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A Georgian election official angrily urged President Donald Trump to “stop inspiring people to commit potential acts of violence” and slammed politicians who have remained silent on the results as election officials, workers and their families have faced multiple threats.
“Everything has gone too far,” said Gabriel Sterling, head of voting systems for the Georgian secretary of state, on Tuesday. “Someone is going to be hurt. Someone is going to be shot. Someone is going to be killed. And that’s not right.”
Sterling, visibly shaken during a brief appearance with reporters, said Georgia Secretary of State Brad Raffensperger received death threats, his wife received sexualized threats on her cell phone and that he himself needed police protection outside his home after the controversial election where the southern state became a focal point of President-elect Joe Biden’s victory.
The “straw that broke the camel’s back”, however, was a noose that was found hanging outside the house of an election worker. The man, who has not been identified, is in his 20s and is an employee of privately-held Dominion Voting Systems, which worked with the state in the 2020 election.
“I have police protection outside my house now, great,” Sterling said. “I took a high level job. I understand. This kid took a job. He just took a job, and that’s just plain wrong. I can’t begin to explain the level of anger I have. I have about it, and every American, every Georgian, Republicans and Democrats should have the same level of anger. “
Fueled by baseless conspiracy theories of mass electoral fraud – many of them peddled and retweeted by Trump and his legal team – election officials in several battlefield states have said they have been threatened by supporters of the president .
Last month, the Arizona Secretary of State said the lies and plots pushed by Trump, Republican members of Congress and other elected officials had helped escalate threats against herself, her employees and their staff. families.
“It’s high time they stopped,” said Katie Hobbs. She said a threat had been made against her and her family on Parler, a social media site popular among far-right extremists.
“Their words and actions have consequences,” she said.
In Nevada, the Clark County Registrar of Electors said his wife and mother were concerned about his safety and that additional protections were in place to ensure the safety of election officials. And in Michigan, Attorney General Dana Nessel in a statement called on people to stop harassing its staff, including threats to “push the Sharpies into uncomfortable places.”
Yet threats also come from current and former White House and Trump campaign officials, as the administration continues to make unsubstantiated allegations of widespread electoral fraud.
On Monday, Trump’s campaign lawyer Joe DiGenova said Christopher Krebs, the former head of the Agency for Cybersecurity and Infrastructure Security – whose agency rebuffed allegations of Trump’s election fraud – should be “drawn and quartered, withdrawn at dawn and shot.”
Sterling, who provides regular updates on the election, called on the president and other politicians to condemn the threats, and urged supporters to stop before anyone is hurt.
“It has to stop,” Sterling said. “Mr. President, you have not condemned these acts or this language. Senators, you have not condemned this language or these actions. This must stop. We need you to intervene – and if you want to take a leadership position , show it. “
Sterling condemned officials who have remained silent as election workers faced mounting threats.
“It is the cornerstone of democracy and all of you who haven’t said a damn word are complicit in it,” he said.
Allegations of massive voting irregularities continued to emerge from the president and his supporters despite the lack of evidence to prove it – and despite the judges dismissing most of the legal challenges raised by campaign lawyers for the President.
On Tuesday, the chorus of legal officials pointing to the lack of evidence of electoral fraud allegations included U.S. Attorney General Bill Barr, a vocal supporter of the president, who told The Associated Press that the Justice Department had looked into the matter. and had found no evidence. fraud that would alter the election result.
Sterling urged the president to “move forward”.
“Mr. President, it looks like you have probably lost the state of Georgia,” he said. “There is always a possibility, I understand, and you have the right to go to court. What you don’t have the capacity to do, and you have to step in and say this, is to stop. inspire people to take action. acts of violence. “
“Be the biggest man here,” he said addressing the president. “Tell your supporters: don’t be violent. Don’t bully. This is all wrong. This is not American.”
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