• Home
  • Independent Voter News
  • Quizzes
  • Election Dissection
  • Sections
  • Events
  • Directory
  • About Us
  • Glossary
  • Opinion
  • Campaign Finance
  • Redistricting
  • Civic Ed
  • Voting
  • Fact Check
  • News
  • Analysis
  • Subscriptions
  • Log in
Leveraging Our Differences
  • news & opinion
    • Big Picture
      • Civic Ed
      • Ethics
      • Leadership
      • Leveraging big ideas
      • Media
    • Business & Democracy
      • Corporate Responsibility
      • Impact Investment
      • Innovation & Incubation
      • Small Businesses
      • Stakeholder Capitalism
    • Elections
      • Campaign Finance
      • Independent Voter News
      • Redistricting
      • Voting
    • Government
      • Balance of Power
      • Budgeting
      • Congress
      • Judicial
      • Local
      • State
      • White House
    • Justice
      • Accountability
      • Anti-corruption
      • Budget equity
    • Columns
      • Beyond Right and Left
      • Civic Soul
      • Congress at a Crossroads
      • Cross-Partisan Visions
      • Democracy Pie
      • Our Freedom
  • Pop Culture
      • American Heroes
      • Ask Joe
      • Celebrity News
      • Comedy
      • Dance, Theatre & Film
      • Diversity, Inclusion & Belonging
      • Faithful & Mindful Living
      • Music, Poetry & Arts
      • Sports
      • Technology
      • Your Take
      • American Heroes
      • Ask Joe
      • Celebrity News
      • Comedy
      • Dance, Theatre & Film
      • Diversity, Inclusion & Belonging
      • Faithful & Mindful Living
      • Music, Poetry & Arts
      • Sports
      • Technology
      • Your Take
  • events
  • About
      • Mission
      • Advisory Board
      • Staff
      • Contact Us
Sign Up
  1. Home>
  2. Elections>
  3. election workers>

Bipartisan group asks DOJ to further protect election workers

Richard Perrins
July 26, 2022
Bipartisan group asks DOJ to further protect election workers

A line of people voting at voting machines in a polling place with their backs facing the camera.

After an increase in threats to election workers during and following the 2020 election, a bipartisan group is calling on the Department of Justice to bolster and reinforce protections for the people who maintain the integrity of U.S. elections.

The Alliance for Securing Democracy and the Bipartisan Policy Center released a report last week with recommendations for improving the DOJ’s Election Threat Task Force. The report focused on reimagining federal laws and enhancing the DOJ’s guidance for law enforcement and local and state governments.


Threats against poll workers had been exacerbated by false, widespread claims of election fraud in the 2020 election. Two years later, as the country holds primaries and caucuses for the midterm elections, the danger of those threats has not waned.

In June, the DOJ released a report warning that calls for violence against poll workers is likely to increase as elections continue, designating that violence as part of their summary of terrorist threats to the country.

However, there is worry the Justice Department has not done enough to address the problem. That is leading to a number of issues - including the loss of experienced election officials who are leaving the field.

David Levine, a co-author of the report and the elections integrity fellow for the Alliance for Securing Democracy, said it’s critical to make sure the people on which American democracy rests feel safe and remain in their roles.

Sign up for The Fulcrum newsletter

“What we want is the DOJ then to be able to provide guidance to others involved in these efforts… we want them to be aware of what other tools exist to help make election workers feel safe,” Levine said.

The main call to action of the report was for the DOJ to release guidance for local law enforcement, the FBI’s field offices and all others on the “front lines” of elections to show how federal laws can deter and hold accountable those threatening election officials.

The report states that such guidance would serve three purposes:

  • show that the issue of threats to election workers remains a priority;
  • ideate around safety mechanisms for poll workers, and;
  • help explain when a threat can be prosecuted.

Even if a threat to an election official isn’t criminally prosecutable, there are still measures to take to ensure the safety of election workers. The DOJ’s Election Threat Task Force could be a resource for issuing guidelines for how legislatures can go about holding individuals civilly accountable for threats toward or intimidation of election workers, the report said.

