Up First from NPR - The Sunday Story: Election workers under siege

Episode Date: July 2, 2023

"They said that they were coming for my family and somebody would have to pay for this."Across the US, election workers say they are being verbally abused, followed, harassed and threatened. Much of this animosity is being driven by misinformation, particularly Donald Trump's ongoing lie that the 2020 election was stolen from him.NPR's Chris Arnold reached out to thousands of election workers and heard back from many across 22 states who fear for their safety, the safety of their families and even their pets. In this episode of The Sunday Story, Chris tells Ayesha Rascoe about his investigation—and how the questions he asked led him to a rural county in Oregon, where election workers are beefing up their security and worrying about what's coming in 2024.Learn more about sponsor message choices: podcastchoices.com/adchoicesNPR Privacy Policy

And I'm proud to be an American. This is The Sunday Story. I'm Aisha Roscoe. Before I became host of Weekend Edition Sunday and this show, I worked as a political reporter covering the White House. And, you know, when I was covering Trump, I went to a rally in Greenville, North Carolina. This was 2019. It was almost like a rock concert

or like this sporting event. Like the music was so loud and like thumping. Like you could feel it like in your chest shaking. People were getting worked up and you could feel it in the atmosphere. USA! USA! USA! USA! And so by the time that Trump started talking, and he mentions the squad. See the four congresswomen. Oh, isn't that lovely?

This was a group of lawmakers, all women of color, who at the time, they were new to Congress. And Trump had tweeted that they should go back to where they came from. Of course, these were all Americans. Representative Ilhan Omar. People start yelling traitor and all these incendiary things, and then they started chanting. Send her back! Send her back! Send her back! Send her back! Send her back! It was really surreal. I was like one of the only black people sitting in the stadium

with hundreds of people, and they're talking about sending this black lawmaker back to where she, quote, came from. I mean, it was hurtful. It was scary, you know, that this was the way that a lot of Americans were feeling. And it was intense. That moment really drove home to me how worked up and angry people can become about politics. Now I'm joined by my colleague, investigative reporter Chris Arnold. You've been talking to people dealing with a similar kind of anger.

Yeah, absolutely. And, you know, the type of anger that you were experiencing, that, first of all, just sounds awful. I'm sorry, you had to go through that and the other reporters there had to experience that too. And it is kind of like, you know, wow, is this even happening? Because like you said, I mean, it is just like so intense. And when I think about that kind of anger, and I think a lot of Americans, what most people have seen is what was going on at the Capitol on January 6th, right? I mean, that sort of seared into everybody's memory and consciousness, like people, that it keeps cropping up in cities and towns all over the place. And it's being fed by this ongoing big lie that the election was stolen from Donald Trump and that misplaced animosity. Now, all these people outraged about that, even though it's not true, is being focused on local election officials and election workers all around the country who were just trying to do their jobs and conduct elections. I mean, so and that's the thing,

because I remember when, you know, around the time that Trump lost and there was the Senate runoff in Georgia, there were there were these stories about election workers who were getting targeted and they were getting death threats. And some I think some people had to, like, leave their homes and all this stuff. Right. Yeah, there were people like crying in a congressional hearing talking about, like, how painful that was. And that was the spark of this reporting project for me. Right. Because, I mean, targeting election officials like that. First of all, it's just so over the line. And it's just you could be

Republican, Democrat, independent, whatever. But, you know, people got to vote and it's a threat to a functioning democracy. Right. And I wanted to know, OK, well, how much is is this still going on? Yeah. And you found out that it really still is going on and it's really bad. Yeah. We reached out to thousands of election workers and officials all over the country. I was able to obtain email lists for people, which is kind of tricky because people don't want to be targeted and found because of all this craziness to some degree. But we heard back from workers and officials across 22 different states. We weren't able to reach everybody, obviously. And they were saying across all these different states, they've been targeted with threats or they said they felt unsafe doing their jobs.

It seems like this certainly has to do with the steady stream of misinformation. Donald Trump, to this day, is still lying and saying that the election was stolen. Exactly. Yeah. And it's not just him. You know, there's these other conspiracy theory people kind of enabling all of this, too, where they go around the country. It's this guy, Seth Keschel and Dr. Frank, and they have different people. They give speeches and, you know, they all claim they have absolute proof that the 2020 election was stolen from Donald Trump. And, of course, there is no proof. Your story starts in one of the states where you heard from election workers on the coast of Oregon, right? Right. And it's called Coos County. It's actually beautiful there. It's on the Oregon coast of these like huge Douglas fir trees all over and like

