- We are in Maricopa County, Arizona. This is the second largest voting jurisdiction in the US, and after the 2020 elections, they became sort of an epicenter of election denialism. (protesters chanting) Because of that, here at the Maricopa County Tabulations and Election Center, otherwise known as MCTEC, they have made it sort of a security lockdown. There are razor wires, massive security fences. There's a huge sheriff presence, and the sheriffs are telling us that there are even drone units and snipers around this area. The worry is that the security levels like these can soon become the new norm in US elections. Few people know election security in Arizona better than Ken Matta. For nearly 20 years, he worked in the elections department for the Arizona Secretary of State. - I would've considered election security kind of a sleepy field before 2020 really. After 2020, everything has changed.

- [Ben] In the 2020 presidential election, Joe Biden won Maricopa County and Arizona by a razor-thin margin. Soon after, (protesters chanting) a wave of misinformation ignited major unrest in Phoenix. - MCTEC itself was caught off guard. They weren't expecting hordes of people to show up, many of them armed onto their property. If you look at the place now, it looks like a fortress, and that's kind of the new reality. That's kind of what it's gonna take. - Amid the conspiracy theories, election workers faced overwhelming threats and relentless harassment. In 2022, Matta, like many other election workers since 2020, made the difficult decision to leave his role. What was the straw that broke the camel's back for you? - One of my responsibilities was to triage communications that came in that was threatening. I spent hours and hours and hours reviewing those messages and listening to them.

So I started to stress a lot, and I'm sure a lot of my peers did as well about what if we miss something? You know, it's a harsh environment. You gotta have thick skin, and I think people can really only take that so long. - [Ben] Matta is now working at Runbeck Election Services, a private services company supporting election infrastructure. - I got out of a frying pan and into another frying pan. I get to protect elections from here, from the private sector as well. There was relief when I stepped away from the job. Since then, I have missed it terribly. I miss being right in the center of the action and working for the public. - On this election day, what do you think? What are the stakes? - I can't speak to politically what's at stake, but from the election community's point of view, we are in, we're gonna be in for a battering.

It's gonna be hard. Election officials, they're our brothers and our stepsisters and our moms out there working these jobs. These are Americans out there doing the best they can to bring fair and free elections. But in 2024, a familiar feeling is happening right now in this election. I can see the misinformation starting to spin. The forces that are putting out misinformation, they've had a few years to practice and get their game plan together. Hopefully, as a society, we're starting to tire of this, and things hopefully will get better, you know, sometime. In 2024, the fight's gonna be real, you know, and we endure, like we always have. (solemn music)

Election Security in One of U.S.'s Fiercest Battlegrounds | WSJ

The Wall Street Journal takes you inside carefully selected stories and events in a visually captivating way so you can dig deeper into the news and insights that matter to you. 