**Election Officials Facing Unprecedented Threats and Intimidation**

In recent years, the role of election workers has transformed dramatically. Back in 2015, Melissa Kono, the town clerk in Burnside, Wisconsin, found that training election workers was a straightforward and pleasant task, focusing on topics like election rules and voter eligibility. It was an enjoyable job, one that involved community engagement over cups of coffee.

However, the landscape has changed for Kono and election officials nationwide. Increasingly, she is confronted with questions about handling suspicious voters and complaints about fraud. To address these concerns, Kono has incorporated a new section in her training program that focuses on identifying and reporting threats. "I never in a million years imagined that that would be part of my curriculum," she notes. Although she hasn't personally received direct threats—possibly because Donald Trump secured the popular vote in her area during the 2016 and 2020 elections—she remains apprehensive about the future. "What I do hear is I know the election is not rigged here, but in other places," Kono said. "And I'm honestly worried sometimes: What if Harris wins? What if it gets too close? And now they start questioning me or coming after me, when I have nothing to do with the outcome."

Across the U.S., election workers are facing severe threats. Instances include death threats, packages containing white powder, poisoned pets, and swatting attacks on their homes. Texas has witnessed extreme calls for violence, including one man urging for "a mass shooting of poll workers and election officials" in precincts with results he deemed suspicious.

According to Al Schmidt, the secretary of the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania, the objective behind these threats is clear: coercion and intimidation. It's about pressuring officials to halt vote counting or face dire consequences, including threats against their families. Schmidt himself received such grave threats in 2020, involving his children.

Tammy Patrick, chief programs officer at the National Association of Election Officials and a former elections officer in Maricopa County, Arizona, also shared chilling accounts. She recounted how one election official was terrorized with a detailed, threatening phone call describing her mother's lasagna dinner and attire, emphasizing the intrusiveness and terror of these threats. "It's terrorism here in America," Patrick declared, underscoring the severity of the intimidation faced by election workers today.