Durham County board focuses on safety ahead of November election

DURHAM, N.C. (WTVD) -- Democracy is at work in the most secure way possible inside an old Kroger in the Hope Valley Farms area of Durham.

"All of our tabulation, counting of ballots will happen here," said Derek Bowens, director of elections for Durham County. "Our charge is to facilitate the voting process, to give residents within our respective counties the ability to come out and vote, and it takes a lot of work and we take it seriously."

We went to Bowens just days after another office on the other side of the Triangle--the state board of elections in Raleigh--received a letter with a suspicious white powdery substance on it.

His office luckily hasn't gotten anything just yet but he knows what he has to do. Bowens said he's more concerned with what happens after Election Day versus the day itself.

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"We're carefully watching and hopefully we don't get one but we're certainly prepared to handle it in the event we do," he said.

There's a separate exhaust system in Bowens' office mail room. There are also all the bells and whistles in the new facility, which also means his whole team is finally under one roof.

"We have the best of security standards, cameras, duress buttons, badge access, it goes on and on," he said. "It gives us a greater security posture to execute elections for our community."

There are nearly 60 polling sites in Durham County.

Bowens said he has talked with people in Orange and Wake Counties too. All of them have met with a cyber security agency to look at physical and virtual threats.

"Just as much as it's critical to vote," he said. "It's critical that we have what we need and we have protection to prepare voters to have a wonderful experience."