Transcripts For CSPAN3 Hearing On Threats To Election Officials 20220923

Committee has a Hearing Committee on the Justice Department track task force addressing threats against Election Officials. This is just over three hours. This hearing will come to order. Today the Judiciary Committee is holding the firstever hearing on a growing danger to our democracy. Threats against election workers. In a recent survey went out of every six election workers reported receiving threats because their jobs are on the front lines of democracy. Many of the stats were inspired by false claims or fraud surrounding the last election. Claims that culminated in president trumps big lie. Night last summer, the department of justice launched a task force to address the unprecedented threats that election workers across america are facing. This morning, for the first time the department will testify about the progress that has been made by the task force since it was formed. We will also hear from these and Infrastructure Security Agency which plays an instant been instant indispensable role in securing our election. We will hear from Public Officials who have received Death Threats because of their efforts to protect voting. Before we begin, i want to play a video to put this in perspective. Its a rigged. Election donald trump, launching an assault on the integrity of the election. Releasing a barrage and false claims of corruption and fraud without evidence. We were winning, and then our number started getting miraculously whittled away in secret. We have so much evidence, so much proof. Donald trump jr. And other allies threaten to turn the president s base against republicans who do not rush to the president s defence. Fight, each and every one of these battles to the. Death threats and lies are also having a detrimental effect on poll workers, on regular everyday citizens. She is a vote scammer. But those are not suitcases. 11 alive has confirmed those are the stat standard ballot containers used by Fulton County. He ruined these womens lives. She describes a lawsuit how she left her home of 20 years hours before a mob of Trump Supporters surrounded her home. Do you know how it feels to have the president of the United States target you . I felt like it was all my fall like if i would have never decided to be an elections worker. People were lying, spreading rumors and lies, attacking my mom. As disturbing as that is it is just one part of the trump fueled intimidation effort that has been waged against freeman and election workers like. Are they had assault rifles. A pipe bomb. Youre going to get where whats coming to. You they threatened my. Life we had officers on the roof of our building. We had go bags ready for my family my children. In places like arizona. We are coming for you. We will find you. In wisconsin. We are gonna hang. You from georgia. Do you hear the anger in my voice . We are ready to pounce. And minnesota. Hes probably going to be executed for treason. This has to stop. This is elections. This is the backbone of democracy. And all of you who have not said a words are complicit in this. Someone is going to get hurt, someone is going to get shot, someone is going to get killed. We have discussed the issue of violence in the past. There has been a consensus on this committee, and i hope it continues in the congress, that there is no place for violence whatsoever in our constitutional systems of government. Neither on the right and were on the left. I want to tell the story of ruby freeman. Thanks to the january Six Committee, Many Americans know her story. The 62 year old grandmother and in Fulton County georgia. She and her daughter seamus were to be hundreds of thousands of americans who work to the polls on election day 2020. Soon after election day, they found themselves at the center of the big lie with president ial counsel Rudy Giuliani promoting a viral video that giuliani claimed showed miss freeman and miss malls counting illegal ballots. In reality, Julian Julians claim was false. The only thing miss freeman and miss moss were guilty of was performing their civic duty, diligently, faithfully, legally. The republicanled georgia secretary of states office, and the Georgia Bureau of investigation immediately refuted really giulianis lie. But the damage had already been done. For months, the former president s allies, and the rightwing Media Echo Chamber relentlessly slandered miss freeman and her daughter. They received hundreds of threatening, racist messages and phone calls. Miss freeman was repeatedly harassed and threatened in her home which she fled surely before january 6th after the fbi warned her that they could no longer protect her. Miss mott left her jaw with the Fulton County registration on the elections department, where she proudly served for nearly eight decades. And just last week, Court Documents indicated that miss freeman and miss mosss names were written on a path of paper labeled list which was found in the home of a member of the oath keepers who is charged with seditious conspiracy in connection with january 6th attacks. Ruby freeman and she most are not alone. Despite administrating what the former president S Administration called what they called, quote, the most secure election in american history, election workers of both Political Parties have been forced to take extraordinary steps to protect themselves and their families. Many of these election workers have spent their own money installing elaborate Home Security systems. Others like a county clerk in colorado have begun to wear a bullet proof vest to work. Over the past several months, my office has heard from individual election workers who shared their stories of violent threats. Many of them have submitted statements for our hearing. These threats are taking a disastrous toll on our democracy. According to a recent survey, roughly one in five Election Officials plan on leaving their job ahead of the next president ial election. This mass exodus coincides with ongoing organized effort by big lie promoters to secure jobs administering elections across our country. We saw last night at the republican primary in arizona. Our democracy cannot survive if we allow harassment and intimidation of Election Officials to become the new new norm. As we look ahead to this years election, fewer than 100 days away, i hope that we learn the lessons from the last election. The former president s plot to overturn the election we tap it on america. We saw that personally here in the capital on january six 2021. Public servants, like ruby freeman, and seamus, are living with the consequences of this big lie every day of their lives. I look forward to learning more about the steps the Justice Department and is taking to protect Election Officials in the months leading up to this election and i hope every member of this committee will join me in condemning the threats that those officials continue to face. With, that i turn to Ranking Member grassley for his opening. Thank you, chairman sherman. Our hearing today is on threats against election workers. Threats of violence are Never Acceptable. Any threat of violence. Violence is a very major problem in america today. With rates of Violent Crime skyrocketing across the country. Not since the 1990s have we seen these levels of murder, assault, carjacking, robbery, attacks on police and other Violent Crimes. The start of this Violent Crime wave began in 2020 as police nationwide were pulled off the streets. A study from the council of criminal justice showed that murders in major cities in 2021 were 44 more than in 2019. So far this year major cities with baltimore, los angeles, philadelphia, washington d. C. , atlanta, and new york city, are already worse than in 2021. The baseline is rising. High rates of Violent Crime are becoming the new norm. Some of the main causes of this rising Violent Crime are anti police rhetoric, d policing efforts, progressive prosecution, bill reform, defund the police movement. We talk about the crisis faced by Law Enforcement officers last week in this very committee. In our hearing about attacks on police. This crisis in policing is happening at the same time that progressive prosecutors refused to hold violent criminals accountable for their crimes. Witness after witness in this committee has told us that bill reform helps to release violent criminals who then can go commit more crimes. We all heard about the horrible story that occurred at walk gentle wisconsin when a man drove into a parade of people killing six people and wounding many more. He was out on bail after a Violent Crime. He should never have been free but a progressive prosecutor and lax laws allowed him to get out and kill all of those people. Research is clear that a huge amount of Violent Crime in any city is committed by a very small number of repeat offenders. Just think, if police and prosecutors can focus on those offenders, they can improve the situation very significantly. But because of difficulties at the state level in terms of understaffed Police Department, progressive prosecutors who turn a blind eye to Violent Crime, and state legislatures who often soften criminal laws and implement bail reform, states dont seem to be solving this problem nor are they able and capable of doing it all alone. Federal support is necessary. Congress must treat Violent Crime as a very top priority. For this reason, last week i introduced combatting violent and dangerous crime act. The bill contains common sense proposals to reduce a spike in Violent Crime in the nation. Proposals that would expand federal prosecution options for offenses like murder, carjacking, bank robbery, and assault on police. All of my fellow republicans on this committee have cosponsored this bill, and i thank them for doing it. The department of justice should also be treating Violent Crime as a top priority. But that is not what we are seeing from this department of justice. In the summer of 2020, under the trump administration, the department of justice to conducted operation legend. Which was targeted towards prosecuting violent criminals in places in america that had the worst rates of Violent Crime. This effort was a supplement to the overstretched Law Enforcement and Court Systems which simply could not deal with the surge in Violent Crimes that they were seeing. But whenever a question about Violent Crime comes out, that department of justice only wants to talk about gun control, punishing criminals who commit Violent Crime. I wrote a letter to the department of justice on february the 14th, 2022, to ask that department to answer this misguided and politicized approach to Law Enforcement. Now we are here on the subject of this hearing more than a year ago the department of justice formed a task force on threats to election workers. It appears that only four cases have been announced as a result of this tax force ever. That is after more than a years work. Just four. And there have been no charged acts of violence against election workers. These prosecutors may be very worthy but the existence of a full dodgy task force is confusing. Compared to operation legend which resulted in about 1500 prosecutions for Crimes Involving guns and violence, all of that in less than six months. In light of garlands passed focus on intimidating parents who were concerned about school boards, i fear that there is a political element to the decision to focus on this area. ThiS Administration doesnt want to talk about the failed policy of democratic cities where crime is spiking up. But a Law Enforcement agency like the department of justice should not be participating in those sorts of politics. The department of justice is the highest Law Enforcement agency in america. It must focus its priorities on charges facing america today. That means addressing Violent Crime,. If we can only reduce the homicide numbers to where they were before the defund the police movement, we could save as many as 6000 lives per year. Because that is how much it has picked up in the last two years. Yet there is no merger surge task forest. No task force for combatting the 20 year high and police killings. No carjacking task force, certainly no task force for the threats and our sons against Crisis Pregnancy Centers and churches in the wake of the dobbs decision. For the but the department of justice is not choosing what to convene task forces on by levels of violence. They are choosing a political message i believe, and that will have a real consequence on the safety and lives of Many Americans. I yield. Thank, you senator grassi. And the current congress, this Judiciary Committee has held hearings on Law Enforcement officers safety, mass shootings, domestic terrorism, protecting children from gun violence, carjackings, heat crimes, reducing violence in chicago, violence against women, and more including multiple oversight hearings of Law Enforcement emergencies. We have another oversight hearing tomorrow with the director of the fbi schedule. The subject of this hearing is threats to election workers. We have two panels. The first panel we welcome the assistant attorney general kenneth bleep, assistant to the attorney general kenneth levy is a longtime federal prosecutor who oversees the Justice Department Criminal Division, including the Election Threats Task force. We also welcome kim lineman, senior Election Security adviser at cisa, the department of Homeland Security cybersecurity and Infrastructure Security Agency. Prior to his system, miss weinman was washingtons elected secretary of state. So she certainly knows this field very well. And we welcome her. Im gonna ask them both to be sworn in. They will then be given five minutes each for Opening Statements and then a round of questioning from the senators up to five minutes each. And then our second panel will be recognized. If you please stand. Raise your right hand. Do you swear the the testimony youre about to give before this committee will be the full truth, the whole, truth and nothing but the truth. So help you. God let me lets the record reflect that the witnesses answered in the affirmative. I will allow you to start. We good morning, chairman. Make sure your mic is. On good morning chairman german, Ranking Member grassley, and members of the committee. Thank you for inviting me to the department of justice to appear before you today to discuss election threats. Again, my name is candace bullied and i am the assistant attorney general of the departments Criminal Division testifying today on behalf of the department. The department of justice is committed to addressing threats to the state and local Election Community. The courageous