Central Florida supervisors of elections are training their staff to respond in the event of swatting incidents at or near polling places this election.
Swatting occurs when a person or an AI-generated voice makes a prank call to emergency services in order to elicit a huge law enforcement response.
This can divert law enforcement resources from another location or it can be used to temporarily shut down a location.
Seminole County Supervisor of Elections Chris Anderson said there are concerns people could target elections officials and polling places with the goal of shutting down voting.
“This has happened to elected officials. It's also happened to election workers,” said Anderson.
Anderson said his office has plans in place to respond to swatting this election season but could not say more for security reasons. Anderson, a former law enforcement officer, said he remembers responding to swatting incidents. He said the large police presence can be frightening for people.
“I was one of those members at one point in time, so I can tell you, it is quite intimidating, and it's made to be that way from a law enforcement perspective, but it's in the right place. And these folks obviously didn't want these types of responses, so we wanted to prepare our election workers what to do and how to handle any of those swatting incidents that have come into play,” said Anderson.
The Orange County Supervisor of Elections office also said it has a contingency plan ready to go if swatting happens.
Watch the full press conference with the DOJ’s Robert Heberle to learn more about swatting at elections sites:
Swatting attempts involving elections are prosecuted by the Department of Justice and FBI, as they can be both a state and federal crime depending on the facts of the case.
Robert Heberle is the Director of the Elections Crime Branch at the DOJ.
Heberle said he can’t comment on how many cases of elections-related swatting are being investigated, but he said the response has been swift from his department.
“We have publicly charged 19 defendants over the past two years or so with engaging in violence and threats of violence toward the election community, and we're continuing to investigate and pursue any unlawful threat of violence toward the election community, including swatting incidents,” said Heberle.
Heberle urged any elections officials or poll workers who experience swatting to contact the FBI or Cybersecurity and Infrastructure Security Agency (CISA).
He also said to let local law enforcement know.
“Any person with information regarding a potential swatting incident should report that information to the FBI, even after a swatting incident has occurred, time can be of the essence in terms of tracing that call, figuring out who's responsible. And so immediately after any sort of swatting incident, election officials should report that, first to their local law enforcement authorities and then to the FBI, and then, as appropriate, we in the FBI will take steps to identify the caller and hold them accountable,” said Heberle.
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Read the full recommendations that the DOJ has made regarding swatting ahead of this election:
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