speed. In some states, counties initially report the mail and early in-person votes, and then the Election Day votes. In others, this order is flipped.

As it became clear in 2020 that Democrats were going to disproportionately vote by mail or early in-person and Republicans were going to disproportionately vote on Election Day, we had to quickly improve our models to not only account for differences in the rates of reporting over counties, but also for differences in which vote modes had been counted. And while we are now in a better place to deal with this issue, it will still generally take us longer to project races in states where there are substantial partisan differences in voters’ use of mail and early in-person voting and differences in the speed of reporting by vote mode.

However, seeing these data out of Virginia make us cautiously optimistic that we may observe less partisan differences by vote mode in 2024 than in 2020, at least in states like Virginia that have extensive early in-person voting.

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The once-routine business of running elections in America has become much more fraught with risk in the wake of the 2020 campaign, with poll workers facing harassment, violent threats and chaotic protests. It’s a dynamic that has forced many election officials out of the industry, while those who remain have taken in some cases dramatic steps to protect poll workers and voters ahead of Election Day. Some poll workers are also receiving pay bumps as incentives to stay on through a stressful voting period.

In interviews, county and state election officials shared details of security plans with NBC News.

Maricopa County, Arizona, has been a hotbed of conspiracy theories, protests and threats for years, fueled by baseless voter fraud claims from former President Donald Trump and his allies.

The county, the largest in one of the most critical battleground states on the map, will have some of the most intense security in the nation. Its tabulation center will have snipers on the roof, metal detectors and security at every entrance, drones surveilling overhead, and security cameras and floodlights to help law enforcement monitor the area.

There are also two layers of security fencing, and some workers will be bused in from off-site parking to accommodate the newly implemented measures.

“They spared no expense in 2022, they’re all in again this cycle,” Maricopa County Recorder Stephen Richer, a Republican, said of local law enforcement’s plans.

In Cobb County, Georgia, the sheriff will have officers at every early voting site and patrolling local precincts. The county has set up an emergency operations center at the local 911 call center, where the sheriff’s office, fire department and local utilities will be monitoring CCTVs and social media to keep an eye on everything from traffic and long lines to any potential disturbances at the polls.

“They’re going to pull up the cameras closest to all the 148 polling places to monitor for traffic, accidents, things like that — high volume,” said Tate Fall, the county’s director of elections.

The county allocated money for so-called panic buttons that would allow election workers to quickly contact authorities in emergencies. But officials found implementing the technology difficult since the county doesn’t give poll workers smartphones. They decided to give police radios to election workers instead.

In nearby Gwinnett County, the sheriff will be overseeing security for all its polling sites, even in unincorporated areas typically monitored by local police. The local schools are closed on Election Day, so school police officers will be deployed at polling sites there.

The local election office will have police officers, who been trained specifically on how to best work around an election, monitoring early voting and absentee ballot counting once it begins, said Zach Manifold, the county’s director of elections.

Daniel Baxter, the Detroit election official who oversees absentee counting, said poll worker pay was doubled in 2022 in hopes of easing recruitment and attracting more qualified personnel.

Poll workers this year who agree to work three shifts counting absentee ballots in the convention center, where Republican protesters tried to shut down ballot counting while making baseless allegations of fraud in 2020, will make $2,250.

In Milwaukee County, Wisconsin, police plan to shut down the street outside the building where the election results are tabulated to control access to the building, said Aaron Dobson, inspector for the Milwaukee County Sheriff’s Office.

In Colorado, where counties are required to undergo an election-related security analysis, the state is making funds available so that officials can make recommended upgrades.

For some county officials, that means upgrading their locks and cameras, while others have installed bulletproof glass and purchased bulletproof vests, according to Colorado Secretary of State Jena Griswold, a Democrat. Poll workers who work this election will also make an additional $3 an hour in pay, the same premium rate they made in 2020.

A new state law to fend off insider threats also requires that election equipment be under 24/7 surveillance and protected by keycard access.

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Griswold said officials in the state are preparing for threats they’ve never seen, including those stemming from artificial intelligence.

“We have layers of security — we have military and law enforcement joining our team to protect our cyber support systems,” she said. “People are voting on paper so that, of course, can’t be hacked, but what they’re doing is protecting our support systems.”

She and her staff routinely face threats. One person who made threats against her was arrested while Griswold was in the hospital giving birth.

“We are definitely on top of it, and take all of our security very seriously,” she said. “But the No. 1 thing we do is vote on a piece of paper.”

This story first appeared on NBCNews.com. More from NBC News:

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At 22, she had an abortion at that same clinic and she remembers compassion and respect, the physician holding her hand and a recovery room with a heating pad, snacks and ginger ale.

So when West Virginia legislators passed a near total ban on abortions in 2022, she and the center’s board of directors looked across the border to Maryland and opened a second clinic there in a town called Rawlings. Almost a year to the day that the ban was approved, the new clinic saw its first patients for medication abortions, and since then, for procedural abortions up to 16 weeks. 

“Abortion bans are not about saving babies or protecting pregnant people,” Quinonez-Alonzo said. “They are about power and control.”

Now Maryland is one of 10 states with abortion-related measures on the ballot in November, most of which would protect abortion rights. Nine, including those in Maryland and Florida, where a six-week ban took effect in May, would add reproductive freedom to the state constitutions. Nebraskans, meanwhile, are being asked to choose between two competing citizen-initiated changes: recognize a right to an abortion up to viability or ban abortion in the second and third trimesters. (New York would add anti-discrimination protections for pregnancy to its Equal Rights Amendment with language that backers say would protect abortion rights but opponents argue would expand transgender rights for minors.)

Abortion is already legal in Maryland, without restrictions on how far along a pregnancy is, so why enshrine that right in the state’s constitution? 

“Constitutional protections are just stronger than statutory protections,” said Greer Donley, an associate professor at the University of Pittsburgh Law School and an expert on abortion. 

A future legislature intent on restricting abortion rights would have a more difficult time reversing an amendment in a state constitution than overturning a law, much as it is more difficult to amend the U.S. Constitution, Donley said.

"So I think one motivation is certainly to provide extra protections," she said.

Even with its current law in place, the state is vulnerable to attempts to limit abortions, said Adrienne Jones, the speaker of Maryland’s House of Delegates. In 2022, the state’s General Assembly allocated $3.5 million to train medical professionals other than physicians to perform the procedure, but then-governor Larry Hogan withheld the money. Hogan, now a U.S. Senate candidate, said through a spokesman that he did not believe "non-licensed physicians" should perform abortions.

“We can’t uphold the integrity of reproductive freedom in Maryland when access to reproductive services can be limited with the stroke of a pen,” Jones said.

A constitutional amendment would send a message to women across the country that Maryland will protect their right to make decisions about their bodies and for their families, she said. 

“Opening our state to women from West Virginia or Texas who are simply looking for a safe health-care option, represents the respect and freedom all women deserve to make decisions about their own lives,” she said. “I’m looking forward to be able to help them in Maryland.”

Jeffrey Trimbath, the president of the Maryland Family Institute, wants Maryland to be known for its beautiful beaches, not as an abortion destination.

In an open letter to Maryland residents, the institute called the state's abortion laws some of the most extreme in the country and said the amendment demanded "a firm conscientious NO vote." Trimbath knows that most Americans favor abortion rights, but says that groups like his need to do a better job changing minds.

He said the institute believed the amendment to be unnecessary, that it would make what he called common sense restrictions on abortion all but impossible and would undermine parental rights. 

“We’re concerned with the broad language of the amendment,” Trimbath said. “We think it’s rife for legal challenge. We’ll be monitoring that very closely.”

In the two years since Roe v. Wade was overturned by the U.S. Supreme Court, legislators in conservative states have raced to pass abortion bans or other restrictions. Twenty states now have full bans in place or limits on abortion earlier than would have been possible under Roe v. Wade. In the rest of the country, abortion remains legal or the protections of abortion rights have increased.

At the ballot box, abortion rights proponents have had the advantage, winning all seven state measures that were voted on in those two years. But that could change this year in Florida in particular.

In 2022, California, Michigan and Vermont enshrined a right to an abortion in their state constitutions, Kansas voted against removing abortion rights protections from the constitution, and Kentucky rejected an amendment specifying that there was no right to an abortion, though a ban remains in place. Montana turned down an initiative that would have required medical interventions to save infants defined by the state as “born alive,” a measure doctors said could result in unnecessary procedures for infants who would not survive.

The following year, Ohio joined the states that had ensured a state constitutional access.

This year, abortion measures will be voted on in Arizona, Colorado, Montana, New York, Nevada and South Dakota, in addition to Maryland, Florida and Nebraska. In some states, the initiatives made it to the ballot only after court rulings and other battles with anti-abortion activists.

Florida’s faces the highest hurdle because 60% of the vote is needed for it to pass. It would protect the right to an abortion up until the viability of a fetus and when necessary to safeguard the mother’s health. A University of North Florida poll in July found 69% of likely voters indicating that they would vote yes on the amendment and 23% saying no. But a more recent poll from The New York Times and Siena College, released on Oct. 8, found the measure falling short, with only 46% of likely voters saying they would vote yes. 

Most of the other measures need only greater than 50% of the vote to pass, except Colorado which requires 55%. 

The administration of Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis is fighting the amendment, in ways some critics have said is unethical. Detectives have visited the homes of residents who signed petitions to qualify the referendum and the state Agency for Health Care Administration charged that the measure “threatens women’s safety.” It published a webpage last month with a headline reading, “Florida is Protecting Life - Don’t Let the Fearmongers Lie to You” 

DeSantis defended the website at a press conference, saying it was only providing information about Florida's law.

Legal attempts to block ballot initiatives are not limited to abortion measures, argued Peter Northcott, the National Right to Life director of state strategies.

"It makes sense that amending the constitution is not a process that just happens overnight and so there have been legal measures that have been put in place to ensure the integrity of a ballot initiative," he said. "I don’t think that that’s unique to ballot initiatives on this issue."

But Laura Goodhue, the executive director of Florida Alliance of Planned Parenthood Affiliates, see the state's efforts as intimidation.

“It’s yet again an example of government interfering in the will of Floridians,” Goodhue said. “We collected 1.4 million petitions. What’s more democratic than citizens petitioning their government?"

Under Florida's new restrictions, Planned Parenthood has seen a decrease in the number of women it has been able to provide abortions for because they are learning that they are pregnant beyond the six-week limit, she said. At the same time it has become more difficult for women to travel to other states for abortions because of the numbers, she said.

It is not a partisan issue, she said. The patients are both Democrats and Republicans.

"It’s been life changing, traumatic, horrific." she said.

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There are exceptions, although whether they are workable depends on whom you ask. The law allows for abortions at up to 15 weeks for pregnancies that are a result of rape, incest or human trafficking, but women must provide documentation such as a police report, which Goodhue said are typically impossible to obtain in a timely way. Abortions also are permitted to save the life of the woman and in the case of fatal fetal abnormalities if before the third trimester.

A 2024 survey on women’s health by the Kaiser Family Foundation found that three in four of women of reproductive age in Florida believe abortion should be legal in all or most cases. That includes 86% of Democrats and 51% of Republicans.

“Abortion access is something that is overwhelmingly supported by the public,” said Candace Gibson, the director of state policy for the Guttmacher Institute. The ballot measures are one of the few avenues people have to protect that access, she said.

"People have seen the success in the prior ballot measures," she said. "We have a half dozen states where people went out and supported abortion access and so I think for many advocates this is a viable tool to protect the right." 

And discrepancies between a state’s law and a constitutional amendment could later provide an opening for advocates to push to expand rights, Donley said, if for example a law bans abortion after fetal viability but an  amendment does not. 

Across the country, about two-thirds of women or 67% support a nationwide right to abortion, including both Democrats, at 79%, and Republicans, at 49%. More than half of women, 57%, oppose a nationwide ban at 15 weeks and even more, 69% oppose leaving the decision of whether abortion should be legal to states.

As a state bordering ones where the procedure is more restricted, Maryland draws women traveling for abortions. The Guttmacher Institute estimates that of the 39,000 clinician-provided abortions performed in Maryland in 2023, 4,000 were for women who came from other states. Most came from neighboring states, including 990 women from Pennsylvania, 800 from West Virginia and 1,260 from Virginia. 

In Maryland and elsewhere, supporters of abortion rights have been outraising their opponents by significant margins. Only in Nebraska are the totals close.

As of this month, supporters of abortion rights have raised nearly eight times as much as groups that are working against the amendments. The campaign in Florida is costing the most but it remains the most difficult to pass.