indicated debit men and women who are responsible for administering the most fundamental aspect of our democracy, our elections, should not face threats for merely doing their jobs. These victims often volunteers are people from across our country and across the political spectrum. These are people we have sworn to protect. Through direct engagement with the Election Community, training of our federal state and local Law Enforcement agencies, Grant Funding for in his Election Security, and federal criminal investigation prosecution of election related threats where appropriate, the department is working intently to prepare and protect our Election Officials and their staff as we approach the 2022 midterm elections. Last june the department launched the Election Threats Task force to combat the sharp rise in reports of threats received by the Election Community during and following the 2020 election cycle. Comprised of the Criminal Divisions Public Integrity and computer crime and all intellectual propertys actions, the Civil Rights Divisions voting and criminal sections, and the National Security divisions counterterrorism section, as well as the fbis criminal investigative division, the department of Homeland Securitys cybersecurity and Infrastructure Security Agency and the u. S. Postal inspection service, the task force unites the foremost subject Matter Experts across the government who have deep experience with election related issues. Over the past year, the task force has proactively engaged with the Election Community to hear directly from Election Officials and workers regarding the types of threatening communications that they receive, the challenges such communications postElection Administration, and their greatest concerns and needs with respect to combatting physical threats. These conversations are critical to positioning the task force to effectively address threats to the election communities, and to identify with and respond to trends in this area. We in response to the express needs of the Election Community, the top forces shared information about the types of communications with debt officials and workers have reported nationwide, as children are screened today. The Legal Standards that apply, and how determinations are made on whether to open a criminal mastication, as well as common investigative steps undertaken in these matters. The task force has also provided detailed guidance to the Election Community team on best practices for memorializing threats and reporting such communication to the fbi. This is encouraged rob reporting, and has provided Contact Information for each of the 56 fbi election crime coordinators and field operators throughout the country. The task force is committed to reviewing and assessing all reported threatening and harassing Communications Director that the Election Community to identify where federal criminal prosecution is both appropriate and permissible. Although the vast majority of communications directed at election workers, offensive though they may be, will not constitute true threats subject to federal criminal prosecution due to the robust protections of forwarded to political speech by the First Amendment, we are committed to following the facts and the law. Political considerations do not and should not play any role in any prosecutorial decision made by the department. Threats to the Election Community remain a National Public safety issue requiring a national response, regardless of politics. The trauma experience in this community is profound and unprecedented. That department is committed to investigating and prosecuting violations of federal law against those who administer and safeguard our electoral system. I want to assure you that our attention to ensuring the safety and security of those in the Election Community will not wane and through these collective efforts we hope to continue to mitigate deter threats. We look forward to continuing this work as long as that threat persists. Thank you, mister chairman, Ranking Member grassley, and members of the committee, for this opportunity to discuss the ongoing work of the department. I would be pleased to respond to your questions. Thank, general police. Kim wyman, senior Election Security adviser at cisa and tenure secretary of state from washington. Please. Chairman german. Chairman durbin, Ranking Member grassley, and members of the committee, thank you for the opportunity to testify today on behalf of the cybersecurity and Infrastructure Security Agency, or says that,. Free and Fair Elections are the corner store. Oh gosh, i got like six words and before the emotion of the video got me. I am sorry. Are the cornerstone of american democracy. Over the course of nearly three decades i had the opportunity to work at elections at the state and local level. And i strive to make sure that that principle was upheld. Prior to joining cisa i was blessed to have spent 30 years in Washington State elections and i began in the early 1990s. My biggest fear was crying in front of the senate Judiciary Committee, by the way. I just have to start their. When i was appointed election director, and i learned elections from the ground up. In 2001 i was appointed Thurston County auditor, which allowed me to make policies that improved elections, administration, and Voter Registration. In 2012 i was elected as washington secretary of state, the second woman to serve in that capacity. And in that capacity i served for about a decade and i was able to leave in november to become the senior election securities adviser at cisa. Overseeing overhead are 50 elections, and serving at the chief Election Officer at both the state and local level, has allowed me to understand the roles or responsibilities of Election Officials and witnessed firsthand the challenges that they face. This experience has prepared me to help shape cisa services and experiences to make the more impactful for Election Officials and voters across the country and make our democracy more resilient my written statement provides more detailed information about cisa and our mission, but i want to start my remarks today by providing a basic overview of how we support the Election Community. Our mission that cisa is to ensure that security and resilience of the nations critical infrastructure. In january 2017, the department of Homeland Security designated election infrastructure as critical infrastructure, which allowed the department of Homeland Security to prioritize federal assistance to the election some sector. Cisas election folks kissed mission is to ensure that state and local Election Officials, and their partners, have the necessary information and tools to successfully manage risk, and build resiliency in the nations election infrastructure. Our support to the Election Community is bolstered by the work of our federal partners, the Intelligence Community, and federal Law Enforcement, and other agencies like the u. S. Elections Assistance Commission and the u. S. Postal service. Collectively, we have brought incredible resources to bear to support state and local Election Officials and take a whole of government approach to Election Security. As we approach the 2022 midterms, we ads cisa have identified five main priorities. First, cisa remains committed to sharing actionable information with Election Officials about threats, and risks to election infrastructure alongside our Intelligence Community t and federal Law Enforcement partners. Second, we are providing guidance, services, and expertise to help election official secure Voter Registration systems and information. Third, we are redoubling our efforts to promote cyber hygiene practices. Specifically focused on smaller and mid sized jurisdictions around the country that oftentimes have difficulty making cybersecurity investments, but which are so critical to the election ecosystem. Fourth, cisa is expanding efforts in that building up americans resistance against foreign influence campaigns. That threaten election infrastructure, security, and seek to undermine Public Confidence in our elections. Finally, in partnership with the department of justice and the broader National Security and Law Enforcement community, we are expanding services and resources that help keep Election Officials and their voters save. From our no cross services, response coordination, Training Exercise packages, and broader information sharing, it is my hope that we can continue to provide meaningful assistance to our state and local election partners to prepare them for this, future election cycles. The publics confidence in their election, and the faith that they place in our democratic institutions, rests upon the ability to conduct free and Fair Elections. At cisa, ensuring the security of our election infrastructure is up the highest priority. We shall remain transparent and agile in our vigorous efforts to address new and evolving threats. I thank you for this opportunity to testify the today and i look forward to your questions. Thank you, miss wyman, and mr. Play. So im going to start with miss wyman. I probably am mispronouncing your name but, laurie o genome. . Is that correct . That is. Correct shes the director of Washington State elections, is that correct . She was,. Yes she was. Following the 2020 election the email and home addresses of laureate geno were published on a website called enemies of the people. Along with a photo of her face and crosshairs. The website with amplified the pro president s claim of Election Fraud was subsequently linked to iran. Miss wyman, i know that mr. Geno is your former colleague. I am sorry she experienced these threats. How big a problem is doxxing, which is general category that i just described, and what is cisa doing to help state and local Election Officials guard against their release of the personal Commission Online . Doxxing is a problem. And it is across the Election Community. I apologize, senator, for getting emotional. Thank you. It was unnerving as you can tell that is why i joined cisa. To provide state and local Election Officials with information they dont have. In terms of, doxxing we are working with the Department Justice and Law Enforcement partners certainly to get elected officials to report incidents like getting their personal information put out on the internet Election Officials have plans and be mindful of what they have on the internet. It is hard enough to get people to work on election day isnt it . I found that with the Precinct Committee in 54. To sit there for 12 hours or longer and get paid a decent sum of money but not a huge reward for their effort. Now they have these kinds of threats against these people and even threats that endanger their lives, it has to be even more difficult to recruit people. Is it not . I am hearing from college across the country that they are having difficulty finding election workers, yes. Let us go back to your testimony. You talked about the number of cases being prosecuted. I was told five but senator grassley referred to four. He said how difficult it is to really make a case, even when we have evidence we described this morning. Some of dilemma we face here. People do not want to work supervising elections and follow the law if they are tell me the dilemma we face. Here people dont want to work supervising elections and follow the law if theyre going to be harassed intimidated. I dont want them to be harassed and intimidated, but it is happening. So what is your task force doing about . It senator, let me just say that i certainly share and the department shares the concerns related to the Election Community that have been raised in the video far from miss freeman, in particular. It is very powerful testimony. The number of cases that the task force has charged today that is five. In addition there have been a number of state prosecutions. I believe the number is three. At the state level. What i can tell you is that the task force, over the last year, has been committed and in fact its conducted a review of every referral of a harassing and offensive communication that has perceived. That number is over 1000. And as i mentioned in my opening comments, senator, the overwhelming majority of those communications, although they haves are certainly harassing, and disturbing. In many cases the overwhelming majority of cases, they will not satisfy the Legal Standard that the First Amendment provides for proving a true threat. That is a serious threat of unlawful violence. What about doxxing . Is there anything that you are considering that would protect people like this Washington State director of elections from this kind of harassment and intimidation online . Certainly, senator. And again, part of this work of the task force is leaning in on enforcement as a tool. But it cannot be the only tool that we are utilizing. It is part of the reason why we are lifting a potential Grant Funding for Election Officials to provide security as necessary. Doxxing, as you said is certainly a very serious issue. And one of the aspects of the Task Force Work is, in addition to that assessment of each case for potential criminal prosecution, it is also assess for whether there is an imminent threat of physical violence. Let me ask, you before you go further, and i just have 15 seconds. Certainly. When we do a survey of Election Officials, most of them dont know you exist. What kind of communication are you sending out that might alert them to the possibility that you are there needed . This is been a tremendous amount of outreach to the Election Community, senator. Just as recently as monday, i was on a video call with over 600 members of the election committee. That is a third such outreach i have done. The task force itself has been involved in outreach with state and local prosecutors, state local Law Enforcement, members of the election communities such as a National Associations. And in fact, i will be speaking at the national serration with our annual conference at the end of this month. Im going to close my question by saying that senator grassley has raised an important question. Are there more important things that you can focus on. But if we lose the integrity of our election system that is over fundamental to our democracy, i dont know if we even have a Judiciary Committee all is said and done. Weve got to really look at the basics of the basics say, protector democracy, and protect the people who by and large are not making a fortune but are volunteering their time to make the Selection Process work. And for them to be intimidated to the point where they have dropped out of the picture or, god forbid, there are some results that dont reflect