Levine thinks the report offers a way for the DOJ to more effectively achieve the purpose of its task force and protect election security.

“People don’t perceive the folks that run our elections to be our stewards of democracy,” Levine said. “They see them as obstacles to their own political ends, and that’s just a really dangerous place to be.”

From Your Site Articles
  • Hundreds of key counties need more poll workers - The Fulcrum ›
  • Poll finds bipartisan support for federal election protection efforts ›
  • Bipartisan group offers free legal aid to election workers facing ... ›
  • Some states are trying to protect election workers - The Fulcrum ›
Related Articles Around the Web
  • New U.S. legislation seeks to expand protections for election workers ›
  • How Congress Can Help Protect Election Workers | Brennan Center ... ›
  • Election Officials Under Attack | Brennan Center for Justice ›
  • Deterring Threats to Election Workers | Bipartisan Policy Center ›
election workers

Join an Upcoming Event

STAR Voting Massachusetts Monthly Meeting

Equal Vote
Aug 08, 2022 at 7:00 pm
Read More

Up to Us Fall Campus Competition – Apps open 8/9-9/16

Up to Us
Aug 09, 2022 at 8:00 am CDT
Read More

Phonebanking with Better Ballot SC

Aug 09, 2022 at 6:00 pm EDT
Read More

Election Observing Citizen Engagement Forum

The People
Aug 10, 2022 at 8:00 pm EDT
Read More

Canvassing at Soda City Market w/ Better Ballot SC

Aug 13, 2022 at 10:00 am EDT
Read More

Improve Texas Elections – August 16ember 7

Ranked Choice Voting for Texas
Aug 16, 2022 at 7:00 pm CDT
Read More
View All Events

Want to write
for The Fulcrum?

If you have something to say about ways to protect or repair our American democracy, we want to hear from you.

Submit
Get some Leverage Sign up for The Fulcrum Newsletter
Follow
Contributors

College campuses can be the staging ground for a democratic revitalization

Clarissa Unger

The Fahey Q&A with Kaitlin LaCasse, protecting Maine elections from big money and foreign interests

Katie Fahey

America needs a Declaration of Independents

Lawrence Goldstone

Activism needs transparency, too

Alina Clough

Courage is the measure

Debilyn Molineaux

Organizing for collective impact: Transforming American democracy together

Caleb Christen
latest News

U.S. steps up support for foreign democracies

Kristin Shiuey
12m

Podcast: Companies: Crisis and common ground

Our Staff
9h

Nominations for key election leadership positions up for grabs Tuesday in four northern states

Kristin Shiuey
Reya Kumar
Richard Perrins
08 August

The state of voting: Aug. 8, 2022

Our Staff
08 August

Podcast: Framing is vital for survival

Our Staff
08 August

Vermont is poised to make history by being the last state to make history

Barbara Rodriguez, The 19th
05 August
Videos

Video: BREAKING: Democrats Move Ahead With Climate, Tax, Health Care Bill As Sinema Signs On

Our Staff

Video: The All-America City Award experience

Our Staff

Video: There's a new political party forming. See who's behind it

Our Staff

Video: The US economy

Our Staff

Video: History of Independence Day: USA's First Fourth of July

Our Staff

Video: Memorial Day 2022

Our Staff
Podcasts

Podcast: Companies: Crisis and common ground

Our Staff
9h

Podcast: Framing is vital for survival

Our Staff
08 August

Podcast: A conversation with social entrepreneur Sam Daley-Harris

Our Staff
05 August

Podcast: Making government work

Our Staff
04 August
Recommended
Speaker Nancy Pelosi, at Taipei Songshan Airport in Taiwan.

U.S. steps up support for foreign democracies

Leadership
Podcast: Companies: Crisis and common ground

Podcast: Companies: Crisis and common ground

Podcasts
College student voting

College campuses can be the staging ground for a democratic revitalization

Voting
Minnesota Secretary of State Steve Simon

Nominations for key election leadership positions up for grabs Tuesday in four northern states

Voting
State of voting - election law changes

The state of voting: Aug. 8, 2022

Voting
Podcast: Framing is vital for survival

Podcast: Framing is vital for survival

Podcasts