"The amount of money that is being spent on these ballot measures is breathtaking and I think is a big factor in what’s driving the results we’ve seen thus far and will certainly be a factor come November," Northcott said.

As of September, the Women's Health Center in Maryland has provided abortion care to 200 patients, with half of them coming from West Virginia. Another 100 or so patients have received sexual and reproductive health care such as annual exams, birth control, breast and cervical cancer screenings, Pap smears and breast exams as well as gender affirming hormone therapy, Quinonez-Alonzo said.

"I know personally how crucial this health care is and the fact that it is politicized in the manner that it is, it's truly heartbreaking," said Quinonez-Alonzo, who had an earlier abortion at 17.

Her first came when she was in what she described as a controlling, mentally abusive relationship before she had a chance to go to college; the second when she had just graduated and had just started dating her then-boyfriend and now husband. That time she was not treated kindly by the staff, she said.

“It is imperative that states that are leading the way like Maryland enshrine abortion rights into the state constitution,” Quinonez-Alonzo said. “Abortion is a human right. It is an essential part of routine, safe reproductive health.”

Trimbath said his organization knew that Maryland, with its higher support for abortion rights than other more conservative states, could be more resistant to its message.

"Maryland is not like Alabama, it's not like Oklahoma," he said. "We knew that this would pose a challenge for us as pro-life Marylanders."

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In a recent interview with Fox News, Trump signaled that the Burbank congressman was part of the “enemy from within.”

“Adam ‘Shifty’ Schiff, who is a total sleaze, is going to become a senator,” Trump told Fox News. “And the enemy from within is more dangerous than China, Russia and all these countries.”

But Schiff waved off the question whether he was concerned that Trump would use every arm of the executive branch to go after him if he gets reelected.

“You have to take any would be despot at their word.  All of his enemies,” Schiff said. “Obama, Joe Biden, Pelosi – any who stand up to him he considers his enemy.”

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As Schiff is set to leave the House of Representatives, he is poised to arrive at a new job in the U.S. Senate – the same chamber where he argued the first impeachment trial of the 45th president.

“You can’t trust this president to do what is right for this country,” Schiff said in January 2020. “This is why if you find him guilty, he should be removed.”

Trump survived the 2020 trial as well as the second impeachment trial.

Fast-forward to 2024, at least a half of the country appears to be ready to return Trump to the White House.

“Twice impeached, multiple felony convictions – he shouldn’t be running for anything,” Schiff said. “It is hard to reconcile – most people get their information now from social media – it allows Donald Trump to be a firehouse of misinformation. Even FEMA workers are worried about their safety because of the nonsense from the former President even after the storms back east.”

While the presidential polls are tight, there is evidence that Trump is gaining support amidst traditional Democratic party constituencies such as Black men and Hispanics.

But Schiff remained confident his fellow Californian, Vice President Kamala Harris, will prevail. 

“I think young people are going to come out in droves who had been apathetic, and they will be the driver of her victory,” Schiff said. 

California voters will decide a statewide proposition this fall that would make it easier for governments to borrow money for affordable housing and local infrastructure projects by changing a voter-approval requirement that dates to the late 1800s.

Under current California law, local governments seeking bonds to pay for projects like parks, police and fire stations, and affordable housing need to ask voters for permission. They also need a supermajority of the vote.

But if voters approve a legislative constitutional amendment on the November ballot, that threshold would decrease from the current two-thirds, a vote requirement that was part of the 1879 California Constitution, to 55 percent.

Here’s what to know about Prop 5.

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What would Prop 5 do?

Prop 5, placed on the ballot by state lawmakers, amends the California constitution by lowering the requirement to approve local government bonds to 55 percent of voters instead of a supermajority — at least two-thirds of voters. That would make it easier for local governments to borrow for affordable housing projects and other local infrastructure, like fire and police stations, road repairs, parks and more.

It would apply to future bonds, including any approved on this year’s November ballot.

Those bonds would then be repaid with higher property taxes.

A Yes vote on Prop 5 means certain local bonds and the property taxes that come with them could be ok’d by 55 percent of the vote of the local electorate instead of the current two-third requirement. The bonds would have to be for affordable housing, supportive housing, or public infrastructure.

A No vote means things stay the same, leaving the supermajority requirement in place.

The Legislative Analyst’s Office notes that a citizens’ oversight committees would be appointed to supervise spending. The nonpartisan agency’s report said certain local bonds are more likely to pass under the amended rules.

“A lower voter approval requirement would make it easier to pass local general obligation bonds for housing assistance and public infrastructure,” the LAO report said. “Recent local election results suggest that an additional 20 percent to 50 percent of local bond measures would have passed under Proposition 5’s lower voter approval requirement. Those measures would have raised a couple billion dollars over many years. A lower voter approval requirement also could mean local governments propose more measures.”

California has been here before. Voters lowered the approval standard for local school bonds from a supermajority two-thirds to 55 percent in 2000.

Who supports Prop 5

Supporters argue the current threshold is undemocratic, allowing one-third of voters to overrule two-third of voters when it comes to important community decisions on housing and public infrastructure. They also claim local governments would be allowed to better pursue their own priorities without as much reliance on state and federal money.

Prop 5 supporters include the following:

• California Democratic Party
• California State Building and Construction Trades Council
• AIDS Healthcare Foundation
• California Housing Partnership
• California YIMBY
• California Labor Federation
• League of Women Voters of California
• United Way Bay Area

Who opposes Prop 5

Opponents argue a broad consensus provided by the supermajority standard is needed for significant projects funded by bonds. In effect, the supermajority requirement acts as a restraint against big spending now that will need to be paid off — with interest — through higher taxes, opponents say. They also claim that financial burden would shift from state to local communities.

Prop 5 opponents include:

• California Chamber Of Commerce
• Howard Jarvis Taxpayers Association
• National Federation of Independent Businesses
• California Republican Party
• Catalyst For Local Control

The once-routine business of running elections in America has become much more fraught with risk in the wake of the 2020 campaign, with poll workers facing harassment, violent threats and chaotic protests. It’s a dynamic that has forced many election officials out of the industry, while those who remain have taken in some cases dramatic steps to protect poll workers and voters ahead of Election Day. Some poll workers are also receiving pay bumps as incentives to stay on through a stressful voting period.

In interviews, county and state election officials shared details of security plans with NBC News.

Maricopa County, Arizona, has been a hotbed of conspiracy theories, protests and threats for years, fueled by baseless voter fraud claims from former President Donald Trump and his allies.

The county, the largest in one of the most critical battleground states on the map, will have some of the most intense security in the nation. Its tabulation center will have snipers on the roof, metal detectors and security at every entrance, drones surveilling overhead, and security cameras and floodlights to help law enforcement monitor the area.

There are also two layers of security fencing, and some workers will be bused in from off-site parking to accommodate the newly implemented measures.

“They spared no expense in 2022, they’re all in again this cycle,” Maricopa County Recorder Stephen Richer, a Republican, said of local law enforcement’s plans.

In Cobb County, Georgia, the sheriff will have officers at every early voting site and patrolling local precincts. The county has set up an emergency operations center at the local 911 call center, where the sheriff’s office, fire department and local utilities will be monitoring CCTVs and social media to keep an eye on everything from traffic and long lines to any potential disturbances at the polls.

“They’re going to pull up the cameras closest to all the 148 polling places to monitor for traffic, accidents, things like that — high volume,” said Tate Fall, the county’s director of elections.

The county allocated money for so-called panic buttons that would allow election workers to quickly contact authorities in emergencies. But officials found implementing the technology difficult since the county doesn’t give poll workers smartphones. They decided to give police radios to election workers instead.

In nearby Gwinnett County, the sheriff will be overseeing security for all its polling sites, even in unincorporated areas typically monitored by local police. The local schools are closed on Election Day, so school police officers will be deployed at polling sites there.

The local election office will have police officers, who been trained specifically on how to best work around an election, monitoring early voting and absentee ballot counting once it begins, said Zach Manifold, the county’s director of elections.

Daniel Baxter, the Detroit election official who oversees absentee counting, said poll worker pay was doubled in 2022 in hopes of easing recruitment and attracting more qualified personnel.

Poll workers this year who agree to work three shifts counting absentee ballots in the convention center, where Republican protesters tried to shut down ballot counting while making baseless allegations of fraud in 2020, will make $2,250.

In Milwaukee County, Wisconsin, police plan to shut down the street outside the building where the election results are tabulated to control access to the building, said Aaron Dobson, inspector for the Milwaukee County Sheriff’s Office.

In Colorado, where counties are required to undergo an election-related security analysis, the state is making funds available so that officials can make recommended upgrades.

For some county officials, that means upgrading their locks and cameras, while others have installed bulletproof glass and purchased bulletproof vests, according to Colorado Secretary of State Jena Griswold, a Democrat. Poll workers who work this election will also make an additional $3 an hour in pay, the same premium rate they made in 2020.

A new state law to fend off insider threats also requires that election equipment be under 24/7 surveillance and protected by keycard access.

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Griswold said officials in the state are preparing for threats they’ve never seen, including those stemming from artificial intelligence.

“We have layers of security — we have military and law enforcement joining our team to protect our cyber support systems,” she said. “People are voting on paper so that, of course, can’t be hacked, but what they’re doing is protecting our support systems.”

She and her staff routinely face threats. One person who made threats against her was arrested while Griswold was in the hospital giving birth.

“We are definitely on top of it, and take all of our security very seriously,” she said. “But the No. 1 thing we do is vote on a piece of paper.”

This story first appeared on NBCNews.com. More from NBC News:

• Fact check: Harris says law enforcement officers were killed on Jan. 6
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But how do you know what happens to your ballot after you submit it?

The state of California is offering Where’s My Ballot? It’s a way for voters to track the status of their vote-by-mail ballot.

Here’s what to know.

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How can I track my ballot?

Voters can track their ballot via the Vote by Mail Status Tool. To track the status of a ballot, voters will need their last name, date of birth, house number or residential zip code. 

According to California Secretary of State Shirley Weber, ballots are collected from dropboxes regularly.

• Every 96 hours – excluding Saturdays and Sundays – between the 29th day before the election and the 10th day before the election.
• From staffed drop boxes at least every 72 hours – excluding Saturdays and Sunday –  after the 10th day before the election through the closing of the polls on Election Day.
• From unstaffed drop boxes every 48 hours – excluding Saturdays and Sundays – after the 10th day prior to an election through the closing of the polls on Election Day.

Subscribing to BallotTrax will allow voters to receive notifications on Vote by Mail ballot every step of the way via automatic email, SMS (text), or voice call notifications. Alerts will be sent when the election office mails the ballot, receives the ballot from the voter and counts the ballot. If there is a problem with the ballot an alert will also be sent. 

Voters having difficulties tracking their ballot can call (800) 815-2666 or email votebymail@rrcc.lacounty.gov for help.

All 50 states and the district of Columbia besides Illinois, Mississippi, Missouri, and Wyoming offer similar ballot tracking programs.

Where can I place my vote?

The map below shows ballot dropbox locations in Los Angeles County.

Additional ballot dropbox locations for the following counties can be found here:

• Orange County
• Riverside County
• Ventura County
• San Bernardino County

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What does a dropbox look like?

All official dropboxes will have the text “Official Ballot Drop Box” clearly marked on the outside of the box.

Ballot boxes in Los Angeles will typically feature a blue, yellow, and white color scheme, written instructions on side, and seal of Los Angeles county. 

Ballot boxes across counties have different designs. 

Ventura county boxes are typically white with red lettering, Orange county boxes are orange, white, and brown while boxes in Riverside and San Bernardino county feature a red, white, and blue design. 

Boxes are often bolted into cement or chain into place to meet national security standards.  

Ballots are picked up regularly by two county election workers. Problems or issues can be reported here.

Tampering with a drop box is a felony under California elections code.

Ballots can be placed anytime behind now and Nov. 5 at 8 p.m.

With the U.S. presidential election fast approaching, U.S. intelligence officials have issued a stark warning: China’s latest efforts to influence the outcome is shifting away from the presidential race and toward state and local candidates.

This new focus is part of a broader strategy by Beijing to build relationships with officials who could eventually advance China’s interests. With Washington largely opposed to its agenda, Beijing is seizing opportunities at the local level, where it believes it has a more profound impact.

“Russia, China, and Iran are largely looking to sow discord in the U.S., but China is probably the most strategic of the three, where they’ve got long-term goals in terms of trying to cultivate a political ecosystem more favorable to their overall policies,” said Brandon Wales, vice president of cybersecurity strategy at SentinelOne and former executive director of the Cybersecurity and Infrastructure Security Agency (CISA). “Russia and Iran, they’re really all about chaos.”

