In a briefing today, Senior FBI officials said seven states across the country continue to see unusual levels of threats to election workers. The states mentioned are Arizona, Colorado, Georgia, Michigan, Pennsylvania, Nevada and Wisconsin.
According to the FBI, since June 2021 there have been more than 1,000 tips concerning threats to election workers. Roughly, 11% of those tips have led to FBI investigations. FBI officials are discussing threats to elections as state officials in 8800 election districts prepare for the midterm elections next month.
Wisconsin Attorney General Josh Kaul (D) shared Wednesday how the Wisconsin Department of Justice is preparing for the upcoming election.
The attorney general also issued a reminder that voter intimidation and threats to election workers are against the law.
“First, I think it’s important to emphasize that we’re going to have a safe and secure election here in Wisconsin,” says Kaul. “We have a lot of hotly contested elections in Wisconsin, every two years it seems, and we’ve got a lot of experience making sure the process goes smoothly.”
Kaul, speaking with WCCO’s Rusty Ray, says they’re taking these threats very seriously and are taking precautions in case issues do arise.
“If people do receive those kind of threats, whether its election officials receiving an email or something like that, or somebody who observes a threat happening, we want to encourage those folks to report those threats, again to local law enforcement and election officials,” Kaul explains.
Since 2016, federal law enforcement officials have been concerned and watching out for "foreign malign influence" campaigns by adversaries. Senior FBI officials confirm that Russia and China remain the "prime culprits." That said, investigators are not aware of any cyber campaigns targeting elections at this time.
Kaul says voter intimidation and threats to election officials that could interfere with election proceedings are crimes, and that it is also a crime not to follow a lawful order from chief election inspector at a polling place.
“There are strong protections in place and we take them very seriously because attacks on our election systems are attacks on our system of government,” Kaul told WCCO.
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