reality, that to me is fundamental to our democracy. I think you both, senator grassley. Im going to take off where the chairman just left off with the point of view that i think is very important that when we have violence against elections, Election Officials, it is probably pretty closely tied to a lot of problems we have within the society, including what you heard most of my Opening Statements about the rising crime and what we are doing about it. And are we doing enough about it. Now i am a big long lead into my first question that i am going to summarize because you heard a lot of what i would be repeating now in my opening statement. But in that opening statement, i referred to operation legend project safe neighborhoods. Now one of the websites of the department of justice in regard to project safe neighborhood, the fundamental of this work is not to increase a number of arrests or prosecutions, as if they were an end in themselves. And i think we have seen what the change in philosophy of a prosecution and letting people out have done. So it is very important to combat election violence. But why is it not just as important as my first question, to create a task force dedicated to leverage federal resources against historic murder rates . Mr. Pull eat. Senator, i welcome this question so thank you very much for raising it. My decision become a prosecutor in a very for first place was motivated by to fight Violent Crime. Like many of us i have suffered the my family has suffered the loss of a loved one due to Violent Crime. My father brother both Law Enforcement, so a lot of the issues that you are raising our very personal for me. We have a lot of prosecutorial priorities within the department of justice. Violent crime is at the very top of that. Today we are taught here to talk about one category of Violent Crime but when we talk about Violent Crime that we are seeing in our streets, and across our country, that remains at the top of the departments priorities, as well. But not as top is creating a task force for its like there is for crime against Election Officials, evidently. Senator, respectfully i would disagree with that. There have been a number of Strike Forces that have been established and announced by attorney general garland in some of the cities across this country that have reflected the highest rates of increases in Violent Crime. That is in partnership with atf. That is focused on deterring and addressing Violent Crime that is being perpetrated by the most culpable individuals in those respect to drastic. Shuns let me follow on where you just left off. Attorney general garland made statements to this committee indicating that the department of Justice Informed a task force on quote, safety of federal prosecutors Law Enforcement agencies, judge of, members of congress, and of quote. Back in march of 2021. It is not mentioned in any public facing statement by that department of justice and neither my staff nor the Congressional Research service has been able to confirm that it exists. Does this task force exist and will the department, or will the department create a dedicated task force dedicated to leveraging federal resources to combat the attack on Police Officers, and at the task force does exist where do we find that information . Senator, thank you very much for that question. I can certainly get more details to you related to the task force itself. What i can tell you though is that the impetus behinds that task force, protecting our law force personnel across this question, country, remains a high priority for me, the division, and all of the department. It is not limited to just the work of some particular task force, it is in fact the work of the entire department in our u. S. Attorneys and Law Enforcement partners on a daytoday basis. So far the department has been unwilling to prosecute those who intimidate Supreme Court justices in their homes even if the federal statute forbids this behavior. Will you change course and prosecute those who intimidate the justices . Senator, again, another example of a very high priority. Another idea another example of violence in our community adjust against anyone regardless of their title or status remains a priority for the department. Just recently the district of marylands u. S. Attorneys office, in fact, charged one of the individuals that was involved in unlawful serious threatening conduct at the home of one of our Supreme Court justices, in addition our attorney general has met with Law Enforcement, federal Law Enforcement, and has in fact charged the u. S. Marshals with providing additional security for all of our Supreme Court justices. Can i ask one more question . Last one. More directly towards this hearing. What resources, in terms of agency supporting numbers of staff and funding, have been directed to the elections threat, task force as a result of this use of scarce federal resources . How many individuals have been prosecuted for acts of physical violence against Election Officials . Thank you very much for the question, senator. We have charged five cases as part of the task force. As to any ongoing investigations, i cant comment as to the existence or nonexistence of additional investigations. Did that involve violence, criminal violence against the people . Those five cases all involved serious threats of on the lawful violence. Senator, feinstein. Thanks very much mister chairman. In my home state of california, i didnt believe this but election workers in chastina county have reported in creased threats to their safety and wellbeing. They have received threats that have alluded to the lynching were shooting of election workers, and on election day, they discovered that a camera had been planted near the Election Office to monitor the movements of election workers traveling to and from the office, putting at risk important personal information like the type of car they drive, and their license plate number. So i would like to ask assistant attorney general billy, how have the Justice Department, how has the Justice Department and the Election Threats Task force coordinated with states to protect Election Officials in both ongoing primary elections, and the general election later this year . Thank you very much for the question, senator. As you have highlighted through your question, coordination with our state and local partners is absolutely vital. Oftentimes we still see that the communications from members of the public and members of the Election Community first go not to federal officials but to those state and local officials. Those that they have worked with and us have established relationships with. Our outreach to the state and local officials, as a result, has been quite robust. It has included training for number those individuals on how to best report as quickly as possible those communications up to our task force so that they can be assessed for both physical threats, as well as for potential prosecution. So you are taking this seriously . As a real concern and hopefully can keep us advised of your progress. Absolutely, senator. Thank you very much. Thanks mister chairman. Senator, tillis. Thank you mister chairman and thank you both for being here. Several months ago we convened a working Bipartisan Working Group on things that we needed to do on election laws, here. We have one that is on the electoral count act. Another one that is referred to ask the enhanced Election Security and protection act. It is something that i think is necessary for us to increase penalties for people. I think in your case, the task force reviewed about 1000 cases. I think there are about 11 , 100 or so that were above the threshold that you could potentially seek prosecution. Mr. Pulley, do you think it is important for us to up the ante in terms of the penalties for people who are ultimately found guilty . Thank you, senator. And you are correct related to this statistic that you cited earlier. I am familiar with some of the legislative proposals that you referenced. I think any leverage that we can gain in terms of increasing the potential deterrence value of charges, of Enforcement Actions here, is absolutely critical. And so i certainly work look forward to working with you on this committee. Yes, mr. Polite i think it would be very helpful since we have now introduced the legislation, i think would be helpful to get an official position from the doj and exactly whether or not we have got it right or there are other things as we work through the process that we should take a look at. I would appreciate that feedback. I will commit to that, senator, thank. You miss feinstein thank you for being. Here and for your. Service i dont necessarily think that the challenges we have here know any ideology. I think there are people across the line on both sides, and that either end of the political spectrum. In your experience, would you agree with that based on your experience . Would you agree with that . Generally, yes. I have been a victim of doxxing. I have been a victim of Death Threats. Matteroffact, i just got one over the last week. Actually he was so intent he called up twice and said he was going to kill me. This is just unacceptable behavior. And for the election workers, i think we have to do more. So what specifically is cisa doing . I had one question that is, how much. Can you give me an idea. We talked about the case of the department of justice and the department of justice are looking at. Can you talk to me about how many cases you have been called on to assist with the election workers who have been victims of harassment . How many cases cisa has been called . On im not aware. Okay. What sorts of resources are you able to provide . Well, we have cybersecurity and physical protective security advisers out throughout the country as part of cisa and they are working directly with state and local Election Officials to help them, not only harden their cybersecurity defenses were really focus on the physical security of their Election Offices, their polling locations, ballots orange facilities, and so we are working to get the resources like physical security assessments that our advisers can come on site, walked through an Election Office and give them ideas of how they can make it more secure. We have guidance documents like Insider Threat documents in our guidance. And physical security checklist out the really proactively think of where the vulnerabilities might be and how they can mitigate them. Me mr. Polite, can you give me an idea of 11 of the. Well actually, have any of those been brought to trial . None have been brought to trial, senator. One has led to a conviction today. One has led to a conviction, the others remain open. You mentioned that you have the challenge where it is just mean but free speech which is probably what 89 of the cases were. Can you give me a characterization of some of the cases that you may ultimately bring to trial, of the hundred or so . Certainly, senator. I welcome that and again these are very disturbing types of threats that were made. For example, when we talk about the georgia case against defendants chance start, this was a post targeting several georgia officials and local Law Enforcement where he said that he was threatening to end the lives of these traitors and take back our country by force. Threaten to exterminate these people, and he threatened to put a bullet behind their ears. And again this is a case that involves victims from across the political spectrum. It sounds like he is a colleague of the person who left me to voice mail threats over the last week or so. I hope that they all get convicted and serve time. And i hope that we passed the Election Security protection act so that we can limit the damage. Thank you for your testimony. Thank you. Thank you senator tell us, senator whitehouse. Thank you all for being. Here we are gonna hear testimony in the next panel from michigan secretary of state that, and i, quote an unprecedented wave of continuous unrelenting harassment and threats has, and im quoting again. The threats are direct extension of the effort to spread false information about the security and accuracy of our elections. We are going to hear, i know for the prefile testimony, from the secretary of state in new mexico. The conspiracies about our voting and election systems have gripped a certain portion of the electorate and have cost people to take action. And we are going to hear from the executive director of the Colorado County association that the deeply held belief among some that our elections are not secure nor accurate, has manifested itself as harassment and outright threats on lives. What, how does doj see the linkage between the deliberate campaign of lies about the recent election, and violence and threats against election workers . Thank you, senator. Again, our focus is on serious threats of unlawful violence. We are sworn to protect our First Amendment rights of our communities, and so political speech is not our focus at all. It is when these threats constituted serious threats of violence, that becomes the focus of the work of the Election Threats Task force. Are false and fraudulent speech normally subject to legal consequences either civil or criminal . They could potentially, senator. But again, the focus of the task force itself is on serious threats of on the violence. Indeed, a campaign of lies by the Tobacco Industry was put to an end by the department of justice in a civil proceeding years ago, wasnt . I believe your recollection is correct, senator. That the prosecution or the civil case was successful. The Department Just as one. That successful judgment was upheld by the district. The United States court of appeals for the District Of Columbia and the United States Supreme Court denied. There was nothing unconstitutional about the departments action against that campaign of lives, was there . Senator, i take your question to highlight the fact that there are a number of potential tools that we should be bringing to bear to address these types of communications, these various serious thoughts of unlawful violence in our communities. What if there were a plan to propagate a fraudulent lie for the purpose of inciting threats to the larger end of compromising americas Election Integrity . With that pattern of facts be beyond the reach of the United States department of justice . Senator, i cannot speak to the existence of any potential investigations. Im not asking you to. Im asking you basically a legal question which is, if you had a plan that was designed to propagate a fraudulent lie, that had the intention of inciting threats against Election Officials, so s to interfere with the sanctity of american elections, as a matter of law would that be beyond the reach of the department of justice . We senator, we would certainly take that type of an allegation very seriously. It is a hypothetical but i can tell you, in that circumstance, as we do with all of our cases we would follow the facts on the law as appropriate. Well, we draft laws here. And this is the Judiciary Committee. So if there is a gap of some kind in american law that would prevent us from defending our elections in that way, from defending our election workers in that way, and for im defending against persistent and deliberate fraud in that way, i would ask you to bring that gap to our attention. Certainly, senator. I certainly look forward to working with you on those potential proposals. Including gaps in terms of resources related to providing Security Resources for the sElection Community. Yeah. Because if there is a plan, it is a slightly different thing than if it is just a random speech, isnt it . A planned security a planned conspiracy would be quite different, that is true. Thank you, chairman. Dickey thank you mister chairman. I thank you all for being with us. And i think the chairman is right when he says that there is no place for violence. In our society. And that is point that we can all agree on and we should agree on that. Miss wyman, it sounds like you all are putting a tremendous amount of your resources into helping to train, provide guidance, do assessments for election commissions. Is that correct . That is correct. And do you have 1 amount on that line item . I am sorry . Dollar amount. On the total budget, i do not know. I can tell you that the Election Security resiliency in that diary were quid have a 13. 