Local and state elections have become prime targets for Chinese interference because they receive far less scrutiny than national races, making it easier for China’s influence campaigns to fly under the radar. While national attention tends to focus on China’s cyberthreats to critical infrastructure, economic espionage, or its aggressive diplomacy, the more insidious threats come from its efforts to shape the U.S. political ecosystem by cultivating relationships with local politicians.

“There is a need for more national awareness of how aggressive the Chinese efforts are to shape the U.S. political environment,” said Wales. “Chinese efforts have not received the same level of focus, and that creates long-term problems for us.”

Disinformation is one of China’s primary tools to influence U.S. elections, with the aim of creating a fragmented political environment that weakens both national resilience and cybersecurity efforts. “These operations are often subtle, planting stories or memes that spark debate and controversy, with the goal of distracting from international matters and reducing U.S. influence abroad,” said Javad Abed, professor of information systems at Johns Hopkins Carey Business School.

“These actors most likely judge that amplifying controversial issues and rhetoric that seeks to divide Americans can serve their interests by making the U.S. and its democratic system look weak and by keeping the U.S. government distracted with internal issues instead of pushing back on their hostile behavior globally,” said U.S. intelligence officials during a recent election security briefing.

One example of China’s influence operations is its use of disinformation campaigns designed to exploit divisive issues such as immigration, racial justice, and economic inequality. Abed explained that China uses online platforms to circulate misleading narratives about U.S. border challenges or social justice movements, such as the George Floyd protests. By manipulating public discourse, experts said China seeks to amplify discord on sensitive topics while diverting attention from international matters.

In August, Microsoft highlighted in its Threat Intelligence Report one of China’s influence campaigns known as Taizi Flood, in which hundreds of fake accounts were deployed to pose as real protestors during pro-Palestinian protests at U.S. universities. These actors spread inflammatory messages that fueled tensions and increased divisions across political lines. By imitating legitimate activists, the Taizi Flood campaign escalated unrest, making it difficult for Americans to discern the truth.

Another notable Chinese-led operation is Spamouflage, or Dragonbridge, which has been active since at least 2017. This campaign leverages thousands of fake accounts on more than 50 platforms to infiltrate political conversations in the U.S., spreading propaganda and divisive messages while discrediting politicians. Spamouflage’s ability to penetrate local and national dialogues highlights the scale of China’s long-term influence strategy.

Alphabet, Meta, Microsoft and false information

Alphabet, Meta, and Microsoft have faced increasing pressure to address the spread of false information on their platforms. In a recent Senate Select Committee on Intelligence hearing, Alphabet president Kent Walker revealed that the company has more than 500 analysts and researchers tracking between 270 and 300 foreign cyberattack groups. Despite these efforts, controlling the full scope of foreign influence operations remains a daunting challenge. Chairman of the Senate Intelligence Committee Mark Warner voiced concerns over Congress’s failure to implement new regulations to prevent AI-generated disinformation from proliferating as the election approaches.

John Cohen, executive director of the Program for Countering Hybrid Threats at the Center for Internet Security, warns that these disinformation campaigns often have real-world consequences, such as swatting calls, bomb threats, and intimidation tactics aimed at election officials.

“We’ve seen these informational operations used in conjunction with demonstrations to encourage acts of violence and to have people begin targeting election officials and government officials,” said Cohen.

As AI-generated misinformation becomes increasingly difficult to distinguish from reality, Cohen expressed concern about its impact on public trust in the election process. “Cyber threat actors can use AI to more rapidly develop attack techniques, and at computer speeds modify those attack techniques to circumvent security measures,” he said.

“I’ve been working in law enforcement and homeland security for over 40 years now, but what concerns me the most is when I look at the threat actors that are out there, they are adapting their attack techniques at internet speed,” Cohen said. “Our investigative activities and threat-mitigation activities still are operating at analog speed. We are not adapting rapidly enough to match what’s being done by the threat actors, and that has to change.”

Mitigating cybersecurity risk on Election Day

To address these growing threats, Cohen said local and state election officials must take proactive steps to secure their election infrastructure, ensuring that endpoint detection systems are up to date and that officials are prepared to respond to cyber threats quickly.

“They must think through the different types of physical world and cyber incidents they may confront in the leadup to and on Election Day,” said Cohen. “Develop plans to protect against those threats should they occur, and make sure there are good lines of communication between election officials, emergency managers, law enforcement, and the cybersecurity leads for each jurisdiction.”

Wales also highlighted the importance of state and local election officials participating in national information-sharing initiatives, such as the Election Infrastructure Information Sharing and Analysis Center and the Multi-State Information Sharing and Analysis Center. These programs provide real-time threat intelligence and help local officials better respond to emerging threats, ensuring that election systems remain secure.

Ultimately, Wales stressed that the responsibility for mitigating disinformation lies not only with officials but also with the American public. “We need everyone to think before they retweet, because it can be very damaging,” he said.

One woman tells the NBC4 I-Team it is time to consider the homeless, a group she was once a part of.

The last count found more than 75,000 people are homeless in Los Angeles County and many of them may not realize that they can register to vote, including at county shelters and online.

“The main thing I feel for any homeless person, is you have to learn to become vocal, you know? That’s why we are invisible, because a lot of us tend to be so embarrassed, we don’t want to reach out for help,” Justice Butler said. 

The 65-year-old former radio disc jockey says she found herself homeless at various times in her life, from her hometown of Houston to Los Angeles. She now lives in a studio apartment near McArthur Park.  

One thing that never waned was her desire to be part of the voting process. 

“It means a lot every year, because the first time I’m voting, and I’m teary-eyed because of the people before me, and I’ve really learned to connect to my history,” Butler said. “They died and fought for this right to vote.”

Butler registered to vote while at a Los Angeles city shelter.  

“When I went into the shelter on Skid Row, they gave me all this paperwork to fill out, and one of it was a voter registration card,” she said.  

Her story is not unique.  

California law allows an unhoused or homeless voter to participate in the election, said Dean Logan, who oversees the Los Angeles County Registrar-Recorder/County Clerk.

“They can register to vote, they can list the cross street where they spend the most of their time, where they lay their head at night,” Logan said. 

“They can list the shelter where they’re staying for residents’ purposes that ensures they get the most localized ballot that’s effective for them,” he added. 

Logan tells the NBC4 I-Team, currently there are about 800 voters registered with an intersection address and then another approximately 5,500 voters who registered with a shelter, a church or similar place that provides services. 

Still there is the fact that every active registered voter in California receives a vote by mail ballot. 

“So you can list a mailing address. So a lot of those voters may list even a Department of Social Services address where they’re receiving information about their benefits or they can use a shelter address or a PO box to receive the voting materials,” Logan said.   

He says the fail-safe method remains the in-person vote centers, including mobile ones that the county sends to different neighborhoods.  

“We utilize that program to also go to homelessness encampments that are in North County or out in Long Beach or areas like that to ensure that we have access for those voters,” he said.  

The need goes beyond the homeless population.  

“This is a particular issue in this election because we know that there are a group of citizens who through the end of rent control after the pandemic have been displaced from their homes and may not receive their voting materials because they’re dealing with trying to find a new home or a new place to stay,” Logan said.  

Butler says she is battling a debilitating lung disease and is focused on issues that matter to her this election.  

“It’s about somebody having a plan for healthcare,” she said. 

Her message to others, no matter where they live is, is to vote.

“We got to go out to vote,” she said. “This time, we got to go out and vote, y’all, real.”

Vote by mail ballots have been mailed out.  Some of the dozens of in-person vote centers in Los Angeles County will open as soon as 11 days before election day and people can vote at any location, even registering on site. 

Riverside County Sheriff Chad Bianco said Monday he stands by his comments over the weekend when he said his deputies may have prevented a third assassination attempt on former President Donald Trump, though a federal law enforcement source told NBC News there’s no indication that there was an attempt to assassinate the former president.

Deputies arrested 49-year-old Vem Miller of Nevada on state weapons charges a quarter mile from the rally. The arrest in Coachella, California, took place before the former president arrived.

“We do know that he showed up with multiple IDs, an unlicensed, unregistered vehicle with fake plates and weapons and ammunition,” Sheriff Bianco said. “In the end ,we found the person with all those monstrous red flags and we were able to arrest him on weapons charges and get him away from the facility before the president got there.”

Bianco’s comments come one day after his weekend press conference where he said he believed another assassination attempt on Trump had been prevented. 

But on Monday we also heard from Miller, who is now out of jail after posting bond.

“I am releasing this statement because of the false information that is currently being released,” Miller said in a video shared on Rumble.

In the video, Miller shared that he’s a longtime supporter of former President Trump.

“Since 2000, I’ve been involved in the Republican Party in Nevada,” Miller said. “I am a Trump caucus captain, I have collected votes for Donald Trump, and I’m also a Trump team leader.”

NBC News was not able to verify Miller’s claim that he worked as a Trump caucus captain or a Trump team leader and that he was invited to the rally.

He said that he was in Coachella working as a journalist for the America Happens Network and always carries guns with him.

“In the trunk of my car I carry two firearms: One is a glock, one is a shotgun, and these two firearms that I carry for me are simply for protection,” he added.

 Bianco wasn’t backing down.

“If he wants to say he was an innocent victim, then he also has to say how dumb it was to come out to believe that he could do all of those and try to get into that event, with guns,” Bianco said. “I don’t care if he’s a supporter of President Trump.”

“I’m very proud of my deputies and everything that they did there,” Bianco said. “We’re not making up anything that he did, we just caught him.”

Former President Donald Trump proposed a new tax deduction last week for car owners who pay interest on an auto loan, one of many tax breaks he has floated on the presidential campaign trail in recent months.

Trump’s proposed tax break would make interest on car loans fully tax deductible. It’s an idea that he compared to the mortgage interest deduction, which allows some homeowners to reduce their taxable income by writing off a portion of their mortgage interest payments each year.

So, which American households would benefit, and how large would the benefit be?

More than 100 million Americans had auto loans in the second quarter of 2024, worth $1.63 trillion, according to the Federal Reserve Bank of New York. The average person had a car loan of roughly $24,000 in 2023, according to Experian.

Someone buying a new vehicle this year would pay, on average, about $1,332 a year in interest charges, according to AAA.

While Trump didn’t offer specific details on how the tax break plan would be implemented, some experts say it would likely provide the most benefits to wealthy Americans.

Such a tax break “mostly would benefit wealthier individuals buying more expensive cars as one has to itemize their taxes to get the tax break,” Jaret Seiberg, financial services and housing policy analyst for TD Cowen Washington Research Group, wrote in a note Thursday.

It’d be “unlikely to benefit entry-level” car sales because such buyers generally have “more modest incomes” and claim a standard deduction on their tax returns, Seiberg wrote.

Either way, the proposal is unlikely to have support among many Democrats or Republicans in Congress, which must pass legislation to adopt the measure, Seiberg said.

A Trump campaign spokesperson didn’t return a request from CNBC for comment or additional detail on the proposal.

It would cost about $5 billion a year

During a speech in Detroit on Thursday, Trump compared the policy proposal to an existing federal tax deduction on home mortgage interest.

That tax break lets homeowners deduct annual mortgage interest payments from their taxable income, thereby reducing their tax bill. It’s only available to taxpayers who itemize deductions on their federal tax returns.

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An auto interest deduction would also come at a large cost to the federal government, experts say. To that point, Trump’s proposal on car loan interest would cost about $5 billion a year in income tax reductions, if structured as an itemized deduction, estimates Erica York, senior economist and research director at the Tax Foundation’s Center for Federal Tax Policy.

It would cost about $61 billion over 10 years, from 2025 through 2034, York estimates.

Few taxpayers claim itemized tax deductions

To get the deduction, car owners would need to itemize their tax return to include their borrowing costs. 

However, most taxpayers — about 9 in 10 — don’t itemize their deductions, experts said. Instead, they claim a standard deduction.

A taxpayer’s total itemized deductions would generally have to exceed the standard deduction — $14,600 for single filers and $29,200 for married couples filing a joint tax return for 2024 — for them to get a financial benefit.

About 14.8 million federal tax returns, or about 9%, claimed an itemized deduction on their 2021 federal tax returns, according to the most recent IRS data.

A 2017 tax law signed by then-President Trump reduced the number of taxpayers who itemize their deductions.

An itemized tax break on car loan interest “would help only a fraction of taxpayers,” said Leonard Burman, an institute fellow at the Urban-Brookings Tax Policy Center.

