Election officials can’t access federal funding for security as violent threats mount

Federal authorities are prosecuting a man who pled guilty to threatening a Colorado election official on Instagram, where he wrote: “Do you feel safe? You shouldn’t.” And Colorado police arrested a man accused of calling Secretary of State Jena Griswold and saying that “the angel of death is coming for her.” So when the Colorado secretary of state’s office learned early this year that the U.S. Department of Justice would allow funding through the Edward Byrne Memorial Justice Assistance Grant program to be used by state and local election offices to combat threats, they submitted an application in March. “It is a positive step that Byrne JAG funds may now be used to protect elections and election officials,” the Colorado secretary of state’s office said in an emailed statement. In a letter to the state administering agencies, the DOJ wrote in January that the broad criminal justice purposes allow for the funds to also be “used to deter, detect, and protect against threats of violence against election workers, administrators, officials, and others associated with the electoral process.” At the time of the announcement, Michigan Secretary of State Jocelyn Benson, who has faced threats from armed demonstrators outside her home, expressed relief, saying the allocation “removes from us the perpetual anxiety of trying to figure out how to fund needed security and protections.” Benson and other election officials began considering how they would use the money for physical security at their offices, like additional locks, cameras, and bulletproof glass, and for other services like social media monitoring programs. “However, by statute, JAG recipients have the flexibility to determine how to utilize funding to best meet the needs of their state or unit of local government, and there is no requirement for states and units of local government to utilize funds for election security.” But members of Congress want DOJ to do more to clarify the grant process and to protect election officials from threats.