2 Million Dollar budget in the president s budget. Okay, i would love to have that number. That you are spending with that local training. I think that would be interesting to see. Back in the 80s when my kids were little, i served on an election commission. And i always find a very insightful to be on my countys election commission. Mister police, looking at all of these resources that are being put into Election Security with, i would be interested to see what the Criminal Division is doing to help train that Law Enforcement on how to deal with the violations that we have seen against Supreme Court justices and what you all are doing their. I thought a very interesting, with tracking general garlands task forces, that there does not seem to be one. One that deals with the groups like james revenge, that have gone after the justices at their homes. And that is a violation of federal law. And they should be held to account for that. But that does not seem to be on the priority list. And i also have not seen any kind of work from the Criminal Division that they are going after many of these same groups who have chosen to attack crisis Pregnancy Test Centers or churches. And i think there have been 82 Violent Attacks against Crisis Pregnancy Centers and churches since roe v. Wade. That decision, in the dobbs case. I am i missing something . Have you all stood one up . And have just not made it public or is this not a priority . Senator, thank you again for the question. The fact of the matter is, it doesnt require a task force for us to be, for these types of cases to be priorities for us. What i can tell you, as i mentioned previously, is that very recently one of our u. S. Attorneys offices in maryland in fact charged a defendant with on lawful conduct at the home of one of our Supreme Court justices. I know that our attorney general carriers deeply about the security of us all. Particularly those who are in Public Service like yourself in our Supreme Court justices. It is part of the reason why he has leaned and with all of our Law Enforcement to increase security. And i heard you say earlier, it is just. We look at the task forces that are there. So then, what we have to do is say, why is the lack of attention on some of these recent attacks against justices, these recent attacks against Crisis Pregnancy Centers, and churches, why is that not something that you all talk about as a priority for your division . Me it seems as if theres one set that you are prioritizing and there is another set that you are saying is not of equal importance. And if you dont treat them equally, if you dont if youve got a task force for one, but not another, then the perception is that these crimes against the churches and the Crisis Pregnancy Centers me, that these are not important to you. We look at what is happening with drugs in our communities. Are you all putting resources into training local Law Enforcement about how to deal with these drug cartels . In tennessee, i am speaking with some of our sheriffs last week. I was in seven different counties on friday. One of their main issues is that open southern border in the fifth novel that is making it to their street. And they cant believe, doj knows these cartels have set up pubs on u. S. Soil. And they are running these drugs, they are running these gangs, they are running these sex track baking that is abusing women and children. But they dont go after those. So, i would just ask you to please take back equal treatment and recognition of what is happening to our justices, what is happening to our life centers, our churches, our Crisis Pregnancy Centers. What is happening in our communities with the impacts of drugs. That affects people every single day. And it is equally important and deserves the attention of doj and the ag. Thank, you mister chairman. Senator, could i just briefly respond . Senator, again, all of the types of matters that you raise our high priorities, not just for the Criminal Division before a Civil Rights Division and our Civil Divisions. Particularly on the issue of cartel trafficking, Cartel Activity in the state of tennessee, i can tell you that the Criminal Divisions organized crime and gang section has been quite active with all of the u. S. Attorneys offices in prosecuting and convicting very serious offenders that are members of organized crime organizations in your state. Senator hirono. Miss wyman, i agree with either free and Fair Elections are the hallmark of american democracy. So, i think the chairman for focusing todays hearing on elections integrity. In fact, we have had a primary election here in the states and i know that there are already some winners in the primaries who are saying that if they dont win the general election, it will be because they the election has been rigged. That creates an environment that is totally not conducive to Election Integrity. Not to mention, what happened on the conspiracy regarding what happened on january 6th. Tech and all the information and gender Six Committee is bringing to light. Ted mr. Pulley, mr. Polite this chart that i have, this is from you. Does this represent the thousand or so referrals that have come to the doj relating to threats against election workers . Senator, thank you for the question. The table that you have in front of you was produced in response to request for Additional Data by the election committee. It reflects some details related to the types of workers that have been targeted by some of these communications, weve a state, local, or vendors. And then the other table here reflects the mode in which those communications were actually transmitted, and you can see the percentages. Theyre so it doesnt tell us what kinds of threats have been lodged or sent to these various kinds of workers . The types of threats. Im sorry, the number . It doesnt tell us what the number is of the kinds of threats . Yes, senator. The sable doesnt reflect that. But i can share with you again that we have received over thousand referrals of harassing, offensive communications. And each and every one of those referrals has been refuted, reviewed by the task force for potential prosecution. We have thousands and thousands of election workers all throughout our country, and i guess that there has been all rise and all kinds of threats. Verbal, emails, all kinds of threats against our election workers. So the thousand referrals sounds like a very small number. What does it take for the doj to get a referral . Senator, the typical path for a referral is two different ways. One, we have had very robust outreach in the Election Community itself, providing to that community the Contact Information for both the fbi, and the u. S. Attorneys offices in their restrictive offices in they can make referrals there. When they have directed it to state or local Law Enforcement they have trained in their divisions that they should promptly refer those communications to the fbi for evaluation. The point im making is, by the time these referrals get to the fbi or doj, you pretty much have to be serious, a threat, right . Doesnt it account for all the kinds of her harassing phone calls, and on the street, senator . Those kinds of incidents do not result in referrals to an fbi or doj. I think not. It is a fair point, senator, what i can tell you, in any area of criminal investigations, underreporting is always a concern. But what we have tried to do is encourage the Election Community to come forward with any type of harassing or offensive communications, regardless of whether they evaluate it being. I think thats important. Because when i worked on the covid19 hate crimes act. I made it really clear that what we want to reporters, not just crimes, what would be a crime but it has to be hate incidents. And there probably are a lot of incidents that arent being reported. So we have a pretty good, a much more accurate sense of what kinds of environments election workers are working in. You mentioned that there is a whole of government effort, that is required for Election Security. So is part of that to just provide information to the public that harassing election workers is not okay . Is that part of what we see as an emission . For what we do . Thank you for the question, senator, we really focus on managing risks and giving guidance to Election Officials, but certainly, these are conversations that we are having with local and state officials, making them aware of the task force, and incidents of Law Enforcement. Im sorry, i have one question for miss lemon. 93 of captions are bella looted on paper. Do you think its important for all states to have ballots . This is important i think it is a good security measure and a check of balances. Yes. Thank you. Thank you senator renault, senator lee. Thank you mister chairman. Thank you for being here for answering a questions, mr. Polio, id like to start with you. Your written testimony, you referenced amounting and persistent threats to have safety to Election Officials and workers across the country. And you described this, i believe, as the justification for the creation of the Election Threats Task force just over a year ago. Can you also explain that the vast majority of complaints are not crimes because of what you described as robust, the robust protections of the First Amendment . This is in fact our system operating. There are things that people say, people may or may not like, but theyre usually protected if theyre just speaking words. And those words themselves dont amount threats or other criminal conduct. That may be protected by the first minute. You also described the fact that it appears from your Briefing Since the inception of the task force, weve gotten about 1000 complaints, right . That is correct sir. Thousand complaints, and as i understand, it was just over 100 of those 1000, so about one in ten of those, that were deemed worthy of investigation. Is that also correct . That is correct, senator. And of those 100 out of 1000 that have been investigated, how many of those have been prosecuted by our office . To date, senator, we have prosecuted five defendants. Five defendants, of those five defendants, one, as i understand, it was a prosecution that had begun previously or outside the scope of the task force, is that also accurate . I believe you may be referring to the michigan charge, which was the first one, the charge by the department of justice. That is correct. So, youve got five prosecutors, out of 1000 complaints, and 100 investigated. What efforts are being made to ensure that your investigations arent having any undue effect on the killing of the First Amendment protected activity. Thank you senator, and again, we certainly embrace the scope of our First Amendment protections and political speeches, as you are outlining earlier. That is part of the reason why the work of the task force has been so significant. It involves reviewing each and every one of those communications, to see if it actually satisfies the very high bar that is set by or courts. But, here you are doing, that i that makes a lot of sense. Of those prosecutions, the five that you mentioned, how many of those involve actual physical acts of violence or contact made, as opposed to threatening language . Of those five, senator, all involve serious threats and unlawful violence. Is the one that involves physical contact, that someone actually uses force, or are all five of them threats of physical violence . Off of it. Thats of those prosecutions, how many couldve been brought under state law . I assume that, from those i read, i read through the briefings of each of those, as you submitted into written testimony. It appears to be, each one of those involved multiple violations of law. Some involve multiple violations of federal law. I would imagine that each of them would be state laws. Is that fair to say . It is quite possible, senator, it is not impossible that it could be possible cued in multiple jurisdictions. Going through this it makes me wonder, what exactly amounts to the persistent threat that the department felt compelled to create a task force, specifically for this. , where in a year, youve gotten 1000 complaints, hundred worthy of investigation, five worthy of prosecutions. Where especially, it appeared to me on the face of it, each of those cases, they wouldnt also have been prosecuted under state law in the absence of federal action. It probably at the sorts of things that wouldve been prosecuted in the normal course of business. At the federal level in appropriate cases. And so, it makes you wonder, whether the task force is necessary or relevant other things. The concern is not whether theyre doing this task force, its whether this task force can take away other priorities for other crimes. As the department of justice creates a task force, for example unprovoked attacks on Police Officers . Again, senator, the fact that the Election Threats Task force exists, part of its fundamental role in coordination with state and local Law Enforcement officials, a number of those cases have also been charged by state jurisdictions as well. I understand. I do worry about, that we had 25 unprovoked attacks on Law Enforcement officers in 2021. Up from just to years before. 