Schiff, Ross, Gallego, and Sewell Urge DOJ to Combat Insider Election Threats Posed by 2020 Election Deniers
Today, Congressman Adam Schiff (CA-28) joined with Representatives Deborah Ross (NC-02), Ruben Gallego (AZ-07), and Terri Sewell (AL-07) in leading 14 of their colleagues to urge the Department of Justice to address insider threats to election systems amid serious concerns that individuals who have denied the results of the 2020 election will seek to influence the outcome of future elections. The letter requests that DOJ work with states to restrict unnecessary access to election systems and ballots and work with election officials to strategically deploy DOJ monitors. The letter also urges the Department to prosecute election officials and others who actively work to undermine our election infrastructure.
The letter read in part, “Since 2020, election officials across the country have faced threats, harassment, and intimidation, with some choosing to leave their positions as a result… Unfortunately, many of the candidates seeking to fill newly vacated state and local election posts support former President Trump’s false claim that the 2020 election was stolen. We are concerned that this new cohort of election officials may be inclined to abuse their authority to directly influence the results of future elections.”
Election deniers are already actively recruiting supporters to run for state and local positions, including in Michigan, Arizona, Pennsylvania, and Colorado. The letter urges DOJ to:
- Prioritize actions to protect the integrity of election results, including by addressing those threats coming from within our electoral system.
- Work with states to investigate and, where appropriate, prosecute individuals who engage in illegal conduct that poses a serious threat to voting system security and software, or disrupts the fair and accurate counting of votes.
- Consider additional steps, such as deploying nonpartisan election monitors and making further public commitments to safeguarding the integrity of election results against all potential threats, including insider threats.
Schiff’s sweeping package of democracy reforms, the Protecting Our Democracy Act, also includes an amendment authored by Ross to protect poll workers and election officials. The legislation passed the House in December.
Representatives Tony Cardenas (CA-29), André Carson (IN-07), Sheila Cherfilus-McCormick (FL-20), Mark DeSaulnier (CA-11), Dwight Evans (PA-03), Mondaire Jones (NY-17), Jim McGovern (MA-02), Joe Neguse (CO-02), Marie Newman (IL-03), Katie Porter (CA-45), Lucille Roybal-Allard (CA-40), Mary Gay Scanlon (PA-05), Eric Swalwell (CA-15), and Nikema Williams (GA-05) also joined the letter.
Full text of the letter can be found here.
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