COBB COUNTY, Ga. — Cobb County officials this week approved almost $50,000 for election worker "panic buttons" that could be used this November, NBC News reported Friday morning.
The report said the Cobb County Board of Commissioners approved $47,250 for 200 devices. When precisely the panic buttons would be purchased or equipped for election workers -- with early voting for the November presidential election beginning in Cobb on October 15 -- is unclear.
The money was approved as part of a broader $2.4 million election technology and security package, which will pay for a range of other things such as Americans with Disabilities Act compliance, poll pad printers and personnel hiring.
According to NBC, the panic buttons are about the size of a credit card and can be worn on lanyards or kept in someone's pocket. They can send GPS locations to law enforcement, linked from a worker's cellphone, when activated.
Gwinnett County is also reportedly considering panic buttons.
“I think probably my biggest concern about it is from what we’ve heard from, the schools implemented here maybe a couple years ago — they said there’s a huge learning curve,” Zachary Manifold, the elections supervisor in Gwinnett, told NBC. “The one thing we heard back from our schools’ police chief was that it’s not quite as easy to implement as you think. We’re trying to figure out if maybe there’s something else, so we’re kicking around the idea of it.”
The report noted an opt-in program has existed in Georgia since 2022 that allows counties to text information to law enforcement agencies, with about half of the state's 159 counties participating.