133 ambusher tax on police. Or relative to the Previous Year where 60 officers were shot. In these attacks. As far as federal crimes of the members of the judiciary, under section 15 07 of title 18 of the u. S. Code, federal law prohibits operating outside of a corduroy judges residents with the intent of interfering with them, instructing, or obstructing the justice. Or intent of influencing the judge, juror, witness, or court officer. Protesters outside the justices homes since the may second leak of the draft opinion in the dobbs case have not been shy about their intent to intimidate and otherwise influence court justices. Particularly, those listed, and those believed to be the draft majority opinion that were leaked. To my knowledge, not a single charge has been brought under section 15 07. You mentioned in your testimony, u. S. Forces katelyn johns, which i agrees a disturbing case that needed to be prosecuted, are you aware of a similarly disgusting and also much more persistent attack on Justice Kavanaughs wife and children . And what about similar threats against Justice Barrett and her children . And all of this to say, nothing of the fact that we had an assassination attempt on Justice Kavanaughs life. We shouldnt have to have an assassination attempt to understand the gravity against members of the judiciary. But meanwhile we how groups like ruth sent us and james revenge, who are openly publishing these jumps to pass. Distributing information about their children. Where they go to school. Resulting in threats and attacks on them. My point here is i hope within the department you are being fair. I would ask within the department that you are looking out for how many of those cases are being investigated and prosecuted. And if you have a task force of this conduct, task force receiving 1000 complaints, 100 investigations, resulting in a total of five prosecutions, i would hope that you would have a few, to look at violations of 18 oh seasicks geno seven. Thank you. Senator, if i may respond very quickly le pen the preorder of the threats against anyone, its vital. What i can tell you is our attorney general has announced Additional Resources for Marginal Service in order to protect a Supreme Court justices. And addition, very recently, our u. S. Attorneys office and the district of maryland has charged a defendant related to unlawful conduct that is being conducted in front of the home of one of those Supreme Court justices. We dont operate purely through task forces in terms of the priorities of our division or our department. Senator ossoff le pen thank you mister chairman. And thank, you for your testimony. I want to note by how weak and persuade unprepared and offering today the offering waters. And offering the suggestings. Federal department of justice, the protection of our electoral processes institutions on workers is not a vital mission, and core, essential to the functioning of our democracy. Absolutely worthy of highlevel attention in the department. And the department of justice, mitch starr term tim judiciary. Filing officials. Organizing Violent Crime, and, to coordinate the robust protection of our nations electoral processes. And i find it necessary, having heard the commentary from our colleagues today, to remind my colleagues of what happened in georgia. Where amidst Donald Trumps endless barrage of lies, some of them amplified by members of this body, as he sought to hold on to power by any means necessary, republican Election Officials in georgia, or warning that it constituted a threat to the lives of election workers. The House Committee heard a couple weeks ago from two election workers describing threats of lynching they receive of doing their jobs to carry a free and Fair Elections in this country. So i am astounded mister chairman that our colleagues on the senate Judiciary Committee with the opportunity to hear from two senior officials about what theyre doing to protect the integrity of our election processes are instead diminishing the threat, or suggesting that this is not an appropriate use of federal resources. Now with that said, i would like to ask you, mister pulley, about what specific steps you are taking to ensure that the facilities and personnel will be administering elections in my state of georgia, and other state across the country where there is buying an elevated level of that against election workers and facilities to ensure that these midterms are carried out, in a way that ensures the will of the american people. It is manifest, no matter what their bat will favors one party or another, at the ballot box, without violence or threats of violence disrupting the process. Thank you senator. I am mindful, but one of thecharged cases for us relates to the conduct in a state of georgia. Against defendant chad stark. I cited earlier some of the disturbing threats made by that defendant. Against a number of Election Officials, that spanned the political spent from in your state. Including language such as, that he threatened to put the bullet behind the ears of a number of these officials. What i can tell you that the elections that task force is taking this conduct very seriously. Our outreach to the Election Officials community has been extensive, it has been robust, it is been ongoing, it will continue to be amplified. I myself will be conducting additional outreach directly related to the National Association of Election Officials at the very end of this month. What we have left it up to them, our best practices, relating to how to best memorialized threats that we receive, and how best to report those threats going forward. In addition, we have lifted up Additional Resources that are available to them. Be it barn jack dollars, or helping american vote, grant act dollars that can be used to help protect officials and their staff and their from leagues as we prepare for the next election cycle. Thank, you i introduced last year the election worker pulling in protection act, to strengthen these laws that facilitate these laws for free and Fair Elections in the u. S. Can you comment on the importance, from your perspective, showing that not just those personnel who are working the polls, either in a staff or voluntary basis, but also in the facilities and that includes miss wyman for your perspective the Software Hardware and Digital Infrastructure that the facilities approves took and causing them as minors. All significant ortiz, and proposing the legislations we look forward to working with your committee on that. Thank you. Thank you that is exactly the work were doing with election facials across the country is helping them with violence and tools not only to secure a bear advisers come on float and walk through the facilities to make sure those secure and having response plans in place so that they know that were spawned of there is a threat of [interpreter] violence or something in a polling location or Election Office. And really just doing last mile products where were targeting local Election Officials that are medium and small sized jurisdictions to Incident Response plans. So that they can have phone numbers and phone clients at each desk. Were working hard to prepare that for the next election. Senator thank you mister chairman. Your chart reflects the threats to election workers that come from social media, 26 here. The Brennan Center actually has reported 95 of Election Officials blame social Media Companies are allowing their platforms to pedal outright lies and conspiracy theories and other kinds of threats. Namely two in the. Election Officials Say that this false information makes a job more dangerous. First let me thank you both for your excellent work on this issue, and your dedication to protecting those election workers. And then to ask you, how severe you regard the threat posed by this misinformation, disinformation, malinformation, and be am on social media and what can be done about it . Thank you senator. As the charter of slacks social media platforms have been a significant method of communication, of transmitting these types of communications, and it is part of the reason why this task force, in addition to its outreach in the Election Community, as well as our state and Law Enforcement partners includes outreach to a number of those social media operators. For their assistance, for their support. This type of case, is one that not be done in isolation. We also need the assistance of those social media platforms quite frequently. In detecting, in reporting those Communications Going forward. Miss wyman . Yes. Since we really have a Risk Management based approach, we try to build resilience within the American Public. Making them aware that malign actors use malinformation to undermine peoples confidence in our elections and try to, quite frankly, put americans against each other and sow discord. So we create products that try to illustrate how these tools are used against americans and we also work with our state and local partners to create resources to give Election Officials waste ways to mitigate that. Do you think social media is doing enough on its own to stop the misuse of its platform . Again, we work within them to manage risk and make them aware of what we are seeing in the Election Community. And the social Media Companies use their own roles and terms of service to mitigate. They have huge resources, are they doing enough . I dont know that there ever is going to be enough that we can do. I have been in this profession for 30 years and i have never seen this level of feedback, if we will, about an election this far after an election that is targeting Election Officials in the way that it has been since 2020. So im not sure that there is enough that anyone can do. General . I agree with my colleague. Senator, there is more to be done by all of us, frankly, including the social media platforms and detecting and ultimately transmitting these threatening communications to Law Enforcement as quickly as possible. I know you are low reluctant to pass judgment on social Media Companies but part of the encouragement they need is for Public Officials to speak up and urge them to do more. And clearly, as you observed, there is more that they can and should do. They have the resources, the access, the knowledge, and the power. To do more. I hand the American Public, including Law Enforcement officials like yourself, urging them to do more. Demanding them to do more. I think this is part of their solution. So i would perhaps encourage you to be in the department of justice to be more robust in what you are requesting of them. Thank you senator. And again, we have had significant outreach, very direct conversations with a number of those companies and my commitment to you is that outreach and level of communication will continue to be a priority for the task force. Thank you. Thanks mister chairman. I want to begin by just echoing some of the comments made a few minutes ago by senator ossoff. And just to discuss, with our colleague, some of these members of our committee to many minimize this and stress the magnitude of the threats to our democracy that we are discussing here today. But in the spirit of the second part of senators message to make sure that we are maximizing the time, the talents, of the witnesses before us and proceed to, of my questions really the areas that i want to get to, the first is for mr. Polite. In an era where election workers rightfully fear that their under increased threat from an election denier and others who may wish them harm, it is critical that the federal government demonstrate that they are ready to respond to the election committees concerns and doing that as youve heard from others requires adequate allocation of resources to the problem. I know when i was serving a secretary of state for california, a lot of the things that became normal practice was made through diffusion centers and its a status because california there would be more than one or two to make sure that its not just federal agencies, and state agencies but across state agencies and across federal agencies. My questions specific to the u. S. Attorneys office is, in each of the offices across the country, and fbi field offices, is there use of an attorney and special agent specifically to the task, that we are responding to . Or coordinating response to concerns raised about election threats . Yes, senator, this is not an issue, this is not a problem that we can solve exclusively from washington, it requires coordination with local and state officials. And it certainly requires coordination with each of our u. S. Attorneys offices and our fbi field offices. What we have in each u. S. Attorneys office is what is called a district Election Officer that is a trained specialized prosecutor on these types of election related crimes. And then, in each of the 56 fbi field offices, there is also an election crimes coordinator, again, specialized agent focused on these types of offenses. That is great to hear, and for the public to hear, yep as a followup to that question whether its in each of these offices or in the task forces, national or local are the individuals involved specifically assigned to this elections threat related work . Or are they taking this election threat related work in the addition to other duties and responsibilities . It is oftentimes, i would, say in an overwhelming majority of these cases, these u. S. Attorneys offices have additional these u. S. Attorney officials have additional collateral responsibilities within the office. Their focus is on the election related crimes broadly defined. So they are members of this Election Threats Task force. But any election related events that may come forward, and be referred to the u. S. Attorneys office for prosecution, those u. S. Attorneys, are oftentimes involved as well. Thank you. Miss wyman, good to see you again. You as well. As you know i previously served as californias secretary of state, and therefore californias chief Election Officer. And i, along with, you learned that cisa was a critical partner in helping us achieve, im gonna brag a little bit here, in california, more californians participating in 2020 than any election previously. And i did so safely. When they went to cast their ballots. That is why i really hope that their collaboration between cisa and state and local elections, these partners are