“This percentage might go up a bit if auto loan interest were deductible, but it’d still be true that the vast majority of household would not be able to benefit, and the ones that did would be disproportionately high-income filers,” Burman explained in an email.

About 62% of people who claimed an itemized deduction in 2021 had an adjusted gross income of $100,000 or more, according to IRS data. Such taxpayers claimed about 77% of the total $660 billion of itemized deductions that year, the data shows.

Wealthier individuals generally get more of a financial benefit from tax deductions, York said.

That’s because the value of the deduction depends on a household’s marginal income tax rate, she said.

Here’s a simple example, using AAA’s aforementioned figure of $1,332 in annual interest charges on new cars. A $1,332 tax deduction for someone in the 10% federal tax bracket would be worth about $133, while it’d be worth $493 to someone in the top 37% bracket, according to Burman.

Precedent for an itemized deduction

There’s precedent for treating a tax break on car loan interest as an itemized deduction, said York of the Tax Foundation.

The federal tax code allowed taxpayers to claim a deduction for “personal interest” until the mid-1980s. That deduction was for all types of consumer borrowing, including interest on auto loans and credit cards, York said.

However, Congress got rid of those deductions in 1986.

Today, just a few categories of interest payments are tax deductible, such as interest on home loans, student loans, money borrowed to buy investment property and interest as a business expense, according to TurboTax.

But the powerful board run by five women for each of the five districts across the biggest county in the nation is now split over whether to expand its own agency to have more elected board members. And two opposite sides are actively campaigning for or against Measure G.

What would Measure G do?

If the majority of Los Angeles County voters say “yes” on Measure G, they would allow the county to amend its charter to increase the total number of supervisors to nine, instead of the current five. 

If passed, the county would also create a county executive, who would essentially become “the mayor of the county,” who would be selected by LA County voters.

Measure G also seeks to establish an ethics commission and a legislative analyst, which would review possible policies for the county.

3 vs. 2

While Supervisors Lindsey Horvath, Janice Hahn and Hilda Solis are supporting Measure G, Supervisors Holly Mitchell and Kathryn Barger are against it. 

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Why supporters want Measure G

1. More representation:

• Those who want to expand the Board say Los Angeles County is too massive and diverse to be represented by just five people.
• Supervisors Horvath, who represents the third district, which includes LA’s Westside and the San Fernando Valley, argues county governance reform is long overdue. 
• “The last time the county government changed was back in 1912 when there were more cows than people in this county,” Horvath said. “We need to change our government to make it responsive to 21st century needs.”

2. More diversity:

• Supporters use Supervisor Hilda Solis as an example for why the county board needs to be expanded: While nearly half of LA County’s population is Hispanic, Solis is the lone Latina member of the board.
• By having more seats at the table and more voices to reflect the diverse county, there will be more policies that could serve and represent different areas, according to Horvath and other supporters. 

3. Mayor of Los Angeles County

• In addition to more board members, Measure G seeks to establish a county executive, who would be like a county mayor.
• Instead of the current Los Angeles County CEO who is appointed by the board, Measure G would make that position an elected office, which would force the county’s budget process more transparent, and whoever drafting the budget would be more accountable to the people of LA, supporters argue.

What opponents say about Measure G

1. Giving too much power to one person

• Opponents say if the position of a county executive is created, the person would have no term limits while overseeing the county with the authority to hire and fire county department heads. 
• This mayor of the county would also have full control over the county’s budget with no veto power over the board, according to opponents.
• “It completely alters the balance of power between either five or nine or whatever number of board of supervisors, and this singular person who would be responsible for all 10 million Angelenos,” said Supervisor Holly Mitchell during an interview with NBC4’s NewsConference.
• Supervisor Kathryn Barger also called Measure G is a “Trojan horse” to consolidate all decision-making power into one position.

2. Too costly

• While Measure G supporters say that the expansion of the county government would not cost taxpayers, opponents do not buy the argument. 
• Mitchell says all the costs of increasing the number of board districts and creating the county mayor position would come from the existing county budget.
• “I don’t know how you set up this brand-new infrastructure of a county-wide CEO, add four new supervisors, plus their staffs and not think it’s going to cost LA County residents money,” Mitchell said.

3. Stepchildren of LA County

• Opponents argue those who live in the unincorporated areas of Los Angeles County would become more disenfranchised under Measure G.

• As the pie of the LA County budget and resources are split into more slices – more districts and more decision-makers – the board would be more stifled to provide municipal services in the incorporated neighborhoods, opponents claim.

• “There’s a reason why East LA was fighting for cityhood, and why the San Fernando Valley is frustrated and feels like they’re not heard by the city of LA. This is not going to change that. This is going to make it worse,” Supervisor Barger said.

While Mitchell and Barger oppose Measure G, Mitchell said she supports the idea of increasing the number of board members, and Barger said she supports the notion of creating an ethics commision.

The suit comes about two months after Republican Gov. Glenn Youngkin signed an executive order requiring the state’s Department of Elections to conduct daily updates to its voting list, including comparing the list of identified “noncitizens” to the state’s existing list of registered voters.

Local officials are required to notify people found on both lists that their voter registration will be canceled if they fail to respond to the notice and affirm their citizenship within 14 days.

According to the Justice Department, some of the people identified as noncitizens are in fact U.S. citizens, leading to some voter registrations being cancelled unnecessarily.

“The Commonwealth’s unlawful actions here have likely confused, deterred, and removed U.S. citizens who are fully eligible to vote —the very scenario that Congress tried to prevent when it enacted the Quiet Period Provision,” the DOJ said in its suit, referring to the purging of voter rolls within 90 days of Election Day.

In a statement, Youngkin called the lawsuit “politically motivated” and a “desperate attempt” to attack the election’s legitimacy.

“Virginians — and Americans — will see this for exactly what it is: a desperate attempt to attack the legitimacy of the elections in the Commonwealth, the very crucible of American Democracy,” Youngkin said.

Virginia’s Department of Elections and elections commissioner — both named in the lawsuit — did not immediately respond to requests for comment Friday evening.

This is the second DOJ lawsuit in the past month against a state for alleged violations of a provision of the National Voter Registration Act that says that, while states have the prerogative to clean their voter rolls for various reasons, they cannot conduct systematic removals so close to a federal election as those predominantly affected are often naturalized Americans.

The DOJ sued the State of Alabama in September over alleged violations of the so-called Quiet Provision.

Gary Grumbach contributed.

This story first appeared on NBCNews.com. More from NBC News:

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The once-routine business of running elections in America has become much more fraught with risk in the wake of the 2020 campaign, with poll workers facing harassment, violent threats and chaotic protests. It’s a dynamic that has forced many election officials out of the industry, while those who remain have taken in some cases dramatic steps to protect poll workers and voters ahead of Election Day. Some poll workers are also receiving pay bumps as incentives to stay on through a stressful voting period.

In interviews, county and state election officials shared details of security plans with NBC News.

Maricopa County, Arizona, has been a hotbed of conspiracy theories, protests and threats for years, fueled by baseless voter fraud claims from former President Donald Trump and his allies.

The county, the largest in one of the most critical battleground states on the map, will have some of the most intense security in the nation. Its tabulation center will have snipers on the roof, metal detectors and security at every entrance, drones surveilling overhead, and security cameras and floodlights to help law enforcement monitor the area.

There are also two layers of security fencing, and some workers will be bused in from off-site parking to accommodate the newly implemented measures.

“They spared no expense in 2022, they’re all in again this cycle,” Maricopa County Recorder Stephen Richer, a Republican, said of local law enforcement’s plans.

In Cobb County, Georgia, the sheriff will have officers at every early voting site and patrolling local precincts. The county has set up an emergency operations center at the local 911 call center, where the sheriff’s office, fire department and local utilities will be monitoring CCTVs and social media to keep an eye on everything from traffic and long lines to any potential disturbances at the polls.

“They’re going to pull up the cameras closest to all the 148 polling places to monitor for traffic, accidents, things like that — high volume,” said Tate Fall, the county’s director of elections.

The county allocated money for so-called panic buttons that would allow election workers to quickly contact authorities in emergencies. But officials found implementing the technology difficult since the county doesn’t give poll workers smartphones. They decided to give police radios to election workers instead.

In nearby Gwinnett County, the sheriff will be overseeing security for all its polling sites, even in unincorporated areas typically monitored by local police. The local schools are closed on Election Day, so school police officers will be deployed at polling sites there.

The local election office will have police officers, who been trained specifically on how to best work around an election, monitoring early voting and absentee ballot counting once it begins, said Zach Manifold, the county’s director of elections.

Daniel Baxter, the Detroit election official who oversees absentee counting, said poll worker pay was doubled in 2022 in hopes of easing recruitment and attracting more qualified personnel.

Poll workers this year who agree to work three shifts counting absentee ballots in the convention center, where Republican protesters tried to shut down ballot counting while making baseless allegations of fraud in 2020, will make $2,250.

In Milwaukee County, Wisconsin, police plan to shut down the street outside the building where the election results are tabulated to control access to the building, said Aaron Dobson, inspector for the Milwaukee County Sheriff’s Office.

In Colorado, where counties are required to undergo an election-related security analysis, the state is making funds available so that officials can make recommended upgrades.

For some county officials, that means upgrading their locks and cameras, while others have installed bulletproof glass and purchased bulletproof vests, according to Colorado Secretary of State Jena Griswold, a Democrat. Poll workers who work this election will also make an additional $3 an hour in pay, the same premium rate they made in 2020.

A new state law to fend off insider threats also requires that election equipment be under 24/7 surveillance and protected by keycard access.

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Griswold said officials in the state are preparing for threats they’ve never seen, including those stemming from artificial intelligence.

“We have layers of security — we have military and law enforcement joining our team to protect our cyber support systems,” she said. “People are voting on paper so that, of course, can’t be hacked, but what they’re doing is protecting our support systems.”

She and her staff routinely face threats. One person who made threats against her was arrested while Griswold was in the hospital giving birth.

“We are definitely on top of it, and take all of our security very seriously,” she said. “But the No. 1 thing we do is vote on a piece of paper.”

This story first appeared on NBCNews.com. More from NBC News:

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The once-routine business of running elections in America has become much more fraught with risk in the wake of the 2020 campaign, with poll workers facing harassment, violent threats and chaotic protests. It’s a dynamic that has forced many election officials out of the industry, while those who remain have taken in some cases dramatic steps to protect poll workers and voters ahead of Election Day. Some poll workers are also receiving pay bumps as incentives to stay on through a stressful voting period.

In interviews, county and state election officials shared details of security plans with NBC News.

Maricopa County, Arizona, has been a hotbed of conspiracy theories, protests and threats for years, fueled by baseless voter fraud claims from former President Donald Trump and his allies.

The county, the largest in one of the most critical battleground states on the map, will have some of the most intense security in the nation. Its tabulation center will have snipers on the roof, metal detectors and security at every entrance, drones surveilling overhead, and security cameras and floodlights to help law enforcement monitor the area.

There are also two layers of security fencing, and some workers will be bused in from off-site parking to accommodate the newly implemented measures.

“They spared no expense in 2022, they’re all in again this cycle,” Maricopa County Recorder Stephen Richer, a Republican, said of local law enforcement’s plans.

In Cobb County, Georgia, the sheriff will have officers at every early voting site and patrolling local precincts. The county has set up an emergency operations center at the local 911 call center, where the sheriff’s office, fire department and local utilities will be monitoring CCTVs and social media to keep an eye on everything from traffic and long lines to any potential disturbances at the polls.

“They’re going to pull up the cameras closest to all the 148 polling places to monitor for traffic, accidents, things like that — high volume,” said Tate Fall, the county’s director of elections.

The county allocated money for so-called panic buttons that would allow election workers to quickly contact authorities in emergencies. But officials found implementing the technology difficult since the county doesn’t give poll workers smartphones. They decided to give police radios to election workers instead.

In nearby Gwinnett County, the sheriff will be overseeing security for all its polling sites, even in unincorporated areas typically monitored by local police. The local schools are closed on Election Day, so school police officers will be deployed at polling sites there.

The local election office will have police officers, who been trained specifically on how to best work around an election, monitoring early voting and absentee ballot counting once it begins, said Zach Manifold, the county’s director of elections.

Daniel Baxter, the Detroit election official who oversees absentee counting, said poll worker pay was doubled in 2022 in hopes of easing recruitment and attracting more qualified personnel.

Poll workers this year who agree to work three shifts counting absentee ballots in the convention center, where Republican protesters tried to shut down ballot counting while making baseless allegations of fraud in 2020, will make $2,250.

