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Several U.S. states are considering legislation making punishments for threatening election workers more severe as these kinds of threats increased following the 2020 presidential election.
States like Vermont, Maine, Washington and New Mexico are weighing making threats against election workers criminal, as some workers reported feeling unsafe in the aftermath of an election former President Donald Trump and his supporters continue to argue was riddled with widespread fraud despite no evidence to back this up.
The Brennan Center for Justice conducted a survey of 233 local election officials across the country last April. Seventeen percent, or 1 in 6 , reported having been threatened because of their job, while another 32 percent reported feeling unsafe.
Reuters documented over 850 threats and "hostile messages" to election officials and workers across the country, with the lawyers and law professors reviewing them saying more than 100 "could meet the federal threshold for criminal prosecution."
In Maine, at least two local election workers were threatened last year. Waterville City Clerk Patti Dubois told the Portland Press Herald "being on the receiving end of a voter's profanity-laced rants [is] commonplace now."
A bill introduced in the state would make it a felony to threaten or harass election workers, which is punishable by up to five years in jail and a $5,000 fine, the Herald added.
In Washington, the state Senate approved a bill with similar punishments for these kinds of threats, with a potential for up to five years and a $10,000 fine, according to KING-TV.
The Associated Press reported Vermont Secretary of State Jim Condos' office received a call saying a firing squad would target it, with the caller throwing curses at the officials and saying "a lot of people are going to get executed."
One bill in Vermont would widen the definition of "criminal threatening" to more easily prosecute threats against election officials, while another would increase punishments for criminally threatening election officials and workers and other public employees, according to the AP.
"Nationally, we are seeing longtime experienced election leaders and their staffs leaving their positions for other work because they've had it — this is it, this has crossed the line," Condos told the AP.
A similar bill in New Mexico would criminalize threatening employees of county clerks or the secretary of state after reports of some officials receiving threats, being followed home and being sent racist mail, the Albuquerque Journal reported.
At a federal level, Assistant Attorney General Kenneth Polite told the AP that so far, two people have been charged with threatening election workers and there are dozens of more open investigations.