continuing to do. Im sure you benefited when you wear washington secretary of state, but now youre on the other side of the table. And can you describe, from this point of view, cisas a level of engagement with state and local officials, on the issue of addressing and responding to election threats and whether there is any barriers to collaboration that this committee or congress can help address . Senator, thank you for that question. By the way washington also had a high turnout in 2020. I structured turnout, not that we are competitive. Since it really is focusing on trying to, first and foremost, make Election Officials at the state and local low level aware of the department of justice is doing in this space, and aware of the services that are available not only by our agency but by other federal agencies, we are doing this by going out to election conferences, working with our protective Service Advisers and cybersecurity advisers located across the country, you know, Infusion Centers often, and really just trying to get that white out so Election Officials know not only to report immediate threats, because that, as the senator earlier mentioned, that is part of the problem. We are reporting all of the facts that are out there. But also knowing that we can work with the state and local, or state and federal Law Enforcement partners to secure their election systems. And people. If there is anything else this committee can do to be of substance please dont hesitate. Including, as senator blumenthal mentioned, Additional Resources. Thank you. Senator curtis . Thank you mister chairman. Welcome to the witnesses. Mr. Wyman polite, im highly concerned that the department of justice you discussed how there is a party focused on elections and i recognize that there is a political focus on that. Although as youve told the committee out of 1000 complaints produced a total of five prosecutions, none of which involve violence, and all of the five or based on pets. Serious threats of violence should be investigated, should be prosecuted. However, in the weeks after the dobbs opinion was leaked, Pregnancy Centers in portland oregon, virginia, austin, texas, and frederick, maryland, were targeted and vandalized. Violent extremist groups, genes revenge, took credit for firebombs, of Crisis Pregnancy Centers, in madison, wisconsin, in amherst, new york, in buffalo, new york, in des moines, iowa, and aggression, oregon. More recently, centers in north carolina, and in washington d. C. , just 500 yards from where youre sitting right now, covered with red paint, were egged, and were graffitied with pro abortion radicals. As of july 22nd there had been at least 82 Violent Attacks against prolife institutions, including churches and Crisis Pregnancy Centers. Despite these very real threats and Violent Attacks against Pregnancy Centers, doj insisted, instead, underlie 12th, said by special, quote, Reproductive Rights Task force. Not to protect Pregnancy Centers, but instead to advocate the political agenda of thiS Administration, of expanding unlimited abortion on demand. I have zero doubt that of prolife supporters were vandalizing and fire bombing abortion clinics across the country, doj would declared a national emergency. And you might as well send out the national guard. But because your politics, and agents who worked with, happen to agree with the vandals, there had been no task force and no priority. Why is that . Senator, respectfully, i believe we agreed that politics cannot, and should not, play any role in the investigative and prosecutorial decisions of the department of justice. We take very seriously any incidents of violence that occur within this country. I can tell you that those incidents that you are reflecting upon, if they are ultimately being considered by the department of justice, they will be taken hold on a second if theyre being considered you dont know, sitting here today, after being considered . Senator, a number of these incidents are a focus of not just the Criminal Division but the Civil Division as well as our Civil Rights Division. Is there a task force . Senator, it doesnt take a task force to have a prioritized know of combatting violence across this country have any cases been brought . Senator i cannot count on the existence of any current or pending investigations at this time but if youre commenting on the existence of whether meets a political priorities at the white house, let me ask a different question. Simultaneously, while violent theresa meaning Pregnancy Centers, we have also had protesters at the homes of Supreme Court justices, night after, night, overnight. And i believe protesting at someones home, where you spell sleeps where children sleep is inherently threatening. Is designed to be threatening. And we know the violent rhetoric with the encouragement of democratic members of congress resulted in at least one deranged of individual traveling from california to maryland, to attempt to murder justice kavanaugh. Now, as it so happens, congress has addressed this issue, past csection issue 15 07 making it crimes to protest at the home of a Supreme Court justice. While a case is pending. Night after night after night, these protesters come committing federal crimes on national television. Why has the department of justice refused to enforce 18 usc section oh 57. Senator, very simply, the u. S. Attorneys office in maryland are in fact has prosecuted a defendant for unlawful conduct in front of the home of one of our Supreme Court justices. So one person . To date, there has been one prosecution. And what about the hundreds of others . All of whom who have violated the law and the face of it is not complicated the law is very clear. Why the department of justice pick and choose what laws to enforce . Which criminalized to enforce . And why does it seem to exactly follow the pattern of the partisan preferences of the Biden White House . Again, senator, politics should not play and does not play any role in our prosecutorial decisions. What i will also add is that our attorney general has increased the u. S. Marshal services, resources, that but [inaudible] under section 15 07, why have there been no others . Senator, does the department believe this is unconstitutional . And if so, why are you refusing to [inaudible] respectfully, i disagree that weve chosen not to enforcement. Theres been one prosecution out of hundreds. What about the others . Senator again. I cannot comment on the current status of potential investigations in this area. Final question, was the one prosecution referenced a 15 07 prosecution or was it Something Else . I dont believe it was under that statute. So you havent bought a single one. Again, i believe the conduct that settled for was the focus of the prosecution. I think you need to follow the law. There are no foreigner further senator seeking questions. Political violence and inference of any cause is unacceptable. I condemn all violence and threats and violence in the strongest possible terms. Regardless of whether it comes from the right or the left. What their targets election workers, judges, a lot enforcement officers or other Public Officials. Unfortunately, abortion providers and Reproductive Health care clinics have long been the targets of violence, threats, harassment, and intimidation. According to the fbi, actors motivated by anti choice beliefs, have historically perpetuated the most lethal attacks, and also commit the majority of nonviolent criminal actions when it comes to attacks of reproductive rights. Assaults directed at abortion clinics increased 100 and 28 . In 2021 compared to 2020. Beyond this search surge of assaults, the study documented the 600 increase in stalking, 63 increase in murdering, 54 increase in vandalism, 100 and 63 in hoax devices or suspicious packages, 80 increase in bomb threats, 100 and 28 increase in invasions, including instances in which protesters forcefully entered critic clinics. And also Death Threats and eight calls. We know fbi investigating attacks and following the overturning of roe v. Wade has been working with local Law Enforcement. We need to take seriously all these violent threats. And i might add that this committee has passed legislation, senate to the floor, which provided Additional Resources to protect all federal judges, after a terrible incident occurred in new jersey. That major has been on the floor for weeks at a time, it is being held up by one senator from the republican side. That is a fact. We are trying our best to put the resources to protect our judges. We need cooperation on both sides of the aisle to achieve that. I will close by saying, as important as all of these issues of violence are, the nature and purpose of this hearing was to address the undermining of the integrity of the election system. I have to think that is fundamental to. And it goes to the heart of our constitution for a government. I now think the panel for their testimony, you may receive some written questions. I hope you can respond in a timely way. Thank you very much. I asked the staff to second set up the second panel for their testimony as well. I am going to start reading the biographies of our members on the second panel so that we can keep im going to start reading the biographies of our members on the second panel. So that we can keep moving this along. Starting with joscelyn benson michigans 43rd secretary of state expert on civil rights law, education law, previously University Law school in detroit. Maggie to lose all of our, new mexicos 26th secretary of state, before 2016 election, she served for more than a decades county clerk in new mexico. Amy cohen, executive director of nasa, the National Association of state election directors, professional organization representing non partisan officials who administer elections. F crane, executive director of the county clerks association. Hes republican, so does election 21 years, including serving for 2013 to 2018, as the elected clerk and recorder for rap and i now turn to senator grassley to introduce his witnesses. Mike hearst served as u. S. Attorney for the Southern District of mississippi. In 2017 to 2021. He was unanimously confirmed. Previously he served eight years as an assistant u. S. Attorney. And the director of the mississippi justice instituted a general counsel, that the mississippi senator for public policy, as u. S. Attorneys mr. Hearst increased prosecutions and the district by 100 and 78 . He launched project a jacked, the department of justice projects safe neighborhood initiative, to help reduce Violent Crime. Hes now a partner at phelps dunbar. Rachel miguels [inaudible] and head of research for the policing and Public Safety initiative at the manhattan institute, and a contributing editor of city journal. He has written articles on criminal justice for many publications. Wall street journal, new york post, new york times, washington post, philadelphia inquirer. His book came out last week with the title, criminal injustice. With a push for decursory shun, and policing goes wrong. And who it hurts most. Jason johnson served as Deputy Commissioner of the Police Department from 2016 and 2018. Before that he was a Police Officer if George County for 18 years, reaching the rank of major. He also served as assistant commander, special investigation division, and commander of the office of legal affairs, and internal divers division. Hes currently the president of Law Enforcement Legal Defense fund. Mr. Manuel, mr. Hearst, mr. Johnson, we thank you very much for your service and testifying today. If you cannot please rise. You swear from the testimony youre about to give that this is the truth, the whole, truth and nothing but the truth. Let the record reflect, the panel has answered in the affirmative, and now they are permitted to speak. We start with miss spencer. Thank you. Make sure your microphone is on. Thank you, chairperson durban. Thank you chairperson durban. Senator grassley, members of the committee. As my responsibility is to ensure our elections are accessible, safe, secure, and results arent reflection of the well of the people. This is not a partisan role, and despite it being an elected position it is not a political role but it is a role that increasingly forces us to endure threats, harassment, false and malicious attacks on our character, integrity, and sometimes even violence. Im here today because we need your help. We cannot have a secure democracy if we do not protect the security of the people who administer our elections. And right now, we are facing an unprecedented wave of continuous unrelenting harassment and threats. During these threats, it creates a constant strain of anxiety and strength on our work. The status quo is unsustainable and on acceptable. Ive experienced these threats firsthand. One night, in december 2020, i was about to put my son to bed, when dozens of individuals descended upon our home. Growing in numbers over the course of an hour, they stood outside my front door, waking my neighbors, shouting ups and these, and graphic threats into bullhorns. To this day, these images and this memory of that evening still haunts me. This was not the first nor was it the last time. Sometimes a group of people showed up at my home, or threatened me, my staff, or many of the other hundreds of local Election Officials in the state. There was an omnipresent feeling of anxiety and dread that permeates our daily lives. And those of our families. Not long ago my son standing in a driveway picked up a stick, turned to me and said, dont worry, mom if the bad guys come again ill get them with this. He is six years old. Some of these incidents have been reported and drawn the attention, when you have. Not from tina barton she received a voice mail with explicit language threatening her family. Janice whitney was sent photos of a dead body with text to imagine that that body has her daughter. Other clerks beyond michigan have told countless horror stories, local officials from Political Parties, on both sides, endure threats to both staff and these thats are not limited to staff, they also involve attempts to criminalize the basic work of local Election Officials. We are threatened with the rest for simply doing our jobs. For educating citizens about their right to vote or we are inundated with burdensome and nonsensical, unnecessary demands for information and securing election equipment. One in three Election Officials report feeling unsafe on a regular basis and more than half here for the safety of their colleagues and future elections. And this is why we need your help. I am grateful that a group of your colleagues have reached bipartisan agreement