In Milwaukee County, Wisconsin, police plan to shut down the street outside the building where the election results are tabulated to control access to the building, said Aaron Dobson, inspector for the Milwaukee County Sheriff’s Office.

In Colorado, where counties are required to undergo an election-related security analysis, the state is making funds available so that officials can make recommended upgrades.

For some county officials, that means upgrading their locks and cameras, while others have installed bulletproof glass and purchased bulletproof vests, according to Colorado Secretary of State Jena Griswold, a Democrat. Poll workers who work this election will also make an additional $3 an hour in pay, the same premium rate they made in 2020.

A new state law to fend off insider threats also requires that election equipment be under 24/7 surveillance and protected by keycard access.

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Griswold said officials in the state are preparing for threats they’ve never seen, including those stemming from artificial intelligence.

“We have layers of security — we have military and law enforcement joining our team to protect our cyber support systems,” she said. “People are voting on paper so that, of course, can’t be hacked, but what they’re doing is protecting our support systems.”

She and her staff routinely face threats. One person who made threats against her was arrested while Griswold was in the hospital giving birth.

“We are definitely on top of it, and take all of our security very seriously,” she said. “But the No. 1 thing we do is vote on a piece of paper.”

This story first appeared on NBCNews.com. More from NBC News:

• Fact check: Harris says law enforcement officers were killed on Jan. 6
• Steve Kornacki: The polls were off in 2020. Will they be again in 2024?
• Inside the New York elections that could decide control of Congress

The once-routine business of running elections in America has become much more fraught with risk in the wake of the 2020 campaign, with poll workers facing harassment, violent threats and chaotic protests. It’s a dynamic that has forced many election officials out of the industry, while those who remain have taken in some cases dramatic steps to protect poll workers and voters ahead of Election Day. Some poll workers are also receiving pay bumps as incentives to stay on through a stressful voting period.

In interviews, county and state election officials shared details of security plans with NBC News.

Maricopa County, Arizona, has been a hotbed of conspiracy theories, protests and threats for years, fueled by baseless voter fraud claims from former President Donald Trump and his allies.

The county, the largest in one of the most critical battleground states on the map, will have some of the most intense security in the nation. Its tabulation center will have snipers on the roof, metal detectors and security at every entrance, drones surveilling overhead, and security cameras and floodlights to help law enforcement monitor the area.

There are also two layers of security fencing, and some workers will be bused in from off-site parking to accommodate the newly implemented measures.

“They spared no expense in 2022, they’re all in again this cycle,” Maricopa County Recorder Stephen Richer, a Republican, said of local law enforcement’s plans.

In Cobb County, Georgia, the sheriff will have officers at every early voting site and patrolling local precincts. The county has set up an emergency operations center at the local 911 call center, where the sheriff’s office, fire department and local utilities will be monitoring CCTVs and social media to keep an eye on everything from traffic and long lines to any potential disturbances at the polls.

“They’re going to pull up the cameras closest to all the 148 polling places to monitor for traffic, accidents, things like that — high volume,” said Tate Fall, the county’s director of elections.

The county allocated money for so-called panic buttons that would allow election workers to quickly contact authorities in emergencies. But officials found implementing the technology difficult since the county doesn’t give poll workers smartphones. They decided to give police radios to election workers instead.

In nearby Gwinnett County, the sheriff will be overseeing security for all its polling sites, even in unincorporated areas typically monitored by local police. The local schools are closed on Election Day, so school police officers will be deployed at polling sites there.

The local election office will have police officers, who been trained specifically on how to best work around an election, monitoring early voting and absentee ballot counting once it begins, said Zach Manifold, the county’s director of elections.

Daniel Baxter, the Detroit election official who oversees absentee counting, said poll worker pay was doubled in 2022 in hopes of easing recruitment and attracting more qualified personnel.

Poll workers this year who agree to work three shifts counting absentee ballots in the convention center, where Republican protesters tried to shut down ballot counting while making baseless allegations of fraud in 2020, will make $2,250.

In Milwaukee County, Wisconsin, police plan to shut down the street outside the building where the election results are tabulated to control access to the building, said Aaron Dobson, inspector for the Milwaukee County Sheriff’s Office.

In Colorado, where counties are required to undergo an election-related security analysis, the state is making funds available so that officials can make recommended upgrades.

For some county officials, that means upgrading their locks and cameras, while others have installed bulletproof glass and purchased bulletproof vests, according to Colorado Secretary of State Jena Griswold, a Democrat. Poll workers who work this election will also make an additional $3 an hour in pay, the same premium rate they made in 2020.

A new state law to fend off insider threats also requires that election equipment be under 24/7 surveillance and protected by keycard access.

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Griswold said officials in the state are preparing for threats they’ve never seen, including those stemming from artificial intelligence.

“We have layers of security — we have military and law enforcement joining our team to protect our cyber support systems,” she said. “People are voting on paper so that, of course, can’t be hacked, but what they’re doing is protecting our support systems.”

She and her staff routinely face threats. One person who made threats against her was arrested while Griswold was in the hospital giving birth.

“We are definitely on top of it, and take all of our security very seriously,” she said. “But the No. 1 thing we do is vote on a piece of paper.”

This story first appeared on NBCNews.com. More from NBC News:

• Fact check: Harris says law enforcement officers were killed on Jan. 6
• Steve Kornacki: The polls were off in 2020. Will they be again in 2024?
• Inside the New York elections that could decide control of Congress

The rulings are the latest in a legal saga that’s been playing out a few rulings at a time across the U.S. for the past two years — since the nation’s top court overturned Roe v. Wade, ended the nationwide right to abortion, and opened the door to bans and restrictions, as well as the new legal fights that followed.

Meanwhile, abortion is also a top concern for voters ahead of next month’s elections, including in nine states where it’s on the ballot directly in the form of state constitutional amendments.

Here are five key things to know about the latest abortion developments across the country.

Texas gets permission to keep barring some emergency abortions

In the fallout of the 2022 ruling in Dobbs v. Jackson Women’s Health Organization, President Joe Biden’s administration told hospitals that federal law required them to provide abortion services when the life of the pregnant person was at risk.

Texas sued over the policy, saying the federal government could not mandate the right to abortions that would violate the state’s ban at all stages of pregnancy, with exceptions to protect the health and life of the woman. A federal appeals court sided with the state, ruling in January that the administration had overstepped its authority.

On Monday, the U.S. Supreme Court let that ruling stand. The justices did not detail their reasoning.

Georgia brings back ban about six weeks into pregnancy

A week after a Georgia judge blocked the state’s ban on abortion after the first six weeks or so of pregnancy, the state Supreme Court on Monday put it back into place — at least for now.

The state’s top court said the ban on abortion once cardiac activity can be detected, generally about six weeks into pregnancy and often before women realize they’re pregnant, can be enforced while it considers the state’s appeal of the September ruling.

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It’s not clear how many abortions were provided in the state that could not have been under the ban during the week the rules were relaxed. Some clinics said they were willing to provide abortions after six weeks, though.

The ruling meant that four states again bar abortion in most cases after about six weeks of pregnancy.

Ruling blocking North Dakota’s ban becomes official

In another late-September development, a North Dakota ruling from earlier in the month striking down that state’s abortion ban became official.

That means that 13 states are now enforcing bans on abortion at all stages of pregnancy, instead of 14.

But the impact of the ruling in North Dakota is limited to hospitals in the nation’s second-least populous state.

The only clinic that provided abortions in the state moved from Fargo to nearby Moorhead, Minnesota, after the Dobbs ruling was made and North Dakota’s ban took effect.

Voters in nine states are deciding whether to protect abortion rights

Court rulings are not the only place where abortion policy decisions are being made.

Voters in nine states are determining whether to add the right to abortion to their state constitutions.

In Missouri and South Dakota, the measures would undo current bans on abortion at all stages of pregnancy. In Florida, it would lift a ban that kicks in after six weeks.

Nebraska has competing measures on the ballot. One would create the right to abortion until fetal viability, generally considered to be around 23 or 24 weeks into pregnancy. The other would enshrine the current ban that kicks in after 12 weeks.

In Arizona, Colorado, Maryland and Montana, it would enshrine, and in some cases expand, abortion rights. Nevada's vote would, too, but to take effect, the measure would have to pass a second time, in 2026.

Additionally, New York voters will decide on an amendment that would bar discrimination on the basis of pregnancy status, though it does not mention abortion by name.

It could depend on the presidential election

Abortion is a major issue in elections for office, too — including the presidential race.

Vice President Kamala Harris has been focusing on abortion rights in her presidential campaign. She says she wants to “reinstate the protections of Roe.” She talked about it on the “Call Her Daddy” podcast this week and in a speech last month in Georgia.

Former President Donald Trump, the GOP nominee, has taken credit for nominating Supreme Court justices who overturned Roe. He says that the issue should be up to the states and, recently, that he would veto a nationwide abortion ban if Congress passed one. He has also said he would vote against the Florida ballot measure, though he has also criticized it as too restrictive.

This story uses functionality that may not work in our app. Click here to open the story in your web browser.

The company announced an initiative Tuesday to encourage people who didn’t vote in 2020 to go to the polls this year by handing out up to $100. 

On a website created by the game company, eligible voters are asked to provide their personal information, which is then checked against voter data that the company said it bought from a data broker. “You wouldn’t believe how easy it was for us to get this stuff,” the website said. 

If eligible voters didn’t vote in 2020, Cards Against Humanity offers them a payout, provided they write apologies for not having voted four years ago, create voting plans and publicly post “Donald Trump is a human toilet.” If the voters lean blue and live in swing states, they can earn more money. 

According to the website, over 1,700 eligible voters have already participated. 

Cards Against Humanity is also selling a $7.99 card game expansion pack with cards themed to the election. It said the proceeds from the expansion pack, which go to the company’s super PAC, will contribute to the voter initiative. 

Cards Against Humanity, a popular card game that features offensive and sexually explicit jokes, has increasingly taken a progressive political stance. In 2017 it started launching anti-Trump campaigns to “save America.”

Just days before Cards Against Humanity debuted the new initiative, Musk’s PAC launched its own, offering $47 to people who refer registered swing-state voters to a petition in support of the Constitution’s First and Second amendments. Musk launched a pro-Trump super PAC this year that has so far contributed more than $87 million to Trump’s campaign, according to the nonprofit political finance tracker OpenSecrets. 

UCLA School of Law professor Richard Hasen, an NBC News election law analyst, said he didn’t think Musk’s PAC’s program broke any campaign finance laws, since it doesn’t pay people directly to vote, register to vote, vote in a particular way or not vote. 

The Cards Against Humanity website said it is “exploiting a legal loophole.” It also took aim at Musk directly, writing that registered swing-state voters could participate in his PAC’s program and list Cards Against Humanity as their referrer — compelling Musk’s PAC to send the company money.

“If you’re a registered voter in PA, GA, NV, AZ, NC, WI, or MI, just type your name into this dumb website for his PAC, put ‘MuskIsDumb@cah.lol’ as your referrer, and they’ll be legally obligated to pay us $47,” the Cards Against Humanity website said. “If he doesn’t pay up, we’ll sue him again.”

In September, Cards Against Humanity sued Musk‘s SpaceX for $15 million after, it said, the company trespassed on and damaged its Texas property, which the card game bought in 2017 with fan donations to stop Trump from building a section of the U.S.-Mexico border wall.

This story first appeared on NBCNews.com. More from NBC News:

• Musk unveils $30,000 Tesla self-driving Cybercab and larger Robovan at robotaxi event
• False conspiracy theories that Hurricane Milton is part of a political plot are still spreading
• Cities seek more than $750K in unpaid bills for Trump campaign events since 2016

The once-routine business of running elections in America has become much more fraught with risk in the wake of the 2020 campaign, with poll workers facing harassment, violent threats and chaotic protests. It’s a dynamic that has forced many election officials out of the industry, while those who remain have taken in some cases dramatic steps to protect poll workers and voters ahead of Election Day. Some poll workers are also receiving pay bumps as incentives to stay on through a stressful voting period.

In interviews, county and state election officials shared details of security plans with NBC News.

Maricopa County, Arizona, has been a hotbed of conspiracy theories, protests and threats for years, fueled by baseless voter fraud claims from former President Donald Trump and his allies.

The county, the largest in one of the most critical battleground states on the map, will have some of the most intense security in the nation. Its tabulation center will have snipers on the roof, metal detectors and security at every entrance, drones surveilling overhead, and security cameras and floodlights to help law enforcement monitor the area.

