(AmericanProsperity.com) – Election officials across the United States have been facing threats as they are preparing for the upcoming election. This has particularly been an issue in Arizona where the majority of the counties’ elections have lost at least one official due to threats and violence.
A task force set up to protect officials from violent threats said that they were getting violent threats for “dutifully and reliably doing their jobs.” John Keller, the day manager at the task force said that the violent threats were comparable to an “attack on the very foundation of our democracy – our elections.”
He also said that the election community had entered a new era that “is scapegoated, targeted and attacked.”
He continued to say that throwing out threats to officials was not protected speech and that people would be held accountable. This was the case for Joshua Russell who pled guilty to making threatening communication and was sentenced to thirty months in prison.
Court documents said that he left three threatening voicemails that included language where he called an official a communist, traitor, and an enemy of the U.S.
“You better put your [expletive] affairs in order, ‘cos your days are extremely numbered. America’s coming for you, and you will pay with your life,” he said in one voicemail.
Threats are becoming a huge issue and they are affecting officials all over the country. Many have even stepped down from their role because of the threats that their families have gotten. There’s been a common denominator between threats received and many people have threatened officials that have seemingly “wronged them” somehow.
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