Pennsylvania election officials are bracing for conspiracy theories, protests

Republican Al Schmidt, Pennsylvania's top election official, has crisscrossed his state in a campaign to spread the gospel of election security, four years after former President Donald Trump disputed the ballot count.

The swing state, with its 19 electoral votes, is critical to the campaigns of both Trump and Vice President Kamala Harris. It's also a state with a law that prevents the early processing of mail-in ballots, which dragged out the state's count in 2020. The anticipated lag this year has election officials bracing for conspiracy theories, protests and violence.

"That window of time between the polls closing and races being called, I think, has shown to be a real vulnerability, where people seeking to undermine confidence in those results if they're going to lose have really exploited," Schmidt said.