There are also two layers of security fencing, and some workers will be bused in from off-site parking to accommodate the newly implemented measures.

“They spared no expense in 2022, they’re all in again this cycle,” Maricopa County Recorder Stephen Richer, a Republican, said of local law enforcement’s plans.

In Cobb County, Georgia, the sheriff will have officers at every early voting site and patrolling local precincts. The county has set up an emergency operations center at the local 911 call center, where the sheriff’s office, fire department and local utilities will be monitoring CCTVs and social media to keep an eye on everything from traffic and long lines to any potential disturbances at the polls.

“They’re going to pull up the cameras closest to all the 148 polling places to monitor for traffic, accidents, things like that — high volume,” said Tate Fall, the county’s director of elections.

The county allocated money for so-called panic buttons that would allow election workers to quickly contact authorities in emergencies. But officials found implementing the technology difficult since the county doesn’t give poll workers smartphones. They decided to give police radios to election workers instead.

In nearby Gwinnett County, the sheriff will be overseeing security for all its polling sites, even in unincorporated areas typically monitored by local police. The local schools are closed on Election Day, so school police officers will be deployed at polling sites there.

The local election office will have police officers, who been trained specifically on how to best work around an election, monitoring early voting and absentee ballot counting once it begins, said Zach Manifold, the county’s director of elections.

Daniel Baxter, the Detroit election official who oversees absentee counting, said poll worker pay was doubled in 2022 in hopes of easing recruitment and attracting more qualified personnel.

Poll workers this year who agree to work three shifts counting absentee ballots in the convention center, where Republican protesters tried to shut down ballot counting while making baseless allegations of fraud in 2020, will make $2,250.

In Milwaukee County, Wisconsin, police plan to shut down the street outside the building where the election results are tabulated to control access to the building, said Aaron Dobson, inspector for the Milwaukee County Sheriff’s Office.

In Colorado, where counties are required to undergo an election-related security analysis, the state is making funds available so that officials can make recommended upgrades.

For some county officials, that means upgrading their locks and cameras, while others have installed bulletproof glass and purchased bulletproof vests, according to Colorado Secretary of State Jena Griswold, a Democrat. Poll workers who work this election will also make an additional $3 an hour in pay, the same premium rate they made in 2020.

A new state law to fend off insider threats also requires that election equipment be under 24/7 surveillance and protected by keycard access.

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Griswold said officials in the state are preparing for threats they’ve never seen, including those stemming from artificial intelligence.

“We have layers of security — we have military and law enforcement joining our team to protect our cyber support systems,” she said. “People are voting on paper so that, of course, can’t be hacked, but what they’re doing is protecting our support systems.”

She and her staff routinely face threats. One person who made threats against her was arrested while Griswold was in the hospital giving birth.

“We are definitely on top of it, and take all of our security very seriously,” she said. “But the No. 1 thing we do is vote on a piece of paper.”

This story first appeared on NBCNews.com. More from NBC News:

• Fact check: Harris says law enforcement officers were killed on Jan. 6
• Steve Kornacki: The polls were off in 2020. Will they be again in 2024?
• Inside the New York elections that could decide control of Congress

Voters in Los Angeles County will consider a new sales tax with significant ramifications for resources dedicated to the largest homeless population in California.

If approved, Measure A would provide the county with about $1 billion annually by repealing an existing quarter-cent sales tax and replacing it with a half-cent sales tax. Money raised would go toward combating the homeless crisis by providing shelters, housing and other services.

If it fails, the tax that currently funds many county homeless services would expire in 2027.

Here’s what to know about LA County Measure A.

What to know about LA County Measure A

First, how we got here.

In 2017, Los Angeles County voters passed a quarter-cent sales tax called Measure H with 69 percent of voters supporting the measure. Money from the tax was poured into programs designed to address the regions homeless crisis, such as getting people out of homeless encampments and into shelters. Funds from Measure H have helped move more than 42,000 people in permanent housing and 80,500 into temporary housing, according to the county’s Chief Executive Office.

Measure A would repeal and replace the Measure H-approved tax with a larger one that would be used to fund a wider range of resources, like building new affordable housing.

Supporters say the homeless crisis would get worse if Measure H expires without a replacement. They say that if all Measure H services lost funding, unsheltered homelessness could increase by 28 percent, based on point-in-time 2024 homeless count data provided by the Los Angeles Homeless Services Authority.

About one-third of Measure A funds would go to the new Los Angeles County Affordable House Solution Agency for new homes and services to help people avoid eviction and foreclosure. Most of the remaining money would go to homeless services.

Two new oversight bodies would set goals for the programs.

Measure A supporters and opponents

Supporters of the measure include local nonprofits like the Los Angeles-area branches of United Way and Habitat for Humanity, several labor unions, California Community Foundation, Western States Carpenters, Liberty Hill Foundation and other groups.

Critics say money has already been spent on the homeless crisis with few results. The Howard Jarvis Taxpayers Association, which wrote the official statement in opposition to Measure A, said a tax increase isn’t the best way out of the homeless crisis in Los Angeles County. Opponents argue Los Angeles hasn’t seen enough of a return on the sales tax paid under Measure H after seven years, so why try again with a larger tax?

“Measure A raises the sales tax by more than $1 billion per year, permanently, to pay for the same failed homelessness programs that have wasted over $3 billion since 2017,” the Howard Jarvis Taxpayers Associated said in a statement. “Prices are already too high, and so is the sales tax, currently above 10% in many places. Vote No on Measure A.”

Measure A qualified for the ballot by citizen initiative, meaning it is exempt from the two-thirds majority required of government-initiated taxes. A simple majority is required for the measure to pass.

This story uses functionality that may not work in our app. Click here to open the story in your web browser.

The once-routine business of running elections in America has become much more fraught with risk in the wake of the 2020 campaign, with poll workers facing harassment, violent threats and chaotic protests. It’s a dynamic that has forced many election officials out of the industry, while those who remain have taken in some cases dramatic steps to protect poll workers and voters ahead of Election Day. Some poll workers are also receiving pay bumps as incentives to stay on through a stressful voting period.

In interviews, county and state election officials shared details of security plans with NBC News.

Maricopa County, Arizona, has been a hotbed of conspiracy theories, protests and threats for years, fueled by baseless voter fraud claims from former President Donald Trump and his allies.

The county, the largest in one of the most critical battleground states on the map, will have some of the most intense security in the nation. Its tabulation center will have snipers on the roof, metal detectors and security at every entrance, drones surveilling overhead, and security cameras and floodlights to help law enforcement monitor the area.

There are also two layers of security fencing, and some workers will be bused in from off-site parking to accommodate the newly implemented measures.

“They spared no expense in 2022, they’re all in again this cycle,” Maricopa County Recorder Stephen Richer, a Republican, said of local law enforcement’s plans.

In Cobb County, Georgia, the sheriff will have officers at every early voting site and patrolling local precincts. The county has set up an emergency operations center at the local 911 call center, where the sheriff’s office, fire department and local utilities will be monitoring CCTVs and social media to keep an eye on everything from traffic and long lines to any potential disturbances at the polls.

“They’re going to pull up the cameras closest to all the 148 polling places to monitor for traffic, accidents, things like that — high volume,” said Tate Fall, the county’s director of elections.

The county allocated money for so-called panic buttons that would allow election workers to quickly contact authorities in emergencies. But officials found implementing the technology difficult since the county doesn’t give poll workers smartphones. They decided to give police radios to election workers instead.

In nearby Gwinnett County, the sheriff will be overseeing security for all its polling sites, even in unincorporated areas typically monitored by local police. The local schools are closed on Election Day, so school police officers will be deployed at polling sites there.

The local election office will have police officers, who been trained specifically on how to best work around an election, monitoring early voting and absentee ballot counting once it begins, said Zach Manifold, the county’s director of elections.

Daniel Baxter, the Detroit election official who oversees absentee counting, said poll worker pay was doubled in 2022 in hopes of easing recruitment and attracting more qualified personnel.

Poll workers this year who agree to work three shifts counting absentee ballots in the convention center, where Republican protesters tried to shut down ballot counting while making baseless allegations of fraud in 2020, will make $2,250.

In Milwaukee County, Wisconsin, police plan to shut down the street outside the building where the election results are tabulated to control access to the building, said Aaron Dobson, inspector for the Milwaukee County Sheriff’s Office.

In Colorado, where counties are required to undergo an election-related security analysis, the state is making funds available so that officials can make recommended upgrades.

For some county officials, that means upgrading their locks and cameras, while others have installed bulletproof glass and purchased bulletproof vests, according to Colorado Secretary of State Jena Griswold, a Democrat. Poll workers who work this election will also make an additional $3 an hour in pay, the same premium rate they made in 2020.

A new state law to fend off insider threats also requires that election equipment be under 24/7 surveillance and protected by keycard access.

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Griswold said officials in the state are preparing for threats they’ve never seen, including those stemming from artificial intelligence.

“We have layers of security — we have military and law enforcement joining our team to protect our cyber support systems,” she said. “People are voting on paper so that, of course, can’t be hacked, but what they’re doing is protecting our support systems.”

She and her staff routinely face threats. One person who made threats against her was arrested while Griswold was in the hospital giving birth.

“We are definitely on top of it, and take all of our security very seriously,” she said. “But the No. 1 thing we do is vote on a piece of paper.”

This story first appeared on NBCNews.com. More from NBC News:

• Fact check: Harris says law enforcement officers were killed on Jan. 6
• Steve Kornacki: The polls were off in 2020. Will they be again in 2024?
• Inside the New York elections that could decide control of Congress

The once-routine business of running elections in America has become much more fraught with risk in the wake of the 2020 campaign, with poll workers facing harassment, violent threats and chaotic protests. It’s a dynamic that has forced many election officials out of the industry, while those who remain have taken in some cases dramatic steps to protect poll workers and voters ahead of Election Day. Some poll workers are also receiving pay bumps as incentives to stay on through a stressful voting period.

In interviews, county and state election officials shared details of security plans with NBC News.

Maricopa County, Arizona, has been a hotbed of conspiracy theories, protests and threats for years, fueled by baseless voter fraud claims from former President Donald Trump and his allies.

The county, the largest in one of the most critical battleground states on the map, will have some of the most intense security in the nation. Its tabulation center will have snipers on the roof, metal detectors and security at every entrance, drones surveilling overhead, and security cameras and floodlights to help law enforcement monitor the area.

There are also two layers of security fencing, and some workers will be bused in from off-site parking to accommodate the newly implemented measures.

“They spared no expense in 2022, they’re all in again this cycle,” Maricopa County Recorder Stephen Richer, a Republican, said of local law enforcement’s plans.

In Cobb County, Georgia, the sheriff will have officers at every early voting site and patrolling local precincts. The county has set up an emergency operations center at the local 911 call center, where the sheriff’s office, fire department and local utilities will be monitoring CCTVs and social media to keep an eye on everything from traffic and long lines to any potential disturbances at the polls.

“They’re going to pull up the cameras closest to all the 148 polling places to monitor for traffic, accidents, things like that — high volume,” said Tate Fall, the county’s director of elections.

The county allocated money for so-called panic buttons that would allow election workers to quickly contact authorities in emergencies. But officials found implementing the technology difficult since the county doesn’t give poll workers smartphones. They decided to give police radios to election workers instead.

In nearby Gwinnett County, the sheriff will be overseeing security for all its polling sites, even in unincorporated areas typically monitored by local police. The local schools are closed on Election Day, so school police officers will be deployed at polling sites there.

The local election office will have police officers, who been trained specifically on how to best work around an election, monitoring early voting and absentee ballot counting once it begins, said Zach Manifold, the county’s director of elections.

Daniel Baxter, the Detroit election official who oversees absentee counting, said poll worker pay was doubled in 2022 in hopes of easing recruitment and attracting more qualified personnel.

Poll workers this year who agree to work three shifts counting absentee ballots in the convention center, where Republican protesters tried to shut down ballot counting while making baseless allegations of fraud in 2020, will make $2,250.

In Milwaukee County, Wisconsin, police plan to shut down the street outside the building where the election results are tabulated to control access to the building, said Aaron Dobson, inspector for the Milwaukee County Sheriff’s Office.

In Colorado, where counties are required to undergo an election-related security analysis, the state is making funds available so that officials can make recommended upgrades.

For some county officials, that means upgrading their locks and cameras, while others have installed bulletproof glass and purchased bulletproof vests, according to Colorado Secretary of State Jena Griswold, a Democrat. Poll workers who work this election will also make an additional $3 an hour in pay, the same premium rate they made in 2020.

