According to 1,600 pages of documents obtained by the Maricopa County Elections Office, at least 140 threatening and hostile communications against election officials were recorded between July 11 and August 11 of this year. Reuters.

Important reasons: Many of the threats to workers in one of Arizona’s most politically competitive counties have stemmed from conspiracy theories related to the 2020 presidential election, blamed by former President Donald Trump and his allies. has been promoted before.

messageMany came in the form of emails and social media posts, with false allegations of fake ballots, fraudulent voting machines and corruption of county election officials, according to Reuters. is telling.

• “You will all be executed,” read one of the threats, while another read, “Their hands and feet were wrapped in wire, tied up and dragged to a car.” .
• It also included threats to disseminate employee personal information online, including photos of employees at work.

What they say: In an interview with Reuters, county recorder Stephen Richer said the temporary election worker quit his job after being yelled at outside a major vote-counting center.

• both Richie and Bill GatesHe is chairman of the Maricopa County Board of Supervisors.
• Gates recently warned that Arizona’s lengthy ballot-counting process and narrow election campaign could spark a disinformation campaign after Election Day. He added that he was prepared to publicly amend the record at the press conference.

Big picture: The Department of Justice and the FBI previously identified Arizona as one of the states with the most threats to election officials and polling workers, according to a letter to election officials obtained by Axios.

• The intimidation comes alongside concerns and complaints about voter intimidation practices within the county after people in military uniform supervised the drop-boxes of vote-by-mail ballots.
• A federal judge in Arizona issued a temporary injunction last week against activists gathering around a drop-box.
• The Justice Department joined a lawsuit against at least one of the oversight groups by filing a statement of interest in late October. claims to be

Further details: Extremist groups go local to disrupt midterm elections