steep hillsides and these winding roads through all of it. It used to be big time timber industry country. A lot of those jobs have gone away with environmental controls and stuff. But, you know, it's also it's Oregon. So you get a mix of pretty liberal outdoorsy people living right alongside some much more conservative folks who work in agriculture or fishing. There are some timber jobs, too. And so the story starts at the local county elections office this past midterm election where things were getting pretty intense. We would have people in this hallway trying to take pictures of everything we're doing with their phones, you know. This is Dee Dee Murphy we're hearing from. She was the county clerk at the time. And she says

local people apparently juiced up on misinformation were camped out inside the building day after day. And some of them were very mean. Even though a couple of years before Trump won in this county with 59 percent of the vote, Murphy and the other election workers say people would still yell in their faces about voter fraud. Now, Murphy, she's pretty tough. She worked for the county for more than 30 years in both the elections office and the DA's office before that. So she's seen a lot. And to her, she wasn't scared so much as she just felt like a lot of this was kind of weird and ridiculous. I had one woman, she said, you're a wicked woman. You're

doing awful things in there with the ballots. And I want you to know that Jesus is watching you. And all I could think of to say was, thank you. Jesus is watching you too. Still, officials set up metal detectors at the entrance to the building. And over about a month, a security guard stopped people from bringing a total of 20 guns and 60 knives or other weapons inside. And beyond that, some of the altercations were really frightening. 911, what's your emergency? were really frightening. During the general election last year, a county worker called 911 four times in a single day as he was driving around collecting ballots from drop boxes. He says a woman in a big Jeep Gladiator truck was following him, videotaping him at each drop box. He says she was armed with a handgun on her belt. He doesn't want to use his name,

but remembers at one drop box. I see the Jeep Gladiator turn around the corner and drive very quickly down the road and then slam on the brakes and skid to a stop just past me. And then she leaned out of the car and looked at me and yelled, you f***ing traitor. After that, he says the woman tailgated him right on his bumper, driving erratically, sometimes swerving around next to him. This is on roads in this rural Oregon county with steep hillsides, no guardrails, big logging trucks roar past you in the other direction. I was terrified. The swerving around my car, just like, I don't

think I've ever been more terrified while driving. And I was worried that I might not make it off that road. More than two years after January 6th, Donald Trump's lie that he won the election is alive and well in a large chunk of the Republican Party. Conspiracy theorists tour the country, speaking at events claiming that elections are rigged, and the misinformation about voter fraud is endangering the people whose job it is to conduct elections. NPR obtained contact information for thousands of local election workers and attempted to reach them. Workers and officials across 22 different states told NPR that they've received threats or felt unsafe doing their jobs. I actually bring a weapon with me every day to work.

This is Nancy Boren, the director of elections in Columbus, Georgia. We also have security here at this building who, it sounds even crazy to say this, but walks me to and from my car. We spoke to other election workers in Georgia and Virginia who agreed to talk about what they've been going through if we didn't use their names. Many are afraid of being further targeted. We have a lot of just general f*** news. You're trying to rig the election. You'll all be ashamed of yourself. They said that they were coming for my family and somebody would have to pay for this. I talked to an official in Arizona who says this past

midterm election, someone threatened to murder him and his children. The FBI arrested that person. Here's another official in a southern state who didn't want to use her name. The threat was specifically that the following week that I would not be alive, my home address was made public online, and then my dog was poisoned. Her dog was poisoned. It barely survived. Still, this is real violence and death threats over absolutely nothing real. There is just no evidence of widespread voter fraud. Lawsuits alleging fraud have been thrown out of court by judges all over the country. These election officials are just trying to do their jobs. The Republicans, Democrats, Independents, they're all dealing with this.

And it's everyone from top state officials to lower level county workers who handle ballots or even senior citizen volunteers. David Becker heads up the nonprofit Center for Election Innovation and Research. Election officials have been under siege. They've been threatened, abused and harassed for nearly three years now, and it's getting worse. Many election officials say they need more resources to pay for better security and to do outreach to fight the misinformation. A recent survey from the nonprofit Brennan Center found that nearly one in three election workers say that they've had to deal with harassment, abuse or threats, and almost half worry about the safety of their colleagues in future elections. I am very nervous about next year, about the presidential year. I'm nervous about what that's going to look like, too. Back in Coos County, Oregon, the worker who says he was chased in his car

and his wife both work in the local elections office. So they've both been dealing with all this. Also, while having their first baby, she was nine months pregnant this past election. During that time, I was scared and I didn't get to feel safe at home either. She also doesn't want to use her name. She says the couple was followed home from work. They say election denier people knocked on the neighbor's doors asking questions about them. Like other election workers that NPR talked to, the couple's now set up a motion-sensitive floodlight and a security camera. My bike was stolen on election day. I cannot tell you if