A new state law to fend off insider threats also requires that election equipment be under 24/7 surveillance and protected by keycard access.

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Can you spot the celebrity ‘deepfakes' in a new ad warning against election disinfo?

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Want to follow election results like a pro? Here's what to watch in key states

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What is the Electoral College and how does the US use it to elect presidents?

Griswold said officials in the state are preparing for threats they’ve never seen, including those stemming from artificial intelligence.

“We have layers of security — we have military and law enforcement joining our team to protect our cyber support systems,” she said. “People are voting on paper so that, of course, can’t be hacked, but what they’re doing is protecting our support systems.”

She and her staff routinely face threats. One person who made threats against her was arrested while Griswold was in the hospital giving birth.

“We are definitely on top of it, and take all of our security very seriously,” she said. “But the No. 1 thing we do is vote on a piece of paper.”

This story first appeared on NBCNews.com. More from NBC News:

• Fact check: Harris says law enforcement officers were killed on Jan. 6
• Steve Kornacki: The polls were off in 2020. Will they be again in 2024?
• Inside the New York elections that could decide control of Congress

The once-routine business of running elections in America has become much more fraught with risk in the wake of the 2020 campaign, with poll workers facing harassment, violent threats and chaotic protests. It’s a dynamic that has forced many election officials out of the industry, while those who remain have taken in some cases dramatic steps to protect poll workers and voters ahead of Election Day. Some poll workers are also receiving pay bumps as incentives to stay on through a stressful voting period.

In interviews, county and state election officials shared details of security plans with NBC News.

Maricopa County, Arizona, has been a hotbed of conspiracy theories, protests and threats for years, fueled by baseless voter fraud claims from former President Donald Trump and his allies.

The county, the largest in one of the most critical battleground states on the map, will have some of the most intense security in the nation. Its tabulation center will have snipers on the roof, metal detectors and security at every entrance, drones surveilling overhead, and security cameras and floodlights to help law enforcement monitor the area.

There are also two layers of security fencing, and some workers will be bused in from off-site parking to accommodate the newly implemented measures.

“They spared no expense in 2022, they’re all in again this cycle,” Maricopa County Recorder Stephen Richer, a Republican, said of local law enforcement’s plans.

In Cobb County, Georgia, the sheriff will have officers at every early voting site and patrolling local precincts. The county has set up an emergency operations center at the local 911 call center, where the sheriff’s office, fire department and local utilities will be monitoring CCTVs and social media to keep an eye on everything from traffic and long lines to any potential disturbances at the polls.

“They’re going to pull up the cameras closest to all the 148 polling places to monitor for traffic, accidents, things like that — high volume,” said Tate Fall, the county’s director of elections.

The county allocated money for so-called panic buttons that would allow election workers to quickly contact authorities in emergencies. But officials found implementing the technology difficult since the county doesn’t give poll workers smartphones. They decided to give police radios to election workers instead.

In nearby Gwinnett County, the sheriff will be overseeing security for all its polling sites, even in unincorporated areas typically monitored by local police. The local schools are closed on Election Day, so school police officers will be deployed at polling sites there.

The local election office will have police officers, who been trained specifically on how to best work around an election, monitoring early voting and absentee ballot counting once it begins, said Zach Manifold, the county’s director of elections.

Daniel Baxter, the Detroit election official who oversees absentee counting, said poll worker pay was doubled in 2022 in hopes of easing recruitment and attracting more qualified personnel.

Poll workers this year who agree to work three shifts counting absentee ballots in the convention center, where Republican protesters tried to shut down ballot counting while making baseless allegations of fraud in 2020, will make $2,250.

In Milwaukee County, Wisconsin, police plan to shut down the street outside the building where the election results are tabulated to control access to the building, said Aaron Dobson, inspector for the Milwaukee County Sheriff’s Office.

In Colorado, where counties are required to undergo an election-related security analysis, the state is making funds available so that officials can make recommended upgrades.

For some county officials, that means upgrading their locks and cameras, while others have installed bulletproof glass and purchased bulletproof vests, according to Colorado Secretary of State Jena Griswold, a Democrat. Poll workers who work this election will also make an additional $3 an hour in pay, the same premium rate they made in 2020.

A new state law to fend off insider threats also requires that election equipment be under 24/7 surveillance and protected by keycard access.

Decision 2024 10 hours ago

Can you spot the celebrity ‘deepfakes' in a new ad warning against election disinfo?

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Want to follow election results like a pro? Here's what to watch in key states

Decision 2024 Oct 8

What is the Electoral College and how does the US use it to elect presidents?

Griswold said officials in the state are preparing for threats they’ve never seen, including those stemming from artificial intelligence.

“We have layers of security — we have military and law enforcement joining our team to protect our cyber support systems,” she said. “People are voting on paper so that, of course, can’t be hacked, but what they’re doing is protecting our support systems.”

She and her staff routinely face threats. One person who made threats against her was arrested while Griswold was in the hospital giving birth.

“We are definitely on top of it, and take all of our security very seriously,” she said. “But the No. 1 thing we do is vote on a piece of paper.”

This story first appeared on NBCNews.com. More from NBC News:

• Fact check: Harris says law enforcement officers were killed on Jan. 6
• Steve Kornacki: The polls were off in 2020. Will they be again in 2024?
• Inside the New York elections that could decide control of Congress

The once-routine business of running elections in America has become much more fraught with risk in the wake of the 2020 campaign, with poll workers facing harassment, violent threats and chaotic protests. It’s a dynamic that has forced many election officials out of the industry, while those who remain have taken in some cases dramatic steps to protect poll workers and voters ahead of Election Day. Some poll workers are also receiving pay bumps as incentives to stay on through a stressful voting period.

In interviews, county and state election officials shared details of security plans with NBC News.

Maricopa County, Arizona, has been a hotbed of conspiracy theories, protests and threats for years, fueled by baseless voter fraud claims from former President Donald Trump and his allies.

The county, the largest in one of the most critical battleground states on the map, will have some of the most intense security in the nation. Its tabulation center will have snipers on the roof, metal detectors and security at every entrance, drones surveilling overhead, and security cameras and floodlights to help law enforcement monitor the area.

There are also two layers of security fencing, and some workers will be bused in from off-site parking to accommodate the newly implemented measures.

“They spared no expense in 2022, they’re all in again this cycle,” Maricopa County Recorder Stephen Richer, a Republican, said of local law enforcement’s plans.

In Cobb County, Georgia, the sheriff will have officers at every early voting site and patrolling local precincts. The county has set up an emergency operations center at the local 911 call center, where the sheriff’s office, fire department and local utilities will be monitoring CCTVs and social media to keep an eye on everything from traffic and long lines to any potential disturbances at the polls.

“They’re going to pull up the cameras closest to all the 148 polling places to monitor for traffic, accidents, things like that — high volume,” said Tate Fall, the county’s director of elections.

The county allocated money for so-called panic buttons that would allow election workers to quickly contact authorities in emergencies. But officials found implementing the technology difficult since the county doesn’t give poll workers smartphones. They decided to give police radios to election workers instead.

In nearby Gwinnett County, the sheriff will be overseeing security for all its polling sites, even in unincorporated areas typically monitored by local police. The local schools are closed on Election Day, so school police officers will be deployed at polling sites there.

The local election office will have police officers, who been trained specifically on how to best work around an election, monitoring early voting and absentee ballot counting once it begins, said Zach Manifold, the county’s director of elections.

Daniel Baxter, the Detroit election official who oversees absentee counting, said poll worker pay was doubled in 2022 in hopes of easing recruitment and attracting more qualified personnel.

Poll workers this year who agree to work three shifts counting absentee ballots in the convention center, where Republican protesters tried to shut down ballot counting while making baseless allegations of fraud in 2020, will make $2,250.

In Milwaukee County, Wisconsin, police plan to shut down the street outside the building where the election results are tabulated to control access to the building, said Aaron Dobson, inspector for the Milwaukee County Sheriff’s Office.

In Colorado, where counties are required to undergo an election-related security analysis, the state is making funds available so that officials can make recommended upgrades.

For some county officials, that means upgrading their locks and cameras, while others have installed bulletproof glass and purchased bulletproof vests, according to Colorado Secretary of State Jena Griswold, a Democrat. Poll workers who work this election will also make an additional $3 an hour in pay, the same premium rate they made in 2020.

A new state law to fend off insider threats also requires that election equipment be under 24/7 surveillance and protected by keycard access.

Decision 2024 10 hours ago

Can you spot the celebrity ‘deepfakes' in a new ad warning against election disinfo?

Decision 2024 Oct 8

Want to follow election results like a pro? Here's what to watch in key states

Decision 2024 Oct 8

What is the Electoral College and how does the US use it to elect presidents?

Griswold said officials in the state are preparing for threats they’ve never seen, including those stemming from artificial intelligence.

“We have layers of security — we have military and law enforcement joining our team to protect our cyber support systems,” she said. “People are voting on paper so that, of course, can’t be hacked, but what they’re doing is protecting our support systems.”

She and her staff routinely face threats. One person who made threats against her was arrested while Griswold was in the hospital giving birth.

“We are definitely on top of it, and take all of our security very seriously,” she said. “But the No. 1 thing we do is vote on a piece of paper.”

This story first appeared on NBCNews.com. More from NBC News:

• Fact check: Harris says law enforcement officers were killed on Jan. 6
• Steve Kornacki: The polls were off in 2020. Will they be again in 2024?
• Inside the New York elections that could decide control of Congress

In Maine and Alaska, voters in competitive congressional districts will elect a winner using ranked choice voting.

Rather than cast a single vote for their preferred candidate, voters rank their choices in order of preference on the ballot. If a candidate is the first choice of more than 50% of voters in the first round of counting, that candidate is the winner.

But if no candidate surpasses 50%, the count continues in round two. The candidate with the fewest votes is eliminated, and voters who chose that candidate as their top pick have their votes redistributed to their next choice. This continues with the candidate with the fewest votes getting eliminated until someone emerges with a majority of votes.

Ranked choice voting has become more popular in recent years, particularly at the municipal level.

Voters in two dozen cities and counties — from New York and Minneapolis to Boulder, Colorado — used ranked choice voting in 2023, according to FairVote, a nonpartisan organization that advocates for the expansion of ranked choice voting. Seven other cities voted in favor of preserving, adopting or expanding ranked choice voting.

Proponents of ranked choice voting argue the system encourages candidates to build broader coalitions, eliminates the spoiler effect and discourages negative campaigning. Opponents say it’s confusing and can result in a candidate without the largest number of first-choice votes ultimately prevailing.

Because they take place over multiple rounds, elections that advance to ranked choice are often resolved a week or more after Election Day.

Maine

Maine adopted ranked voting in elections in 2016 in a statewide referendum. It is used in all statewide primaries with more than two candidates. In general elections, it is used for federal offices including the presidency but not in state races, such as for governor or the Legislature, because it runs afoul of the Maine Constitution.

It quickly came into play — twice — in Maine’s 2nd Congressional District. Then-GOP Rep. Bruce Poliquin won the first round of voting in 2018, but lost to Democratic Rep. Jared Golden when votes were reallocated after removing the third- and fourth-place finishers. The process repeated four years later when Golden beat Poliquin in a rematch.

A federal judge twice upheld the constitutionality of ranked voting in separate challenges by Poliquin in 2018 and a group of voters in 2020.

This year, only two candidates are explicitly on the ballot in the 2nd District — Golden and Republican Austin Theriault — but the race could nonetheless go to ranked choice voting because votes will be counted for a third candidate whose write-in candidacy has been recognized by the state.

If no first-round winner receives a majority of the vote on Election Day, then the ballots are shipped to the state capital, where the ballots are entered into a computer. The process takes about a week before the final tally is run and the winner declared.

Alaska

Alaskans approved the use of ranked choice voting in a 2020 statewide initiative. It is used in all general elections, including for the presidency, but not in state primaries. Alaska’s state primaries are open, so all candidates, regardless of party, run on the same ballot and the top four vote-getters advance to the general election.

Presidential primaries are different. Candidates can make the ballot by winning a recognized party’s primary or successfully petitioning the state Division of Elections. This year, there will be eight presidential tickets on the ballot in Alaska; voters can rank all of them if they choose.

The first use of ranked choice voting — and when it first came into play — was in a 2022 special election for the state’s at-large congressional district. Now-Rep. Mary Peltola, a Democrat, received the most votes in the first round of voting, while two Republican candidates finished second and third. She surpassed 50% of the vote when the third-place candidate was eliminated.

