MADISON, Wis. (AP) — The meeting place? A secret. Agenda? Not public. Name tags? Take them off in public.

Even one of the main social events — trivia night — would be at an undisclosed location. This was no meeting of spies or undercover law enforcement agents. Instead, these were the security protocols for a gathering this week in Madison, Wisconsin, of state election bureaucrats from around the U.S.

While the hush-hush measures might seem a bit extreme, they were put in place because of the very real threats against election workers that have been escalating since the 2020 presidential election as former President Donald Trump continues to promote the lie that widespread fraud cost him re-election.

Security increased at meetings of government officials after the Sept. 11, 2001, terror attacks, “but not like this where the agenda is kept secret,” said Kevin Kennedy, who was Wisconsin’s top election official for nearly four decades before retiring in 2016. He has attended meetings of the National Association of State Election Directors for more than 30 years and said it was jarring that otherwise anonymous election workers are now being targeted.                                                                                                                                                           “This is just at a different level, and it’s a reflection of the times and it’s unfortunate,” he said.