on forms of the electoral contact but that is not enough. Imposing stronger penalties on those who threaten or harm anyone with Election Administration is an important step as is extending for the personal information of Election Officials that is considered extended to federal judges. The bottom line is we need you to act because theyre failing to do what is necessary to protect us. For months, local Election Officials and i have pleaded with law officials to protect us, even ones that are levied at us and our families. Despite months of specific requests and a Budget Surplus they have failed to offer anything to protect us. So you, as National Leaders can do something to demonstrate that you are willing, not just to protect all of us but to protect democracy. Like many colleagues i have spent my career defending and protecting the right to vote of every eligible citizen. That commitment has never wavered and it will not waver narrow. But we need you to share that commitment with us to pass additional protections now before it is too late. Thank you to your testimony. Mr. Hearst . Of this comm thank you, miste, mr. Grassley, other members of the committee, i want to testify on this topic. Aligning the federal prosecutor, for almost a decade before, including i hope i can provide some insights on this subject to protect the democracies from these workers. That i can say on equivocally, that no one should be threatened. But if someone is threatened, lot enforcement should respond appropriately. Investigate such threats and bring those to justice. Who violated our criminal laws. That being said, as american citizens we must question whether our department of justice should be focusing its precious time and finite resources on threats against election workers when, in my opinion, there exists a much more dire crisis affecting the American Public and that is the rising Violent Crime surging throughout our country. Considering that the department of justices task force was created just over a year ago to it address threats of Election Officials, has produced only five cases, in over 1000 referrals, it has to be asked, why this issue is such a priority for this department considering that over the past two years in 2020 and 2021, we have seen more than 6000 additional people murdered in the United States, compared to 2019. But there is hope. The department of justice has provided much needed leadership in the past, and can do so again today. Declining car mates, our nation began to see an uptick in Violent Crime in 2013. In 2017, then attorney general Jeff Sessions and later attorney general william barr, began implementing policies to tackle a lot of crime head on. Including really invigorating project legend among others. Leadership, a successful implementation of these and many other programs, the nation experienced three consecutive years from 2017 to 2019 oh the declining Violent Crime. First let me mention thats an initiative that brings together all levels of Law Enforcement, prosecutors, Community Leaders and other stakeholders, in order to identify, address, and reduce Violent Crime. In individual communities. And led by our attorneys officers throughout the nation. Shortly after being sworn in for the u. S. Attorney, i launched in the city of jackson mississippi, our new project initiative called project egypt which stands for empower jackson expel crime together. Focusing not just on prosecuting officials but also conducting outreach in our communities. And. Helping to reduce cynicism among defenders we began to make a real difference in jackson. In the first year project reject a 7 reduction in crime. 100 new people did not become victims of Violent Crime that year. Sadly, jackson as recently experienced a resurgence in Violent Crime, becoming the motor capital of america. In 2021. It had 155 homicides, the highest murder rate per capita in the nation, more than three times higher than chicagos, mr. Chairman, which had the most martyrs overall in 2021. Another effective strategy previously implemented by dojs operate legend, which was mentioned by grassley. Launched by 2021 in kansas missouri a temporarily reassigned surged and federal Law Enforcement into cities that works fencing significant and worsening Violent Crime. In the First Six Months of its operation, over nine cities, doj arrested more than 6000 violent criminals including almost 500 murder suspects. More than 2600 firearms, confiscating kilograms of the fentanyl, methamphetamine, cocaine heroin and 11 million in drug proceedings. In the cities where this implemented, operation germany the most Important Role of government is protecting citizens. In the doj can once again lead in this arena. Powering the Department Must quickly reprioritize these goals, redirect these resources, and proving programs that have reduced Violent Crimes and save lives and expeditiously act in order to prevent the next person from becoming a victim of Violent Crime. Working with Law Enforcement as well as a citizen of the stakeholders doj can once again reduce crime and make a positive difference in the crime and communities. Thank you mr. Hearst. Mr. Oliver . Good morning, members of the committee. Thank you for having me today to discuss and organize this hearing on how we can protect our nations Election Administrators. Election administration in the u. S. Is conducted at the state county at local levels. Civil servants and volunteers who do their duty every day, for the good of our democracy. This work is vital to how we elected leaders and organize our way of life. But its legitimacy is being that and. Election administration might seem somewhat simple from the voters perspective. Registers fill out a ballot a couple times a year view those ultimate thats pretty much it. Conducting elections however is a complex continual process with highly technical components, that sheer accuracy and results and security. Software vote tabulation machines, the distribution of secure ballot drop boxes, or the use of mail ballots have become the foundation of false narratives, that call into question the integrity of our entire democratic process. Our nations election workers have been caught in the cross fire. And have themselves become the targets of harassment and threats. Lies and misinformation about how americas elections are run and about the people who run them, proliferated to an unprecedented degree it since 2020. Among the significant portion of the country, the continuous drumbeat of these lies has created an atmosphere of distrust in our elections and in our Election Officials. Of, course the wild conspiracy theories about our elections that began with the big lie of 2020 are not true. No one has ever produced a credible shred of evidence to produce them. But the consequences of these lies have real world impacts, especially for those who are Election Officials. A recent poll of 600 Election Officials found that more than half were concerned about the colleague safety with more than one and three, saying they know a colleague was quite because of safety concerns. For people who believe their government is corrupt and their leaders are not legitimate, threats have of physical violence and imitation have sadly begun to seem like acceptable responses. In new mexico, the conspiracies about our voting and election system sets caused certain individuals to act on those wild theories. During the 2020 election cycle, i was doxxed, my life was threatened, and i had to leave my home for weeks under state Police Protection. My office has since used services for both me and my members, me and members of my staff, that prevent dachshund by scrubbing personal identifying information from the internet. Since 2020 my office has experienced social media trolling aggrieved emails and calls and other communications that parents the misinformation circulating nationwide. More recently since or june primary election my office has experienced poignant and specific threats, serious enough to be referred to Law Enforcement. In june, for example, they were threatening phone calls and emails against me, referred to the fbi for investigation. These came after my office directly began combatting election misinformation through a new website, and shortly after a nationally published situation in new county mexico. s where the county commission motivated by the same misinformation we are seeing around the country, initially refused to certify the primary election results, almost causing a breakdown who made the growth. My office had to venn seal the commission, in our state Supreme Court to compel them just to perform their simple legal duty. Growing distrust about our election system leads to either apathy or indignation. Both of which are detrimental to our entire system of government. For the Election Officials and volunteer poll workers that our elections depend on, i fear that the threats and harassment will cause them so much stress and uncertainty that they will simply give up the work. For voters, i fear the flood of misinformation will compel them to lose trust in the system and they will no longer participate in our democracy. Federal and state Law Enforcement agencies are taking these thats seriously and are diligently investigating them and for that we are very thankful. We must show the public that threats against Election Officials will not be tolerated. However, legal action is the last line of defense. We will not stop such threats until the lives stop, the rotor gets washed ill parties find better ways to come together and educate the public about the realities of how our elections are conducted unsecured. The federal government can help state election workers by providing resources to be used in the production of Election Officers and personnel. For example information projection like tech on my offices employed to protect, myself and other staff. I hope my testimony is helpful for the testimony and your future, work thank you, again and i look forward to your questions. Thank you miss oliver. Mr. Manuel, did i pronounced that quickly . You did, senator, thank you. Proceed. Members of the committee. I would like to begin by thanking you all to address this distinguished body and im gonna focus on an incredibly important of response. The issue of the recent rise of serious Violent Crime. After peaking in the 90s, serious Violent Crimes like murder, have been solved and decline shirt, National Level for the 2010s. As ive written elsewhere what has become to be known as the great climb represents the greatest achievements in american history. That decline absolutely transformed my home city of new york into one of the most dynamic cities in the world. Many saw similar transformations. Unfortunately, those games seem to be address. In 2015 and 16, homicides increased by 10. 8 and 7. 9 respectively, and after leveling off a few years, on the sides spiked 25 to 30 . Which they reported was the single largest spike since at least 1905 and possibly ever. Would a calm while a comprehensive national count does not yet released indications that the National Homicide rate increased again, in 2021. Now, while 2020 saw the largest homicide spike in the record, Overall Index crimes and aggregation beat these in the fbi were down seemingly creating diversions in homicide specifically and crime generally. However it is important to note that overall crime measures might have actually mask what was a more serious problem, thanks to the pandemic changes and peoples routine activities that caused them to spend more time at home and last time in public spaces. Indeed, some analysts found that when controlling for the amount of time people actually spend outside, the data in some cities revealed that ones risk can be victimized can actually go up in 2020 even in the crime categories that saw overall decreases. Analyzing for traffic, resources, in the university of pennsylvania Naval Postgraduate School found bad quote people in public spaces were 15 to 30 more likely to be robbed or assaulted study, and each of the citiese analyzing the study, new york, los angeles, chicago, these indexes are up in the first half of july. Some of the media have cautioned against making too much of these elevated crumbles. By highlighting while series violence did indeed spike in 2020 it remains elevated, and things are much worse than the early 1990s. This is true on the National Level, but not true for Many Americans the major cities. Philadelphia believe that indianapolis and columbus and austin and tucson santa and oligarchy slater baton rouge of region malarkey and memphis, tennessee, all set homicide records in 2021. Others in 2020, cincinnati, jacksonville, denver, cleveland, jackson, wichita, greensboro, lansing, and colorado springs. St. Louis set a new record for homicide rate in 2020 which will be reported in louisiana, the tulsa, oklahoma, dangerously close to the alltime homicide records. In 2020. In the wall street journal last, year chicago, Fort Worth Texas would all have to go back 25 used to see homicide tallies comparable to what they were seeing them. Now, as troubling as this statistics ive made mentioned thus far sounds, factional citywide rates asked this reality that we should consider in the issue of Violent Crime. Which is that victimization is hyper concentrated, both geographically and demographically. Which means a small slice of our countries bearing the brunt of what is our biggest social problem. To illustrate this point consider the following. In a given year, 2 of u. S. Counties see murders. While 60 dont see a single murder. The rate for the ten most up to 60 of the thousand. 131,000. 