Four years after the January 6th Capitol riot, Maricopa County, Arizona, faces the specter of election conspiracies and violence. Former county supervisor Bill Gates, who experienced threats and harassment after the 2020 election, reflects on the deep-seated distrust of authority in the county. MCTEC underwent major security upgrades to prevent a repeat of the 2020 election chaos.
It’s been four years since supporters of President-elect Donald Trump stormed the Capitol building on January 6, 2021, under the false belief that the 2020 election was stolen. At the time, Maricopa County , Arizona, was ground zero for election conspiracies and disinformation — and its election workers were the targets of violent threats and harassment. Former county supervisor Bill Gates was right in the middle of the mayhem.
With anticipation and fears here of a repeat in the 2024 election, Scripps News was granted exclusive access as one of the largest voting jurisdictions in the country braced for the chaos that ultimately never arrived.“I feel like there is something in the sort of DNA of this county, of this state, that goes back many decades,” Gates said. “There’s a distrust of authority. There’s a distrust of central government.” A Republican for his whole career, Gates began to receive threats after the 2020 election. Those intensified when he became the chairman of the board and the face of elections during the 2022 midterm races.RELATED STORY | Donald Trump wins 2024 presidential election, beating VP Kamala Harris“Particularly having people in my own party questioning my integrity, questioning whether I was a good Republican and all that, it was very traumatic for me,” Gates explained. “In fact, I’ve been diagnosed with PTSD for it because of that incident, in addition to the death threats, the harassment.” To protect election workers and voters, the Maricopa County Election and Tabulation Center (MCTEC) underwent major security upgrades ahead of the 2024 election, not wanting a repeat of 2020 — when an armed group surrounded the building, insisting the election was stolen. Barbed wire, fencing, concrete barriers and more surrounded the building this past election — officials not willing to take any chances. On Election Day in November, Gates and his colleagues arrived at MCTEC prepared for whatever came their way
Election Disinformation Maricopa County January 6Th Election Security Bill Gates
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