Peltola went on to win the regularly scheduled election, which also used ranked choice voting, later that year. She faces Republican Nick Begich, one of the two candidates she defeated in 2022, and two others in November.

Republican Sen. Lisa Murkowski was reelected in 2022 in a race that went to ranked choice voting.

Alaska will vote next month on a ballot measure that would repeal the state’s new open primary and ranked choice general election system.

The presidency

The more candidates in a race, the more likely it is that candidates will split the vote and nobody will win a majority, advancing the election to ranked choice voting. The presidential ballots in Maine and Alaska will include more than just Democrat Kamala Harris and Republican Donald Trump, so it’s possible those states’ races could wind up going to ranked choice voting.

Maine is one of two states that gives an electoral vote to the winner of each congressional district along with two to the statewide winner, and ranked choice voting could go into effect if no presidential candidate receives a majority in one of the districts.

In 2020, before Alaska’s ranked choice voting was in place, Trump received about 53% of the state’s vote. Democrat Joe Biden won Maine with about 53% of the vote that year.

Sweedler reported from Washington.

Read more about how U.S. elections work at Explaining Election 2024, a series from The Associated Press aimed at helping make sense of the American democracy. The AP receives support from several private foundations to enhance its explanatory coverage of elections and democracy. See more about AP’s democracy initiative here. The AP is solely responsible for all content.

The federal government sets some basic standards: U.S. citizens age 18 or older are eligible to vote. But each state can adopt additional voting requirements and restrictions. For example, many states disqualify voters serving a prison sentence for felony crimes.

Many states also require people to register to vote in advance of Election Day, so poll workers can check names off a list when people show up to vote. The majority of states also ask voters to show some form of identification, so carrying an ID may be important.

Here’s a look at some of the most common rules and requirements when it comes to casting a ballot.

What’s the age requirement to vote?

The 26th Amendment to the Constitution sets the voting age at 18. You must be at least that old by Election Day, which this year is Nov. 5.

States may allow people to register to vote while age 17, or in some cases 16, so long as they turn 18 by Election Day.

What’s the citizenship requirement to vote?

A 1996 U.S. law makes it illegal for noncitizens to vote in elections for president or members of Congress. Violators can be fined and imprisoned for up to a year. They can also be deported. When people register to vote, they confirm under penalty of perjury that they are U.S. citizens.

No state constitutions explicitly allow noncitizens to vote. Many states have laws that prohibit noncitizens from voting for state offices such as governor or attorney general. There are ballot measures in several states this November asking voters whether to explicitly add such a prohibition to the state’s constitution.

Some municipalities in California, Maryland and Vermont, as well as the District of Columbia, do allow voting by noncitizens in some local elections such as for school board and city council. In Arizona, voters must prove their citizenship to participate in local and state races.

Decision 2024

Voting Oct 8

Yes, voter fraud happens. But it's rare and election offices have safeguards to catch it

Decision 2024 Oct 8

What is the Electoral College and how does the US use it to elect presidents?

Do you have to register to vote?

North Dakota is the only state that does not require people to register to vote before casting a ballot. Elsewhere, people must register their names and addresses with election officials. That can be done in-person at state or local election offices or state motor vehicles offices. Many states also allow voter registrations to be mailed or submitted online.

About 20 states allow people to register on Election Day and then immediately cast a ballot.

The remaining states require some sort of advance registration, with deadlines ranging from three to 30 days before an election. Many of the states with voter registration deadlines more than two weeks ahead of the election are located in the South.

Do you need identification to vote?

About three-quarters of states ask for identification from voters at the polls. Twenty-one states request a photo identification, such as a driver’s license or government-issued card, according to the National Conference of State Legislatures. Fifteen additional states accept nonphoto identification, such as a utility bill or bank statement that lists a person’s name and address.

If voters don’t have identification, they may still be able to vote. In some states, voters can sign an affidavit of identity. In other states, they can cast a provisional ballot that is counted if election workers later verify their signature or if they return later with identification.

States that don’t require proof of identify use other means to verify voters, such as signatures or asking for home addresses.

People voting absentee or by mail could face additional requirements, such as getting a witness to sign their absentee ballot envelope.

What’s the residency requirement to vote?

Federal law prohibits states from imposing a residency requirement longer than 30 days before an election. But it’s up to voters to designate the address where they reside.

Students who live in one state but attend college elsewhere typically have the choice of voting at their home address or college address. But they still must follow state identification requirements. Some states do not accept student IDs as identification.

Can people convicted of crimes vote?

In all jurisdictions except Maine, Vermont and the nation’s capital, people convicted of felony crimes lose the right to vote while incarcerated.

In half the states, felony voting restrictions extend after incarceration, often including their time on probation or parole, according to the National Conference of State Legislatures. In some states, convicted felons lose their voting rights indefinitely for certain crimes.

Read more about how U.S. elections work at Explaining Election 2024, a series from The Associated Press aimed at helping make sense of the American democracy. The AP receives support from several private foundations to enhance its explanatory coverage of elections and democracy. See more about AP’s democracy initiative here. The AP is solely responsible for all content.

Voter fraud does happen occasionally. When it does, we tend to hear a lot about it. It also gets caught and prosecuted.

The nation’s multilayered election processes provide many safeguards that keep voter fraud generally detectable and rare, according to current and former election administrators of both parties.

America’s elections are decentralized, with thousands of independent voting jurisdictions. That makes it virtually impossible to pull off a large-scale vote-rigging operation that could tip a presidential race — or most any other race.

“You’re probably not going to have a perfect election system,” said Republican Trey Grayson, a former Kentucky secretary of state and the advisory board chair of the Secure Elections Project. “But if you’re looking for one that you should have confidence in, you should feel good about that here in America.”

What’s stopping people from committing voter fraud?

Voting more than once, tampering with ballots, lying about your residence to vote somewhere else or casting someone else’s ballot are crimes that can be punished with hefty fines and prison time. Non-U.S. citizens who break election laws can be deported.

For anyone still motivated to cheat, election systems in the United States are designed with multiple layers of protection and transparency intended to stand in the way.

For in-person voting, most states either require or request voters provide some sort of ID at the polls. Others require voters to verify who they are in another way, such as stating their name and address, signing a poll book or signing an affidavit.

People who try to vote in the name of a recently deceased friend or family member can be caught when election officials update voter lists with death records and obituaries, said Gail Pellerin, a Democratic in the California Assembly who ran elections in Santa Cruz County for more than 27 years.

Those who try to impersonate someone else run the risk that someone at the polls knows that person or that the person will later try to cast their own ballot, she said.

What protections exist for absentee voting?

For absentee voting, different states have different ballot verification protocols. All states require a voter’s signature. Many states have further precautions, such as having bipartisan teams compare the signature with other signatures on file, requiring the signature to be notarized or requiring a witness to sign.

That means even if a ballot is erroneously sent to someone’s past address and the current resident mails it in, there are checks to alert election workers to the foul play.

A growing number of states offer online or text-based ballot tracking tools as an extra layer of protection, allowing voters to see when their ballot has been sent out, returned and counted.

Federal law requires voter list maintenance, and election officials do that through a variety of methods, from checking state and federal databases to collaborating with other states to track voters who have moved.

Ballot drop boxes have security protocols, too, said Tammy Patrick, chief executive officer for programs at the National Association of Election Officials.

She explained the boxes are often designed to stop hands from stealing ballots and are surveilled by camera, bolted to the ground and constructed with fire-retardant chambers, so if someone threw in a lit match, it wouldn’t destroy the ballots inside.

Sometimes, alleged voter fraud isn’t what it seems

After the 2020 election, social media surged with claims of dead people casting ballots, double voting or destroyed piles of ballots on the side of the road.

Former President Donald Trump promoted and has continued to amplify these claims. But the vast majority of them were found to be untrue.

An Associated Press investigation that explored every potential case of voter fraud in the six battleground states disputed by Trump found there were fewer than 475 out of millions of votes cast. That was not nearly enough to tip the outcome. Democrat Joe Biden won the six states by a combined 311,257 votes.

The review also showed no collusion intended to rig the voting. Virtually every case was based on an individual acting alone to cast additional ballots. In one case, a man mistakenly thought he could vote while on parole. In another, a woman was suspected of sending in a ballot for her dead mother.

Former election officials say that even more often, allegations of voter fraud turn out to result from a clerical error or a misunderstanding.

Pellerin said she remembered when a political candidate in her county raised suspicion about many people being registered to vote at the same address. It turned out the voters were nuns who all lived in the same home.

Patrick said that when she worked in elections in Maricopa County, Arizona, mismatched signatures were sometimes explained by a broken arm or a recent stroke. In other cases, an elderly person tried to vote twice because they forgot they had already submitted a mail ballot.

“You really have to think about the intent of the voter,” Patrick said. “It isn’t always intuitive.”

Why voter fraud is unlikely to affect the presidential race

It would be wrong to suggest that voter fraud never happens.

With millions of votes cast in an election year, it’s almost guaranteed there will be a few cases of someone trying to game the system. There also have been more insidious efforts, such as a vote-buying scheme in 2006 in Kentucky.

In that case, Grayson said, voters complained and an investigation ensued. Then participants admitted what they had done.

He said the example shows how important it is for election officials to stay vigilant and constantly improve security in order to help voters feel confident.

But, he said, it would be hard to make any such scheme work on a larger scale. Fraudsters would have to navigate onerous nuances in each county’s election system. They also would have to keep a large number of people quiet about a crime that could be caught at any moment by officials or observers.

“This decentralized nature of the elections is itself a deterrent,” Grayson said.

Read more about how U.S. elections work at Explaining Election 2024, a series from The Associated Press aimed at helping make sense of the American democracy. The AP receives support from several private foundations to enhance its explanatory coverage of elections and democracy. See more about AP’s democracy initiative here. The AP is solely responsible for all content.

The Electoral College is the unique American system of electing presidents. It is different from the popular vote, and it has an outsize impact on how candidates run and win campaigns. Republicans Trump and Bush lost the popular vote during their presidential runs but won the Electoral College to claim the nation’s top office.

Some Democrats charge that the system favors Republicans and they would rather the United States elect presidents by a simple majority vote. But the country’s framers set up the system in the Constitution, and it would require a constitutional amendment to change.

A look at the Electoral College and how it works, as Trump and Vice President Kamala Harris, the Democratic nominee for president, compete for the White House on Election Day, Nov. 5:

What is the Electoral College?

The Electoral College is a 538-member body that elects a president. The framers of the Constitution set it up to give more power to the states and as a compromise to avoid having Congress decide the winner.

Each state’s electors vote for the candidate who won the popular vote in that state. The runner-up gets nothing — except in Nebraska and Maine where elector votes are awarded based on congressional district and statewide results.

To win the presidency, a candidate must secure 270 electoral votes — a majority of the 538 possible votes.

How is it different from the popular vote?

Under the Electoral College system, more weight is given to a single vote in a small state than to the vote of someone in a large state, leading to outcomes at times that have been at odds with the popular vote.

It also affects how candidates campaign. Because the outcome is almost certain in solidly Republican states and solidly Democratic states, candidates tend to focus most of their efforts on a handful of swing states that have split their votes in recent elections.

Who are the electors?

Electors are allocated based on how many representatives a state has in the House of Representatives, plus its two senators. The District of Columbia gets three, despite the fact that the home to Congress has no vote in Congress.

It varies by state, but often the electors are picked by state parties. Members of Congress cannot serve as electors.

How and when are the votes counted?

After state election officials certify their elections, electors meet in their individual states — never as one body — to certify the election. This year, that will happen on Dec. 17.

If the two candidates have a tied number of votes, the election is thrown to the House, where each state's congressional delegation gets one vote. That has happened only twice, in 1801 and 1825.

Once a state’s electors have certified the vote, they send a certificate to Congress. Congress then formally counts and certifies the vote at a special session on Jan. 6. The vice president presides as the envelopes for each state are opened and verified.

Can lawmakers object?

Lawmakers can object to a state's results during the congressional certification, as several Republicans did after the 2020 election. On Jan. 6, 2021, the House and Senate both voted to reject GOP objections to the Arizona and Pennsylvania results.

After Trump tried to overturn his defeat to Democrat Joe Biden and his supporters stormed the Capitol on Jan. 6, Congress updated the 1800s-era Electoral Count Act to make it harder to object and to more clearly lay out the vice president's ceremonial role, among other changes. Trump had pressured Vice President Mike Pence to try and object to the results — something the vice president has no legal standing to do.

Once Congress certifies the vote, the new or returning president will be inaugurated Jan. 20 on the steps of the Capitol.

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