Since the 2020 election, the threats have followed Colorado Secretary of State Jena Griswold. 'Watch your back,' said one Facebook message. 'I KNOW WHERE YOU SLEEP, I SEE YOU SLEEPING. BE AFRAID, BE VERY AFRAID.'
Since the 2020 election, the threats have followed Colorado Secretary of State Jena Griswold across her Facebook and Instagram pages, into her email inbox and Twitter feed, and across fringe social networks.
The flood of online harassment that Griswold has experienced over the past two years is indicative of a tide of threats that have targeted election workers at all levels, from secretaries of state to poll workers. Elections experts say the threats are a direct result of the false narratives about the 2020 elections that were spread in part on social media and have catapulted once obscure administrators and county officials to the center of viral hoaxes and conspiracy theories.
The continued harassment has contributed to high turnover among election officials across the country. According to a survey published earlier this year from the Brennan Center for Justice at New York University Law, 1 in 5 election officials are unlikely to continue serving through 2024. Politicians' attacks on the system, and stress, are the primary reasons they plan to leave, according to the study.
"We encourage anyone who encounters potentially violating content to use the many reporting tools we make available directly in our apps so we can quickly review it," Meta spokeswoman Dani Lever said. "We have also expanded our policies to address coordinated harassment and threats of violence against election officials and poll workers."
And fringe social networks or more private chat channels, where researchers say much of the most violent rhetoric occurs, remain a blind spot for most election officials.
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