Election Day panic buttons unveiled in key swing county as part of disaster plan: report

Election officials in a Nevada county – viewed as one of the most pivotal swing counties in the nation – rolled out a new line of defense for Election Day workers: panic buttons.

In yet another sign of the times, in an election year marred by instances of violence, including two assassination attempts on former President Donald Trump and threats to election workers nationwide, officials in Washoe County will debut the devices for the first time Tuesday at all general election voting sites, according to the Reno Gazette-Journal.

But the publication noted that the panic buttons are “just one of the actions the county has taken in the event things go disastrously wrong.”

A Washoe County spokesperson told the newspaper that the panic button can be activated “if a vote center manager feels there’s an imminent threat." It added that the Nevada Legislature stiffened penalties for interfering with election staff last year.

“It's now a felony to harass election workers, and I hope that's a deterrent as well, that it might make somebody think twice before trying to harass an election worker,” spokesperson Bethany Drysdale told the Gazette-Journal.

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In addition to the panic buttons, Washoe County has backup plans in case of bad weather, “physical threats, cyberattacks and illness where the entire elections office might get sick,” the publication reported.

A “continuity of operations” guideline lays out how the county will respond to possible threats, addressing potential disaster situations such as a loss of power, according to the Gazette-Journal.

And if all else fails, it added, the National Guard has already been activated by Republican Gov. Joe Lombardo in case additional election security is needed.

"Activating gets the paperwork out of the way ahead of time so we don’t have to deal with that and they’re ready to go if we need them," the county spokesperson told the Gazette Journal.