Inspired by the widespread false accusations of fraud during the 2020 elections, more than 100 people made violent threats against U.S. election workers and officials. However, according to a recent report by Reuters, only four of them were arrested and no one was convicted.
The publication described the threat as part of an “unprecedented intimidation campaign” inspired by baseless allegations of election fraud advocated by the former president of the Republican Party. Donald Trump.
During the 2020 general election, Reuters tracked 102 deaths or threats of violence against more than 40 election officials and workers in eight competitive battlefield states. Targets range from low-level election workers to the secretary of state.
Reuters reported: “Every threat is clear enough to make a reasonable person afraid of bodily harm or death. This is the typical legal threshold for prosecution.” Many threats contain misogynistic and racist comments, including targeting children and others. Comments from family members. All threats were reported to the legal authorities.
Due to threats, news reports and police records were confirmed, only four people were arrested. The outlet added that more arrests may occur, but did not report.
Mandel Ngan/AFP/Getty
Such arrests are hampered by people concealing their identities and the authorities mistakenly marking threats as “freedom of speech” protected by the First Amendment to the Constitution. Threats of violence are not regarded as a form of political speech protected by the Constitution.
The lack of information sharing between local law enforcement and federal authorities also prevented arrests. FBI Said. Reuters wrote that some legal authorities did not take these threats seriously, or did not know whether their prosecution fell under local or federal jurisdiction.
John Keller, the head of the Justice Department task force responsible for investigating threats against election workers, said that federal authorities lack the “infrastructure” to respond to the sudden increase in threats. He said most investigations started when the person receiving the threat reported directly to the federal legal authorities.
Georgia Republican Secretary of State Brad Raffensperger’s wife Tricia Raffensperger said that since her husband confirmed the current president, her family and husband’s staff have received numerous death threats. . Joe BidenWon the election in the state. Despite bombs and death threats, no one was arrested.
“Look at how many people they arrested on January 6,” Tricia Raffensperger said of arresting insurgents involved in the U.S. Congressional riots. “They were able to find these people and arrest them. Why can’t they follow up on the death threats we received?”
Janice Winfrey, the city secretary and election official of Detroit, Michigan, said of these threats: “I never signed up for this event. I just want to help my city.” Winfrey said. A man confronted her outside her home and threatened her in the following ways Facebook The messenger bombed her residential area.
“It’s kind of scary when you know they know where you live,” she added. “My children, they bought me maces and stun guns. I always carry something with me.”
She pointed out that most election workers are seniors over 60 years old, and they never thought they would be targets of political violence. She said that the workers followed the pre-established election agreement, rather than determining the winner of the election.
Trump claimed that Biden only won the election through an unprecedented nationwide voter fraud scheme. Trump, his campaign lawyers, and Republican officials have made this claim in more than 60 court cases after the 2020 election. Due to insufficient evidence, almost all cases were rejected by the court.
Trump lost the election with more than 7 million popular votes and 74 electoral votes in the 2020 election.Both Trump’s own attorney general and the head of federal election security said No evidence This kind of fraud affected the election results.
Weekly newspaper Contact Trump’s office for comments.
