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Senators: “[W]e urge the Department to continue to prioritize the investigation and prosecution of threats against election workers, including by allocating sufficient resources to meet these threats head on”
WASHINGTON – U.S. Senate Majority Whip Dick Durbin (D-IL), Chair of the Senate Judiciary Committee, and U.S. Senators Amy Klobuchar (D-MN) and Peter Welch (D-VT) led a group of 19 Senate colleagues in sending a letter to Attorney General Merrick B. Garland and Deputy Attorney General Lisa Monaco urging the Department of Justice to take further action to counter threats targeting election workers ahead of the upcoming election.
“We write to express serious concern about ongoing and persistent threats against election workers and to call on the Department of Justice to take additional steps to protect election officials, workers, and volunteers as we approach the election in November,” wrote the Senators. “In recent years, we have seen an ongoing barrage of threats and abusive conduct targeting election workers, and, as noted in the Department’s Election Threats Task Force briefing in May, these threats to our public servants ‘endanger our democracy itself.’”
“We appreciate the steps that the Department has taken to address these concerning threats, including establishing the Election Threats Task Force and working to raise awareness of federal resources, but more must be done to counter these persistent threats and ensure that election workers can do their jobs,” the Senators continued. “It is for these reasons that we urge the Department to continue to prioritize the investigation and prosecution of threats against election workers, including by allocating sufficient resources to meet these threats head on.”
In addition to Durbin, Klobuchar, and Welch, the letter was signed by Senators Mark Warner (D-VA), Alex Padilla (D-CA), Michael Bennet (D-CO), Laphonza Butler (D-CA), Elizabeth Warren (D-MA), Brian Schatz (D-HI), Ben Ray Luján (D-NM), Mazie Hirono (D-HI), Catherine Cortez Masto (D-NV), Richard Blumenthal (D-CT), Bernie Sanders (I-VT), Ron Wyden (D-OR), Bob Casey (D-PA), Chris Van Hollen (D-MD), Cory Booker (D-NJ), Chris Coons (D-DE), Ben Cardin (D-MD), Raphael Warnock (D-GA), and Angus King (I-ME).
Full text of the letter is available here.
Earlier this year, Durbin took to the Senate floor to condemn political violence, citing increased threats to election workers and government officials ahead of the 2024 presidential election.
Last year, Durbin and Klobuchar reintroduced comprehensive legislation to address the rise in threats targeting election workers. The Election Worker Protection Act would provide states with the resources to recruit and train election workers and ensure these workers’ safety, while also instituting federal safeguards to shield election workers from intimidation and threats.
