Next year’s Jan. 6 election certification will get extra security to prevent another riot

WASHINGTON (AP) — In an effort to prevent another riot like the one on Jan. 6, 2021, the Homeland Security secretary has designated the congressional count and certification of the presidential election as a national special security event overseen by the Secret Service.

Both political parties’ national conventions, the presidential inauguration and the U.N. General Assembly already have this designation, but it’s the first time the Jan. 6 vote count and certification have received it.

The Secret Service said Homeland Security Secretary Alejandro Mayorkas made the designation following a request from the mayor of Washington, D.C. The move means these are particularly high-profile events that might be targets for terrorists or criminals.

The Secret Service is in charge of running security for such events in a planning process that kicks off many months in advance. A steering committee for the Jan. 6 certification has been formed and will begin meeting in the coming weeks, the Secret Service said.

The goal is to improve planning and coordination, especially when it comes to pulling in resources across the federal government.

<bsp-list-loadmore data-module="" class=«PageListStandardB» data-gtm-region=«RELATED COVERAGE» data-gtm-topic=«No Value» data-show-loadmore=«true» data-parsely-url=«https%3A%2F%2Fapi.parsely.com%2Fv2%2Frelated%3Fapikey%3Dapnews.com%26url%3Dhttps%3A%2F%2Fapnews.com%2Farticle%2Fsecret-service-congress-election-trump-riot-jan-6-ed17be9d13d0c574a0f026b892d14b60%26limit%3D9%26respect_empty_results%3D1%26sort%3D_score%26pub_date_start%3D2024-07-29%26exclude%3Dsection%3APress%20Releases%26exclude%3Dtags%3ACelebrity%20Birthdays» data-parsely-title=«Related Stories» data-gtm-modulestyle=«List B»>