State election officials have issued a bulletin to the 50 states and the District to step up security preparations and contingency planning for disruptions to safeguard national balloting in case of an al Qaeda attack.
U.S. counterterrorism officials are mobilizing to deter such a plot, although they say there is no intelligence about timing or targets. Analysts are alarmed about the possibility of direct attacks at election sites within the United States or a domestic reprise of last spring's Madrid train bombings before national elections in Spain.
"The information that the federal government has tells us the prudent thing is to make sure we do everything we can to reduce anxiety, and to make sure the process of democracy goes on uninterrupted," said George W. Foresman, homeland security adviser to Virginia Gov. Mark R. Warner (D), chairman of the National Governors Association.
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Materials circulated to election managers recommend that states plan for possible scenarios including an elevated national terror threat level before Election Day, the possibility of attacks leading up to Nov. 2 requiring higher security and strikes that disrupt balloting.
A threat matrix also advises authorities to consider planning how they will secure individual polling places, defend state election board Web sites, protect voting data and results, maintain evidence such as ballots, survive power or phone outages and guard electoral college members who will vote in state capitols Dec. 13.
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/articles/A52541-2004Sep26.html?nav=rss_politics/elections/2004