U.S. election workers are continuously receiving death threats. Experts are now concerned that these will just get worse as the 2024 U.S. Election nears.
US Election Workers Bombarded With Death Threats
According to Fortune, U.S. election staff are receiving alarming death threats. Although this is the case, individuals who are making these statements are rarely prosecuted.
As of writing, there are only over a dozen Americans who have been charged with threatening election workers.
Because of this, experts are now urging the U.S. Department of Justice to take more actions to protect staff handling the elections.
John Keller, DOJ election crime investigation unit's second in command, said that they are expecting that the prosecutions they made would deter others from making death threats against election volunteers and employees.
"This isn't going to be taken lightly. It's not going to be trivialized," he said via the Associated Press.
He added that federal judges and courts are taking these election misconducts seriously. Keller explained the punishments are going to be commensurate with the severity of the misconduct.
Election Death Threats Getting Worse
Experts said that periods between U.S. elections are commonly quiet, claiming that workers who are handling voting systems rarely receive life-threatening and other alarming statements from anonymous individuals.
However, Colorado Secretary of State Jena Griswold said that this is no longer the case. Griswold, who has pushed back against election-related conspiracy theories, expects that election crimes will get worse as 2023 nears its end.
"I anticipate it will get worse as we end this year and go into the presidential election next year," said the Democrat.
Griswold stated that current death threats are usually linked to the rumors that the 2020 election was cheated against Trump.
Election workers receive different kinds of death threats, such as statements claiming they'll be surrounded by "patriots" when they least expect it.
Others even post mass shooting polls against election officials and staff. Some death threats are just completely terrifying since they include children of the election workers.
"Someone needs to get these people AND their children. The children are the most important message to send," said a Texas resident, who was sent to prison for 3 1/2 years.
Griswold shared her concern, saying that the U.S. doesn't have the best tools to prevent these alarming death threats through the next period of the election.
