Adrian Fontes, the Democratic Secretary of State for the state of Arizona, has denounced recent stories of election worker officials being harassed during election season. The Arizona SOS has deemed the recent threats as “domestic terrorism”. Recently, many election poll workers have faced backlash and harassment regarding the controversy surrounding the upcoming 2024 Presidential Election.
The recent rise of threats to said election workers has landed in the ears of Fontes, which he calls a nationwide issue. On an episode of NBC’s Meet the Press, Fontes sat down for an interview regarding similar topics. While on air, Fontes described the recent threats as domestic terrorism, while also stating that he and other state offices are working hard to handle the issue. Following his statement, Fontes backed his stance by defining what domestic terrorism is, elaborating that the term represents a threat or violence that will persuade a political outcome.
In recent times before the upcoming election, it has been reported that local election officials have received an increasing amount of threats and verbal harassment while heading into election season. A recent survey from the Brennan Center of Justice reported that four out of ten local election workers have dealt with some kind of verbal abuse while working their assigned jobs.
On Meet the Press, Fontes stated that the Department Of Justice has been gearing up to prosecute such harassment. Fontes stated that he and others have been working with law enforcement officials nationwide to handle the issues. Arizona itself is a key battleground state in elections, where election workers were previously harassed by voters during the controversial 2020 election. With the same two candidates running for office again this time around, it seems as though tensions have soared even higher.
Fontes even revealed on the air that his own family had suffered from the recent threats, but followed up that it would take more than verbal threats to subdue Fontes.