that was one of these people or not. My bike still has not been found. Our garbage cans were gone through. There was garbage taken out and mail strewn across their yard. Oh, you mean like in a cop show or something where they like go through the garbage? Yeah, yeah, just like that. Again, it was this mix of ridiculousness along with things that were more serious. In one post on Truth Social related to drop boxes in the county, somebody suggested blowing their legs off. It wasn't clear if that meant drop boxes or election workers, but violent sounding social media posts like that were scary. And the couple doesn't think the community here realizes what they've been going through at the

elections office. It felt like we were under attack, constant phone calls and people coming in and making accusations and yelling at us. And it felt very much like they were just harassing us, like they were just there to intimidate us. And we were reaching out to the sheriff's office. So they were walking us to and from the building. And anytime we stepped out of the door, people were filming us. And at one point, as the sheriff was leading us outside, people were recording and laughing. Like, that's so funny that we're so scared that we had to let the sheriff walk us out. And that was just really crazy. Absolutely inexcusable that that would happen.

John Sweet is a Coos County commissioner. He's 83 years old, and he's a Republican who does not believe in the voter fraud conspiracy theories. He says it was hard to watch and hear about local people doing all this to county election workers. You know, it's a form of really a bit of mob activity in a way. You know, the mob takes on a personality of its own that's probably different than the prevalent personality of individual members of the mob. I don't think it was unique to our county. It was a national thing. Everybody remembers the spectacle of the mob at the Capitol on January 6th, but of course those people came from somewhere and they went back home, where some of them outside of the

national spotlight are carrying on the fight. And that's what's been happening here in Coos County. Rod Taylor runs a local surveying supply business. He was arrested for a curfew violation after the riot on January 6th in D.C. I heeded an admonition from General Michael Flynn to go home and make a difference there. And so we started a citizens group here in Coos County called Citizens Restoring Liberty, and we continue to meet weekly. County officials say it was members of that Citizens Restoring Liberty group who were camped in the hallways of the elections office. The group is worried about supposed voter fraud and also government regulation of guns, masks and public schools. Its members have run as candidates for local government and school boards. Taylor himself ran for county commissioner.

Here he is speaking ahead of last year's election on a local conservative talk radio show. You know what? I'm proud to have been there on January 6th. Right. Yeah, it was a peaceable gathering on the 6th. And you know what? People were happy, man. I mean, there was an outrage, but it was like it was like a joyful outrage.

January 6th was quite violent. Five people died in connection with the riot. And police officials say 140 officers suffered injuries. Some were struck in the head with metal poles, pushed downstairs and trampled by the rioters. On the talk show, Taylor said he went into the building very briefly, though he says he did not participate in the violence. But despite their concerns about voter fraud, this past midterm election, when the votes were counted, Rod Taylor narrowly won, a result he does not dispute. And he is now a Coos County commissioner. You're listening to The Sunday Story.

When we come back, Chris visits Rod Taylor in his new office. Now, our change will honor 100 years of the Royal Canadian Air Force and their dedicated service to communities at home and abroad. From the skies to our change, this $2 commemorative circulation coin marks their storied past and promising future. Find the limited edition Royal Canadian Air Force $2 coin today. We're back with the Sunday story. There's no window in here, unfortunately.

I wish I had a little bit of outside light. Rod Taylor is showing me around his new county office. He's wearing a gun on his belt. I wish I had a little bit of outside light. Rod Taylor is showing me around his new county office. He's wearing a gun on his belt. He's got a scripture reading of the day on his desk, an American flag, a Trump One sign. When you talk to Taylor, he does seem to really believe the voter fraud conspiracy stuff. Look, Chris, the fact of the matter is that we have problems in our election system in Oregon. There is no evidence of that. A lawsuit making vague allegations of voter fraud in the county was thrown out by a judge.

But some of the people who travel the country peddling election fraud conspiracy theories have come to Oregon. And Taylor talks about attending their events. We saw Dr. Frank in Roseburg. He's talking about Douglas Frank, who promotes these conspiracy theories and who had his phone seized by the FBI last year. But we wanted to ask Rod Taylor, does he think it's okay that local election workers here in his own county feel threatened just doing their jobs? Did you realize that there are election workers here in the county who fear for their safety because of this?

Yeah, of course I'm aware of that. But Taylor says he never threatened election workers himself, and he's not responsible for it. The fact of the matter is, when you've got a large group of people, it's sometimes like herding cats and you cannot control what individuals do. So unfortunately, we did have some people who I think engaged election staff in unproductive ways that I would not have advocated for and I still don't condone. My biggest worry is that people aren't going to want to do the job anymore.

Over at the elections office, Julie Brekke is the new county clerk. She's trying to figure out how to avoid a repeat of last year in the upcoming presidential race. Already, one election worker has resigned. It's an important job, and the people that work in this office take it very seriously and they like their job. And if they're harassed constantly and made to look like villains, then eventually that weighs on people. I don't want to lose good people over harassment based on misinformation. For their part, law enforcement officials say it can be difficult to intervene. 911, what's your emergency? This is Coos County with a transfer.

