Protecting Voters and Election Workers from Armed Intimidation

Laws that prohibit people from carrying guns in certain locations are effective. Even on January 6, 2021, the mob that stormed the Capitol seeking to overturn the results of the 2020 presidential election largely did not bring or use guns. It appears that the rioters followed the District of Columbia’s laws prohibiting people from carrying guns on Capitol grounds or openly carrying in general.

While weakening the ability to uphold effective gun violence prevention in many ways, the Supreme Court has been clear that the Second Amendment allows states to prohibit guns in places where elections are being conducted. Reflective of this, several states with strong gun cultures and high rates of gun ownership, such as Arizona, Florida, Georgia, Louisiana, and Texas, have long prohibited firearms where people vote.

As threats and intimidation directed at election officials have risen meteorically in recent years and the risk of voter intimidation remains high, more states have recognized the urgency of keeping guns away from elections.

In 2024, the Brennan Center and our partners helped enact laws in Colorado, Massachusetts, and Vermont that prohibit guns at the polls or where votes are being counted, as well as a law in New Mexico prohibiting open carry at the polls. Michigan is likely to enact a law at the end of this year that prohibits open carry at the polls and all guns where votes are being counted. These states join over a dozen others that specifically prohibit some or all gun carrying at the polls. Many more states prohibit guns at schools and other places that are frequently used as polling locations.

The Brennan Center also helped pioneer state legislation modeled on the federal Voting Rights Act that allows voters and election workers to sue people who intimidate or threaten them. Election officials like Benson, who are threatened outside of work because they administer elections, may also sue. Importantly, the measure recognizes for the first time that the presence of guns in the context of elections and voting is intimidating.

In February, California became the first state in the nation to have this bill introduced in its legislature. Titled the Protecting Elections from Armed Coercion and Extremism Act, or Peace Act, it is steadily advancing through the legislature and is on track to be in place for the 2024 election.

Violence at the polls remains unlikely, but threats and intimidation are all too real. To preserve the sanctity and safety of elections, it is critical that states continue to adopt solutions to this problem and address the emerging threat of guns as instruments of voter suppression.

Allison Anderman is Senior Counsel and Director of Local Policy, Giffords Law Center. The article, originally posted to the website of the Brennan Center for Justice, is published courtesy of the Brennan Center for Justice.