Federal proposals that would have significantly boosted security funding for election offices and heightened penalties for threatening their staff failed to advance this year, leaving state officials looking to their legislatures for support.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
The massive budget bill that passed Congress on Friday will send $75 million in election security grants to states, an amount that falls far short of what many officials had sought as state and local election workers have been targeted with harassment and even death threats since the 2020 presidential election. They also were disappointed that proposals to make such threats a federal crime with more severe penalties fizzled.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Absent federal action, several state election officials \u2014 many of whom have faced an unrelenting wave of attacks for two years \u2014 say they plan to push their lawmakers to increase protections for themselves, their staffs and those who run elections at the local level. Some of them were confronted by angry protesters in public and even outside their homes who were motivated by former President Donald Trump\u2019s false claims that his reelection had been stolen.
\u201cWe need to take care of the people that work in elections,\u201d said Cisco Aguilar, shortly after he won his midterms race to be Nevada\u2019s next secretary of state. \u201cThey shouldn\u2019t feel intimidated or harassed going to the car at the end of the day.\u201d He added: \u201cWe have to have their back.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Aguilar, a Democrat, said he plans to work with Nevada lawmakers to pass a bill making it a felony to harass or intimidate an election worker or volunteer. While Democrats kept control of the state Legislature, Republican Joe Lombardo was elected governor and his office declined to say whether he would support such an effort.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
In Georgia, Republican Secretary of State Brad Raffensperger, who faced an onslaught of threats as he withstood pressure from Trump to \u201cfind\u201d enough votes to cancel President Joe Biden\u2019s win in the state, said he also would like to see penalties increased on those who threaten election workers. It\u2019s not clear whether that will be a priority for the Legislature, where Republicans control both chambers.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Michigan Secretary of State Jocelyn Benson, a Democrat, has said she plans to call on the newly elected Democratic majority in the Legislature to allocate $100 million annually to local election offices after clerks complained about being underfunded. She also wants to make it a felony to threaten election workers and heighten penalties for those who spread misinformation, especially related to voting rights.
She said tactics used in the 2020 election could be attempted again during the next presidential election unless lawmakers enact tougher countermeasures.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u201cWe are looking to turn back the tide on misinformation and the violence that\u2019s come into our political discourse,\u201d said Jake Rollow, a spokesman for the Michigan Department of State. \u201cWe need that era to be put behind us, both in Michigan and as a country, because it\u2019s not safe. It\u2019s not what America\u2019s about.\u201d
Conspiracy theories surrounding the 2020 election prompted a surge in threats and harassment of state and local election officials that persists two years later. The threats have contributed to an exodus of election officials across the country, particularly at the local level, raising concerns about a loss of expertise in running elections heading into the 2024 presidential cycle.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
The threats have drawn the attention of federal law enforcement, which established a task force in mid-2021 to review cases for possible prosecution. Last October, one of the cases resulted in an 18-month prison sentence for a Nebraska man who made online threats against Colorado\u2019s top state election official. A federal grand jury on Dec. 14 indicted an Ohio man for making recent threats against an official in the Arizona secretary of state\u2019s office.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
But the number of prosecutions remains small overall as federal authorities must meet a legal standard of proving a \u201cserious expression of intent to commit an act of unlawful violence,\u201d which can be a challenge.
Experts say it\u2019s critical that those making threats are held accountable and that strong protections are in place to deter future attacks. A survey of local election officials commissioned by the Brennan Center for Justice in 2021 found one in three felt unsafe because of their job and one in six said they had been threatened.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u201cMany have cited this as an important contributor to why they are leaving office,\u201d said Liz Howard, a former Virginia state election official now with the Brennan Center. \u201cWe don\u2019t have to guess why \u2014 they are telling us.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Various proposals introduced by Democratic Sens. Amy Klobuchar and Jon Ossoff and Republican Sen. Susan Collins to boost protections did not gain enough support to pass the chamber and were not in the $1.7 trillion government spending bill. Klobuchar said she would continue to seek money for election offices and noted that she and Republican Sen. Roy Blunt had pushed to allow election officials to use previous federal funding for security upgrades.
Sen. Alex Padilla, a Democrat who previously served as California\u2019s secretary of state, called election workers the \u201cbackbone of our democracy\u201d and said more must be done to ensure their safety.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u201cIn the wake of escalating attacks on our electoral institutions, I\u2019m disappointed that my Republican colleagues did not come to the table this year to protect the thousands of election workers who safeguard our democracy,\u201d he said in a statement.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Some states have acted on their own. Since 2020, California, Colorado and Maine have passed legislation increasing protections for election workers. In California, this meant allowing them to keep their home addresses confidential.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
In Colorado, Secretary of State Jena Griswold worked with state lawmakers on legislation known as the Election Official Protection Act, which establishes election workers as a protected class against doxing \u2014 the release online of someone\u2019s personal information. It makes the practice a misdemeanor and allows election workers to remove their personal information from online records. It also makes threatening an election official a misdemeanor under state law.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u201cCongress must act to protect election officials and workers who are critical to administering free and fair elections,\u201d Griswold said. \u201cBut in the absence of federal action, states should pass laws like the Election Official Protection Act.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n