A drop-off ballot box placed near the Wayne K. Curry Sports and Learning Center in Landover on July 26. Photo by William J. Ford.
There’s a rarified air to the monthly board meetings of the Greater Washington Council of Governments (COG).
Elected officials from across the region gather in a bright, airy meeting room on Capitol Hill, far nicer than the grimy government hearing rooms they’re accustomed to, to discuss governing concepts and policy priorities without getting too deep into the weeds most of the time.
Maryland’s representatives to the COG board represent jurisdictions from Frederick to Southern Maryland. And as Election Day approaches, these officials and their counterparts from Virginia and the District of Columbia are unified behind one idea: Ensuring the integrity of the vote and the safety of the voters. They agree that the very fabric of democracy depends on it.
So when FBI Special Agent Matthew Drummond from the bureau’s D.C. field office offered to brief the COG board last week about how the federal government is working to confront threats to the upcoming election, particularly from malign foreign actors, the local officials decided to take the information in a rare executive session, out of public view.