this post was submitted on 28 Jan 2024
93 points (98.9% liked)

politics

19916 readers
3342 users here now

Welcome to the discussion of US Politics!

Rules:

  1. Post only links to articles, Title must fairly describe link contents. If your title differs from the site’s, it should only be to add context or be more descriptive. Do not post entire articles in the body or in the comments.

Links must be to the original source, not an aggregator like Google Amp, MSN, or Yahoo.

Example:

  1. Articles must be relevant to politics. Links must be to quality and original content. Articles should be worth reading. Clickbait, stub articles, and rehosted or stolen content are not allowed. Check your source for Reliability and Bias here.
  2. Be civil, No violations of TOS. It’s OK to say the subject of an article is behaving like a (pejorative, pejorative). It’s NOT OK to say another USER is (pejorative). Strong language is fine, just not directed at other members. Engage in good-faith and with respect! This includes accusing another user of being a bot or paid actor. Trolling is uncivil and is grounds for removal and/or a community ban.
  3. No memes, trolling, or low-effort comments. Reposts, misinformation, off-topic, trolling, or offensive. Similarly, if you see posts along these lines, do not engage. Report them, block them, and live a happier life than they do. We see too many slapfights that boil down to "Mom! He's bugging me!" and "I'm not touching you!" Going forward, slapfights will result in removed comments and temp bans to cool off.
  4. Vote based on comment quality, not agreement. This community aims to foster discussion; please reward people for putting effort into articulating their viewpoint, even if you disagree with it.
  5. No hate speech, slurs, celebrating death, advocating violence, or abusive language. This will result in a ban. Usernames containing racist, or inappropriate slurs will be banned without warning

We ask that the users report any comment or post that violate the rules, to use critical thinking when reading, posting or commenting. Users that post off-topic spam, advocate violence, have multiple comments or posts removed, weaponize reports or violate the code of conduct will be banned.

All posts and comments will be reviewed on a case-by-case basis. This means that some content that violates the rules may be allowed, while other content that does not violate the rules may be removed. The moderators retain the right to remove any content and ban users.

That's all the rules!

Civic Links

Register To Vote

Citizenship Resource Center

Congressional Awards Program

Federal Government Agencies

Library of Congress Legislative Resources

The White House

U.S. House of Representatives

U.S. Senate

Partnered Communities:

News

World News

Business News

Political Discussion

Ask Politics

Military News

Global Politics

Moderate Politics

Progressive Politics

UK Politics

Canadian Politics

Australian Politics

New Zealand Politics

founded 2 years ago
MODERATORS
 

Nearly half of all officials have been insulted, a third harassed, and nearly one in five threatened, according to CivicPulse

Election threats, often based on misinformation or distortions of election processes, didn’t end in 2020. They’re now an everyday problem for election officials in the US, bringing with them the potential to turn into violence. Even without a physical manifestation, they cause stress, worry and chaos to elections offices and the people who work in them.

These harassing and threatening messages are more likely to target women and people of color, according to Princeton University’s Bridging Divides Initiative, which studies political violence. They’re more common in swing states like Pennsylvania, Georgia, Michigan, Wisconsin and Arizona. Most do not result in criminal charges, though a justice department unit focused on election threats has charged more than a dozen people since 2021.

The problem is at a “consistently high baseline”, surveys of elections officials from CivicPulse found. In any given quarter, “nearly half of all officials have been insulted, a third have been harassed, and nearly one in five threatened”. Threats turning physical, while rare, casts worry and fear over these officials – one in five female officials “worry about attacks on them or their family”, CivicPulse says.

A wave of election officials have quit their jobs, often leaving less experienced people in charge of voting. Nationwide data on the departures isn’t available, but a study of 11 states in the American west by Issue One showed that more than 160 chief local election officials had left their roles since the 2020 election, leaving half of the 76 million Americans living in those states with a new top election official.

top 2 comments
sorted by: hot top controversial new old
[–] [email protected] 2 points 1 year ago

This is the best summary I could come up with:


It’s part of a resilience training she hosts at elections conferences around the country, as well as virtually, to confront the ongoing harassment public servants face.

These harassing and threatening messages are more likely to target women and people of color, according to Princeton University’s Bridging Divides Initiative, which studies political violence.

Bill Gates, a Maricopa county official in Arizona who was the target of harassment by fellow Republicans for years, shared in a Washington Post story that he sought therapy and dealt with post-traumatic stress in the aftermath.

And if you’ve heard some of the horrific things that some of them have been subjected to, just the thought of someone carrying that out, it may put a person in a state of hypervigilance,” said Love, who helped Barton with resources for the training.

The mental wellness tools can help the individuals manage the daily stresses of their increasingly difficult job, but they’re working against a systemic problem that’s much harder to solve – and often exacerbated by political leaders who throw more vitriol their way.

Local officials have became a symbol for people upset with Trump’s loss who were searching for someone to blame and had their fears of a stolen election stoked by politicians and rightwing news outlets.


The original article contains 1,808 words, the summary contains 210 words. Saved 88%. I'm a bot and I'm open source!

[–] ChemicalPilgrim 1 points 1 year ago

Why don't we confront threats against election workers by breaking the knees of people threatening election workers?