Maricopa County election workers have had to endure more than 100 threats of violence and intimidation in the months before Tuesday’s midterm elections.
Being in Arizona’s most fiercely contested county, election workers in Maricopa County have had to endure harassment on social media and emails. The intimidating communication includes threats to circulate election workers’ personal information online and photographs of employees arriving at work.
Information about the threats was first reported by Reuters after having received 1,600 pages of correspondence and security threats.
Between July 11 and August 22, the county’s election office recorded roughly 140 threats and intimidating communication, which included threats of execution and graphic details depicting torture and harm.
Several temporary election workers quit after being accosted outside the main ballot-counting center.
The threats are believed to be the result of former President Donald Trump’s peddling of misinformation about election fraud. The menacing communication featured debunked claims regarding rigged voting machines, fake ballots, and corrupt election officials — claims made by the former President.
Maricopa County had helped propel President Joe Biden to victory in Arizona in 2020, but questions about the legitimacy of elections resurfaced in the county during Arizona’s primary elections.
The threats come at a time concerns about election intimidation and violence grow, spurred by an increase in political violence and intimidation most evident in the attack on House Speaker Nancy Pelosi’s (D-CA.) husband, Paul Pelosi, at the couple’s San Francisco home.
Paul Pelosi was attacked by an individual who had embraced many right-wing conspiracy theories and was looking for the House Speaker at the time of the attack.
