Rep. Colin Allred (D-Texas), who is running to unseat Sen. Ted Cruz (R-Texas) in next year’s elections, has helped introduce a legislative proposal that, as explained in a press release from his office, would extend protections against intimidating voters to election workers. That means individuals involved in counting or afterwards certifying the results of an election would have an additional level of legal protection from affronts like direct threats and harassment, as were seen after the 2020 presidential election.
The kinds of people covered would likely include those in roles like the responsibilities held by Georgia election workers Ruby Freeman and Shaye Moss, a mother and daughter who after the 2020 elections faced delusional attacks on their credibility and accusations of involvement in imaginary fraud — bonkers claims that Trump has kept going long after exiting the presidency. Freeman and Moss faced substantial threats to their safety amid the spread of those claims, and an angry crowd even showed up to a family residence, allegedly hoping to make a so-called citizen’s arrest. If the two had actually been there, it’s not difficult to imagine the situation turning violent.
Allred’s bill, if implemented, would extend “existing prohibitions on intimidating or threatening voters to include election officials engaged in the counting of ballots, canvassing, and certifying election results,” his office said. That description was also used in a press release from the office of Sen. Amy Klobuchar (D-Minn.), who helped introduce a Senate version of the proposal with the support of other Democratic members there. Presumably, also covered would be situations like the angry crowds who have at times showed up near vote tabulation centers, like in Detroit after the 2020 elections when those in charge eventually put cardboard in the windows amid the spiraling situation and concerns about protecting the personal information being handled inside.
After that year’s elections, even more direct threats also emerged, like a case in Philadelphia involving a couple of men found with firearms near a center for tabulating local votes. Those two, though, got out of hand to the extent their case fell under other laws, and they were charged with firearms offenses that led to sentences of probation and time served. The text for the bill from Allred, Klobuchar, and the other Democrats wasn’t immediately available online this week.
