Handling Presidential Election Emergencies Under the Electoral Count Reform Act

September 11, 2001, was election day in New York City. Municipal primary elections for offices including mayor, scheduled for that fateful day, were postponed due to the emergency circumstances brought about by the 9/11 terrorist attacks. This rescheduling was an application of election emergency laws, offering insights into how legal frameworks can adapt to extraordinary situations to maintain the integrity of the electoral process. The decision to delay the New York City municipal primary was governed by existing state laws designed to address emergencies affecting elections. The legal provisions that enabled the postponement of the primary due to a declared emergency are rooted in a broader context of state and federal laws that seek to ensure the resilience and continuity of democratic processes in the face of unforeseen disruptions. These laws are crafted to provide flexibility and responsiveness, allowing election authorities to make necessary adjustments to protect the electoral system’s integrity and public safety, while also restraining the possibility for partisan or other abuse. 9/11 tested these provisions in a manner that had not been previously anticipated, highlighting both the strengths and limitations of the existing legal framework. In the decades since, state and federal laws governing emergency postponement or extension of elections have been improved, ensuring that events like terrorist attacks are included along with the possibility of natural disasters. Now with concerns about political violence on the rise, a disturbing new possibility arises: not international terrorism incidentally falling on a local off-cycle election day, but deliberate politically motivated violence targeting polling places, counting centers, or other critical infrastructure on our most critical of election days: a presidential contest. Hopefully, the 2024 election will encounter no such problems. But local, state, and federal officials should be broadly familiar with the applicable laws. To that end, this resource offers both an explanation of the relevant federal law and a general overview of common state provisions.