Months from election day, members of Congress are pushing USDOJ to do more to protect poll workers

WASHINGTON — Just 81 days from the 2024 presidential election and election workers say they’re already facing threats and harassment.

Now, lawmakers are asking the Department of Justice to do more to protect election workers facing threats ahead of November.

Despite those increases in security, many election workers still say they’re getting threatened, harassed and abused.

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Channel 2 Washington Correspondent Kirstin Garris went through the latest actions from the DOJ’s Election Threats Task Force to keep election workers safe during the November election, where the volunteers, not elected officials, say they’re still facing abuse.

Election officials across the political aisle all say their jobs aren’t the same after the 2020 election. They shared their concerns with Congress on Thursday.

“We don’t feel safe at our work because of the harassment and threats that are based in lies,” Arizona Sec. of State Adrian Fontes told Congress.

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The latest survey on the topic from the Brennan Center for Justice found that 92% of local election officials them had taken steps to increase security since 2020. The report also found that 38% of officials say they’ve been threatened, harassed and abused in the last year.

“These are friends, these are families, these are your neighbors that are running elections,” Al Schmidt, Pennsylvania Sec. of the Commonwealth, said.

The USDOJ created an elections threat task force to investigate threats against election workers, and so far they’ve prosecuted about 700 cases over the last two years.

The USDOJ also said more than half of the threats investigated targeted federal and state public officials, and election workers. The workers are often volunteers.

“The Justice Department recognizes the urgency of these threats and we are prepared to confront them,” U.S. Attorney General Merrick Garland said. “If you threaten to harm or kill an election worker, volunteer or official, the Justice Department will find you.”

The election threats task force is also supported by the Federal Bureau of Investigation.

FBI Director Christopher Wray said the agency shares national threat trends and information with state and local election officials.

“We’re committed to doing our part to make sure they can do that work free from threats of violence, or intimidation,” Wray said.

Since launching, the task force has been part of more than 100 meetings and trainings about protecting election workers.

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