Today’s Links
Articles:
CNN – Election workers reported more than 1,000 ‘hostile’ contacts in past year
Washington Post – Over 1,000 election-worker threats reported in past year, official says
Washington Post – Threats against election workers could have bad consequences
U.S. Dept of Justice Release – Readout of Election Threats Task Force Briefing with Election Officials and Workers
Brennan Center – Local Election Officials Survey (March 2022)
Groups Taking Action: Brennan Center for Justice, U.S. Election Assistance Commission, Protecting Democracy, Election Official Defense Network
You’re listening to the American Democracy Minute, keeping YOUR government by and for the people.
While the Tin Foil Hat Week on the American Democracy Minute was a humorous way to spotlight crackpot election fraud theories, a U.S. Senate hearing Wednesday shows the 2020 conspiracy theories have had serious and even life-threatening impacts on our nation’s election workers.
The Judiciary Committee hearings coincided with preliminary findings by the U.S. Justice Department’s Election Threats Task Force, which cites over 1,000 cases of “hostile harassing,” 11% of which rose to federal crimes.
A survey of election workers by the Brennan Center for Justice showed that one in five election workers had been harassed, but only 20% of those incidents had been reported, suggesting the 1,000 DOJ total could have been much, much larger. The survey also found that nearly 2 of 3 election officials believed that false information was making their job more dangerous, and one in three knew an election worker who had left the job because of threats or intimidation.
The Justice Department hosted a virtual meeting with 750 election officials around the country on the subject of election threats and intimidation on Monday. But so far, the DOJ has engaged in just five cases, and only one, a Nebraska man, has been brought to trial.
New Mexico’s Secretary of State suggested Wednesday that conspiracy-fueled intimidation may lead to shortages of willing, experienced election workers.
Articles and groups taking action are at AmericanDemocracyMinute.org.
For the American Democracy Minute, I’m Brian Beihl.