The Justice Department is deploying district election officials across the country ahead of Election Day to ensure poll workers “can do their jobs without intimidation or intimidation.”
Election officials will work with the Justice Department's Election Threat Task Force, established in June 2021 by Attorney General Merrick Garland and Deputy Attorney General Lisa Monaco, to address allegations of violence against election workers. It is expected that.
Since its inception, the task force has worked with election officials and state and local law enforcement agencies to evaluate allegations and reports of intimidation against election workers, according to the Department of Justice. The task force also partners with FBI field offices and federal prosecutors' offices across the United States.
This week, U.S. prosecutors announced an Election Threat Task Force and district election officials who are selected each election cycle to work with federal, state, and local law enforcement on Election Day. The coordination will ensure that on-the-ground reporting of election-related complaints is coordinated with the appropriate authorities, officials said.
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A man fills out a ballot at a polling place in Mount Gilead, North Carolina, on May 17, 2022. (Getty Images)
District election officials are also responsible for overseeing the district's response to Election Day complaints about voting rights concerns, threats of violence against election officials and staff, and election fraud, officials said.
“The Department will address these violations wherever they occur,” the Justice Department said in a statement.
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The Department of Justice said its “long-standing Election Day program furthers these goals and strengthens the electoral process by providing local points of contact within the department for citizens to report potential violations of federal election law.'' “We also aim to secure public trust,” he added.
Just last month, Garland convened a public meeting of the special committee and said that since 2020 there has been an “unprecedented surge in threats against public officials administering elections.”
Attorney General Merrick Garland speaks during a press conference at the Department of Justice on Tuesday, September 24, 2024 in Washington, DC. (AP Photo/Mark Schiefelbein)
Since the creation of the task force, the Justice Department has indicted approximately 20 people related to alleged intimidation of election officials.
“These incidents are a warning: If you threaten to harm or kill election workers, officials, or volunteers, the Department of Justice will find you,” Garland said last month. “And we hold you accountable.”
Just this year, the Justice Department indicted individuals for mass shootings at the homes of elected officials and candidates for public office. An individual who sent threatening communications to election officials in Michigan. And so on.
Garland said the Justice Department will continue to ramp up its operations in the lead-up to Election Day on Nov. 5, holding on-site meetings with election officials across the country.
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Garland also announced that the FBI will welcome federal partners to FBI headquarters to address election-related events, issues, and potential crimes ahead of Election Day in early November.
“Election administrators and administrators do not have to navigate this threat environment alone,” Garland said. “We are here to support them and ensure they can carry out their important work safely.”
