Addressing Physical Threats

Sadly, in the last several years, election officials have been subjected to increased threats, harassment, and doxing, causing a significant negative impact on their personal lives as well as interfering with the secure operation of our government processes and election infrastructure.

Officials are used to receiving emails, voicemails, and other contacts that criticize their work. Sometimes these rise to the level of attempts to threaten or intimidate, but attempts to threaten or intimidate are unacceptable, as is doxing–having their personal information published online–which can result in invasions of privacy and increase the risk of physical threats.

There are resources available to help and support you and your team–see below. And if you feel there is any chance of an immediate risk to you or others, do not wait, call 911.

Goals

1. Know about doxing and how to protect yourself.

2. Know what to do if you encounter an attempt to threaten or intimidate.

3. Know where to get more support.

Actions

For Addressing Physical Threats, the necessary actions are the same for all maturity levels.

1. Learn about doxing and take action to minimize risk through CISA’s Insight on Mitigating the Impacts of Doxing on Critical Infrastructure.

2. If you or anyone in your office receives an attempt to threaten or intimidate:

   • If you feel there is any chance of an immediate risk to you or others, call 911.

   • Contact your FBI Elections Crime Coordinator. If you don’t know your Election Crimes Coordinator, contact your local FBI field office and ask to speak to the Election Crimes Coordinator.

   • Contact your local CISA Physical Security Advisor (PSA).

3. For additional resources see the Cost Effective Tools section below.

Ensure your entire team is prepared and knows to take these actions if necessary.

Cost-Effective Tools

• CISA’s Insight on Mitigating the Impacts of Doxing on Critical Infrastructure.

• CISA’s Security Resources for the Election Infrastructure Subsector.

• U.S. Election Assistance Commission (EAC): Security Resources for Election Officials and Personal Security for Election Officials.

• The Committee for Safe and Secure Elections: https://safeelections.org/.

• Contact elections@cisecurity.org for more information.

Mapping to CIS Controls and Safeguards

• There are no relevant CIS Controls.

Mapping to CIS Handbook Best Practices

• There are no relevant Handbook best practices.