The Charlotte field office of the Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) held an information session on Aug. 8 to inform North Carolina citizens of the Bureau’s efforts to ensure the integrity of the upcoming November elections.
The session was hosted by the NC Network for Fair, Safe, and Secure elections and moderated by the Network’s senior advisors Jennifer Roberts and Robert Orr, who formerly served as the Mayor of Charlotte and as a NC Supreme Court Justice, respectively.
Speaking on behalf of the FBI was Supervisory Special Agent Kevin Swanson. Swanson is the Program Coordinator for the Bureau’s public corruption, civil rights, and healthcare fraud programs. His previous service included a stint as the unit chief of the public corruption unit at the FBI headquarters in Washington, D.C.
Swanson said the FBI’s role in elections comes in many forms and the Bureau takes their role very seriously.
“The complexity of the election process and getting things off the ground, making sure they are secure, is very important and something we take very seriously, which covers a broad swath of the federal government, state and local governments, and even the private sector, making sure we can reliably say our elections are safe and secure and everyone has the right opportunity to vote,” said Swanson. “One of the things that’s most important for us is to make sure we reiterate when we talk to folks is particularly based on the Constitution and the way government is structured.”
Swanson also emphasized the importance of the constitutional authority of the states in running their own elections. The FBI adheres to a strict non-interference policy in state elections.
“Our elections are administered by the states,” he said. “So, the Constitution gives that power to each state to regulate the access to voting, locations, times, manners of voting, all that sort of detail. Administrative work is covered by the states. However, there are certain federal laws that allow us to regulate federal elections where there are candidates on the ballot for federal office. So even if we see some sort of issue or fraud or criminal activity related to a state race, if that impacts a ballot in which there is a federal candidate, that still falls within the realm of the FBI’s ability to regulate that activity and make sure things are safe and secure. At the federal government, FBI, and Department of Justice (DOJ), we are very conscious of that because elections are administered by the states. We want to do everything we can to help secure them, but also stay out of the way. We also have a strong non-interference policy in the DOJ which is issued.”
Political affiliation is of no concern to the Bureau according to Swanson, and the agency serves everyone.
“Elections are the foundation of our democracy,” he said. “Their safety is paramount to ensure that our system of government continues and continues in a way that serves all people. We do not care about party or political affiliation when it comes to allegations concerning a threat to our election. It does not matter the stripe, where it comes from, or which party. We apply the law nationally as best we can. We treat everything seriously because we need to make sure the integrity of each individual citizen’s vote is secure, which is the most important thing.”
Swanson said the FBI has a large infrastructure and many departments to assist with election related subjects. The main Bureau components involved are the criminal investigative division and the national security branch, which includes counterintelligence, cyber, counterterrorism assets, and criminal investigative assets.
“Typical things we see on the criminal side are voter/ballot fraud, civil rights violations, and campaign finance violations,” said Swanson. “Then there are also other threats to physical safety involving polling locations, volunteers, and public officials. Those are things we take incredibly seriously.”
The FBI relies heavily on partnerships with state and local entities, as well.
“For us, partnership is key; we can’t do our job without you doing your job, along with our state and local partners also doing what they need to do,” added Swanson. “That’s where the reporting piece comes in. We will work hard to make sure if there’s a threat, we can mitigate it. Or if there’s some sort of issue, we at least evaluate it to make sure there’s nothing there and that we can feel confident the election infrastructure is secure.”
Orr asked Swanson during a Q & A portion of the session whether the USfbi Attorney’s Offices assist the FBI in their efforts leading up to elections.
“We engage with them all the time,” Swanson replied. “Each U.S. Attorney’s office has a district election official (DEO). So that person is the local election expert in every U.S. Attorney’s office. Each office has at least one Assistant U.S. Attorney (AUSA), then you have the public integrity section at DOJ main which has an election crimes branch with a director and deputy director, then that rolls up into the main DOJ leadership structure. When we work locally with state boards of elections, or an election crimes coordinator in every division, they are working with each AUSA to evaluate complaints that come in. When we receive a complaint, we do a DOJ consultation, asking ‘Ok, here’s the information we have, here’s what we think the threat could be. What is the appropriate action for us to take to ensure we don’t cause an issue inadvertently by conducting some investigative activity that might be overt?’ We are not even opening election investigations without coordinating with the DOJ, so they are with us every step of the way.”
Concerns over election denial
Another attendee asked if the Bureau addresses individuals who deny election results or engage in non-certification activities, to which Swanson said the first amendment takes priority and the FBI does not interfere unless there’s an actual criminal violation of federal law.
“For us, we have to get to a federal criminal violation,” Swanson said. “This is where we have to be very careful. Everyone has a first amendment right to speak. Everyone has that right. Everyone has the right to come to their own conclusions and beliefs about things that happen. We do not regulate that activity. People who want to think the 2020 or 2022 election was stolen or not, those are things we cannot regulate as far as someone saying those things or spreading that message. What we can do and what is important for us to engage in is the civil rights issues of time, manner, and place. If there are people who are putting out information about when to vote that is knowingly false to try to induce people to vote through the wrong way, the wrong means, or the wrong manner, those are federal violations we can look into, investigate, regulate, then prosecute.”
The main takeaway Swanson believes is crucial is for people to report possible election issues so the FBI can readily use its resources to take appropriate action if necessary.
“If there’s a message that you all can carry from today from us, it’s that if there’s any concern about any part of the process, report it, we’ll take it in, then through our robust connections through our past elections and our current work going on now, we’ll make sure we work with our state and local partners, boards of elections, and state and local law enforcement to make sure we can address any sort of issues in the most expedient and efficient way possible.”