This is for the North. The election worker who says he was chased while collecting ballots says he was told by police that since no officers saw this person driving erratically, there was nothing they could do. And unfortunately, the person that's been following me all over the county is here filming from across the street. Okay, they're not doing anything illegal by filming you. I am aware. Okay. They have tried to run me off the road. I'm a little scared. Okay. The county sheriff's department says the incident was investigated,

though apparently nothing resulted from that. After we published this story on our website, the woman who was following the election worker in the Jeep Gladiator pickup truck said on a local talk radio show that she was not carrying a gun. We should also note that we tried to reach her repeatedly while reporting this story, but she never responded. The sheriff, Gabe Fabrizio, says there were also complaints from voters who felt harassed or threatened at drop boxes. But he says nothing rose to the level that law enforcement decided that they could do much about. We want to make sure that everybody's First Amendment rights, their freedom of speech is protected. So threats, we take definitely seriously and we'll go investigate them.

But at the same time, you've got to balance that off of people can say whatever they want. Around the country, people are trying to find solutions. Elections officials met a few weeks ago in Washington, D.C. to share strategies. Some states are passing laws to try to help. Right now, Donald Trump, the election denialist-in-chief, is the GOP frontrunner in the next presidential election. But that's more than a year away. So state, federal, and local governments do have time to try to come up with ways to lower the temperature and keep election workers safe

if they don't wait till the last minute. That's NPR's Chris Arnold. And Chris is back with me now. You said that there's still time for solutions. What are some of those solutions? Well, we talked in the story about some states are passing laws. And what some of those are doing is increasing the penalties for threatening election workers and also to let election workers and officials keep their home address private and their personal information private. So

it's harder for some person, especially from outside of town, to start sending scary stuff or calling them at home and telling them they're going to do horrible things to their family, you know, just to kind of create more of a buffer. And at the federal level, there's also a bill in the Senate that would provide grants to help local elections offices kind of beef up their security and do more training. It sounds complicated because, you know, like the sheriff was talking about there's free speech and people get to say what they want. But at the same time, like, you know, how do they determine like what's a threat and what's somebody just spouting off? You can't say whatever you want. You know, there is a point where it becomes a threat if it's specific enough and does cross a line. And I talked to the Justice Department about all this, and they've started a task force

and they've now received reports of more than 2000 incidents of hostility, harassment, abuse or threats to election workers, they say. And the fact is that most of those don't meet the threshold of an unlawful threat of violence. It's more in the free speech realm, but some do. And so far, they've charged more than a dozen people with crimes, which might not sound like a lot, but that's a dozen people, federal criminal prosecutions. And we should say, too, that local authorities prosecute more cases on top of that. And what's happening in Coos County? Has there been any progress there?

Well, kind of. You know, the county clerk says they've been improving the physical security of the office. So that's important. They're applying for grants to do more of that. They're also working with the sheriff,

who we heard, and coming up with a plan for 2024. And the election workers say that the sheriff actually is being great and also taking this really seriously and making them feel much safer. And they're very grateful for that. And to be honest, look, I mean, there does seem to be plenty of discord still in the county. I want to leave you with this town hall meeting that I went to when I was out there. So the county holds these meetings for local residents to talk to the county commissioners about whatever concerns they might have at all

and kind of connect with the community. And, you know, Aisha, our country is so politically and culturally divided right now, too. It didn't take long for things to get a little off the wall. But this local resident, Dede Peterson, who's been there for like five generations of her family in this county, she was looking for some common ground. What I want to see is this community thrive. So even when we disagree,

we can sit down in a room like this and talk about it and not hate. It's not team red versus team blue we have to see through the middle we have to see what's best for our community it makes my heart hurt to listen to people being mean and ugly and when it's one of the most beautiful places i've ever lived. And that's that. So, you know, Aisha, the election workers in town and I'm sure across the country are certainly hoping for more of that kind of perspective as we head into the upcoming presidential election. Chris, thank you so much for reporting on a very serious topic. Absolutely. Thanks, Aisha.

This episode of The Sunday Story was produced by Meg Anderson and Justine Yan, with help from Henry Hottie, edited by Robert Little and Ginny Schmidt. Our engineer was Maggie Luther. The Sunday Story team includes Andrew Mambo and Emily Silver. Our supervising producer is Liana Simstrom and our executive producer is Irene Noguchi. We'd love to hear from you. Send us an email at thesundaystoryatnpr.org. I'm Aisha Roscoe. Up first, we'll be back tomorrow with all the news you need to start your week.

Until then, have a great rest of your weekend. Thank you.