Ten election inspectors sit around a table in the basement of the Clerk’s office in Canton, Michigan, learning de-escalation techniques. The building itself has been upgraded with new security measures, and four police officers are now assigned to patrol the township’s 12 polling locations on Midterm Election Day.
“Since 2020, emergency planning and security planning has been a key function of election planning. That was not the case prior, but it is the case now,” said Canton Clerk Michael Siegrist, who recently published a manual for maintaining order on Election Day.
Canton County Clerk Micheal Siegrist recently published a manual for maintaining order on Election Day.
Jeff Semple / Global News
Siegrist’s Canton Township is just a short drive from Detroit, which has become the epicentre of conspiracy theories around election fraud. On Nov. 5, 2020, one day after the last U.S. presidential election, angry crowds answered Donald Trump’s call to “stop the count” by forcing their way into Detroit’s TCF convention centre where poll workers were counting the ballots.
“There was an influx of people that came in that had no (elections) training and were very ginned up on trying to stop things,” said Chris Thomas, who was working as an elections supervisor at the TCF Centre. “They’re banging on windows and yelling at the workers. So we had a bit of a chaotic time.”
