The Impact of Legislative Approaches to Secure and Protect Elections on U.S. Domestic Terrorism

• In Event: National, Local, and Situational Impacts on Terrorism

Abstract

Election security has emerged as a critical domain for counterterrorism and homeland security. The January 6th attacks on the U.S. Capitol Building in 2021 demonstrated that perceptions of election security can be a motivating factor for political violence and terrorism. Importantly, these violent incidents have occurred despite the introduction of policies across the U.S. designed to protect and secure elections. These persistent concerns have increased the importance of systematically studying the nature and impacts of these electoral policy adaptations. This study examines the impact of legislative attempts to ensure the integrity of U.S. elections on subsequent terrorism. Using data gathered from the Global Terrorism Database (GTD), the Federal Reserve Economic Data (FRED), and the National Conference of State Legislators (NCSL) between 2011 and 2020, this study employs negative binomial fixed-effects regression models to examine the impacts of these electoral legislative changes on subsequent terrorism across all 50 U.S. states. The findings from this study demonstrate that passing electoral legislation concerned with cybersecurity was related to increased subsequent terrorism and fatalities from terrorism, while passing voting equipment legislation was related to decreased terrorism. Declining to pass poll watcher legislation was also found to be related to decreased fatalities from terrorism.

Authors

• Daren Fisher, Hampton University

• Kennidi Hipps, Hampton University

• Antonio Suarez, Hampton University

• Auiana D'Avilar, Hampton University

• Kirsten Tilford, Hampton University