5 of street thousands of seeing crime in the 4 of the street segments in the Violent Crimes trending in the referring to the criminal literature as a lot of cramming concentrations. It has been observed in the cities around the world. Demographically in new york, madam over 90 of the while shooting black and hispanic every year. We have data going back to at least 2008. They did not make up near 95 of the population. In chicago, a recent study of gun violence by the university of Chicago Crime Lab found black people constitute a percent 29 of the city. When it spiked in 2020, it actually declined while the hispanic victims increased. As crime, as concentrated up this crime is, its even more concentrated. Studies show 1 of the population has as much as 60 of the Violent Crime. We live in the world with resources, much of the resources dedicated to the particular problems, concentrated as it is, in the communities and the Rosen Department of justice seeing the titles and control thank you. Thank you mr. Cohen. Thank, you chairman durbin. I appreciate to be asked on this important conversation. Nonpartisan non pressure cooking officials, these primary responsibilities are the administration reflections. D. C. And five u. S. Territories. In the 40 states where the secretary of states salute chief and the governor is the masking work in the Election Officials on the ten states, all members are Public Servants who see the implementation of the following. Nase does not issue guidance on federal or state legislation or on state election policy. In my written testimony i comfort nased experience with threats and the Doj Task Force i focus now on our experience with the Justice Assistance Grant Program announced in 2022. The nased does not of a position on funding but when discussing the challenges, we have to talk about funding. We heard from many of our members that they are already stretched budgets could not compensate for threats on personal and election materials. Presumably this is more acute on the local level. Even acid and most of our members are familiar with the burn jack program, with the announcement earlier this year. Funding for each state and territories is determined by a set formula, and there is a different formula for jurisdictions. The fiscal 21 funding is not awarded to the state and territories until 2021. Each state is seeing friends. Determining how its allocated for than the jurisdiction some prefer to use the funds for tangible goods where authors use them for staff goods like Law Enforcement. For 60 lawton forsman territories, as 60 different approaches to, dissipating 60 stakeholders, 60 on force meant drug treatment plans and forensic labs among many others. Whats common among all 56 is that theyre only open for a limited time. By the time doj announced on january twisty dunks link, in the Election Officials briefed on the specifics of the program by the eight. Many application windows were closing. There was not enough time to build the necessary relationships and complete. The promised funding a mark for physical security was not actually available to us. Some Election Officials will also struggled to access the fiscal 2022 funds because of the timing and demands. To add insult to industry, the clarified officials have always been eligible to access the burn jack funding. That is the guidance issue the stated ministering agencies by the doj and january did not add Election Officials to the state cold, it clarified that Election Officials have. This was news to us. The federal Grant Program is what were most familiar with vote act funding. For the grants, officials provide highlevel but just during application process. But have the flexibility to monitor the process within the bounds of the law and guidance officials by the guidance officials. This offers the funds to address emerging issues that have not been complicated. The burn jack Program Offers no such flexibility to the office. The only approved the usage for funds is what is described in the funding up occasion. If you ask most Election Offices in 2019 with a they would want a Law Enforcement presence in their office in november 2020, or if they were concerned about doxxing, the answer wouldve been utter confusion. We are always fighting the coasts of the last elections its nearly impossible to predict where overtime might be necessary or other physical Security Issues might arise. A few states have had success with perverted funds of 2021. This is a positive development. Hoping stakeholders this is not a Sustainable Way to Fund Security efforts. In general, we appreciate election workers for the community. The result of the increase in attention has been the response for a limited practical improvement nasa members are proud to help them cast ballots but helping work, is challenging. Ive said when people take the job with Law Enforcement even if theyre not a field agent, they know that sometimes they could be called upon to put their life on the line in the course of the duties. Those people make a choice to go into a lot of work that could cost them the lives. Election officials did not make that choice. Until recently, this is not a field you went into thinking it could cost your life and now it is. We need a whole government response to ensure the safety of our community. Thank you for your testimony. Mr. Johnson . Thank you chairman durbin. Can you make sure your microphone is on . Thank you. Thank you chairman durbin, my name is jason johnson, and the president of the lot enforcement Legal Defense fund, and served as a Law Enforcement officer for more than two decades, including this Deputy Commissioner of the baltimore Police Department. Theres a deadly issue facing the country. An epidemic of Violent Crime. Last year there were 23 positive murders. 87 by fireworks its not due to gun trafficking nor proliferation of illegal firearms. Will those must be addressed the vast majority of them involving firearms about persons illegally possessing and otherwise legal guns. It is the who, not the what that is at the root of this epidemic. Gun offenders are the most likely to reoffend and especially more likely to commit violence. Between 2016 and 2018 half of baltimores homicide suspects have been previously arrested for Violent Crimes. And 43 for gun crime. While police make these criminals are priority there not a bum. In 2016 a quarter of gotten traveling charging. Those who are convicted, receive and an average of 15 of the sentence they wouldve received. These justices failures of deadly consequences. On memorial day 2016, nate david warned opened fire on a crowded holiday cookout injuring five people. Warren had several attempted murder charges through 2010 to 2012 and was later convicted of Armed Robbery. In 2015 he was called illegally carrying a gun carrying drugs. The charges were gunned dropped in for you commit a mass shooting glenn healy are tempted to apprehend a fugitive awesome tvs who had allegedly shot and killed deputy hilliard. Davidson was convicted of Armed Robbery in 2019, but received a three year suspended sentence. He should not have been free to murder deputy hill. Philip incomes alone have been each offenders decades in prison and federal prosecutors have intervened tank of Law Enforcement purpose since and projects a favorite sin tackle Violent Crime, needs to be laser focus on apprehending scott margie, a violent offender. Now it is a morale of our offenders. And the police and sentiments, lives debilitating. In some cases to funding Law Enforcement on a never before seen skill. Where there has been antagonism towards Law Enforcement not with one of the ten rooms is currently vacant. This is amplified by a puppet. Photos rejected her approach montrealers. Of result fund a vote of interest in june 2020, to april 2021. A 24 of the. Efforts have demoralize them. What enforcement activity new this other ways to cleanse enough to policing and murder training under training quality Police Officers for keys to winning the battle. Policing is a noble profession with a vital mission. American is just power and support itself enforcement. I worked for 22 years as colorado, including serving five years as the county official. Snow also worked nationally of. Made the safe and accurate administration uppermost sacred right to, our lives work. Im also conservative republican. Democratic publican and an officiated facials. Formed 50,000 active voters to hundred and 70. Our aim as an association is to focus on the education and professional development of our members and to advance mutually approved upon policy goals such as an accessible and secure election. I want to begin by saying the topic we are discussing here today is not new in our nations history. Far too often, when a candidate loses an election, the candidate and the supporters cry foul, and questioned the system, when no actual proof of anything the various. However, in 22 years of work on elections, ive never seen anything that comes close to the reckless claims that have happened on the scale, in a well funded and coordinated way. In our currently reality, it seems facts no do not matter. Now we see the political value of spreading misinformation. That makes the dissemination and application of fraudulent information only grow. One of the outcomes is that radicalizes people in a way we havent seen before. A deeply held belief that our elections are not secure nor accurate has manifested itself as harassment, doxxing, outright threats on the lives of some of our Election Administrators and secretary benson and secretary oliver said this includes threats against spouses and children as well. In a survey i conducted among our 64 county clerks in late 2021, in some way, tinted bulletproof glass, more around office stores, county sheriff, investigating thats against them. Since these pervasive threats for election workers, many have seen an uptick in concerning emails to actual physical thats. Weve seen county clerks taken in by the lies. An ongoing federal investigation, counties violated oath of office, providing internal images of voting systems to an unknown number of outside and if hes. Contrary to the native, its increase the threats to our election systems and dramatically decreased the elections. The speech is also lead to intimidation, other Election Officials in colorado, violating public trust in law. Its vitally important that we need solely serve the public sin. All of these activities acquire anything open counters. We cannot change the look that we do for the communities. Colorados long considered we pride ourselves on having found the balance of all access with vote and all can trust in the outcome of the elections. Even in this exceptional state, developed over decades, for Political Parties, we feel impacts of the existence of conspiracy over facts. I request is that we take the federal funding, and make it easier for an election official to learn about and receive. Nor are the funds easy to apply for. These funds should be allocated directly to officials, creating official delays to access the funds. And local jurisdictions. Colorado, these assessments analyze facilities that provide recommendations that help mitigate these. They are invaluable and help Election Officials understand the security they face. They also helped implement. As well as resources to secure grants. We are here today, because of ally. And quite frankly, we are here today because of an absence of leadership. From election leaders of a federal and state level, up to step up and tell the truth, and Election Officials. I urge to stand up until the truth of what we do. This can be shown in many ways. Call your local election official, not a Constitutional Republic must rely on this free of politics. This is a key pillar of that. When people lie about our election processes it negatively impacts our participation. This portrays our ideals of self determination, and actively engaged citizenry. Weve died for this sacred right to vote. We allow politics to undermine this process. If we dont make a commitment to stop fanning the flames, of this new much part further than we can possibly imagine. This does not belong at the political party, major Political Parties refused to accept defeat. And harms our voting institutions. Again, i urge you to stand with the 8000 plus state Election Officials across the country, who are telling the to truth. Serving citizens by running successful transparent and secure elections. I want to close by thanking you to have this time for this. We have this now and will have a decade from now. The decisions that we have moving forward will have real implications for our nation soon. Mr. Crane, in particular, thank you. Thank you for being here today. And thank you for what you just said. We want to figure out what in the is going on here. Why wont any republican, witness or senator, talk about the issue that was the subject matter of this hearing . Why wont they get into the reality of the threats county clark Election Officials are facing across the u. S. . And the answer is very clear and simple and obvious. Because it. Means saying that the big lie is a lie. It means saying that the stop the steal campaign has gotten out of hand. It means they have to face reality. That there is one person that continues to inspire this violence and hatred against cross United States, and they cannot do it politically. They change the subject. They have great witness here, thank you for your service and the attorney, research, and mr. Johnson, thank you for all your work involved in this. Great. Violent crime has been a subject of ten hearings, and you may be subject to ten more. It is not a subject of this hearing. We are trying to get down to the bottom line here. What is happening to our election system . Why is miss spence and sixyearold son standing in the driveway sting hes gonna defender with the stick . Because this womans life has been threatened. Why . What crime did she commit . What did she do wrong . Participating in election machinery. Administering an office for an election. The stop the steal folks are out after you write . It has changed her life hasnt it . That is what we wanted to talk about today. Miss oliver, you said it as well. You had to go into hiding for a period of time, in late 2020 after information was published on a website titled enemies of the people. Did you ever think that was what you are signing up for when you ran for secretary of state . No mister chair. No, and no one should. And miss cohen, your testimony goes on for pages, and it is well documented, i guess, it must reflect the fact that you want to georgetown. It is well documented. And it makes a point. A harassment has been around for a long time but not at this level. This is a new level. Right . Yes. Absolutely. Well, mr. Crane, that is the point we are getting to hear. Thank you for what you do, as a republican county clerk in colorado. Representing that organization, i should say. And thank you for all of you what you are doing. And the fact that my republican colleagues dont want to talk about this, it is really troubling me. Because it is at the heart of our democracy. We wont have a debate about this president , next president , president beyond whip if we dont have a choice in our voting system, mr. Hearst. And that is what this hearing is all about. We brought you here in for another reason, i know, i want to make one point. And you made it very effectively. Ive always got an answer for Violent Crime in chicago. Its a terrible situation and ive talked to the police, ive talked everybody i can think of all, do all i can. But Violent Crime, particularly deadly crime is taking place a lot of cities, large and small. My hometown of e st. Louis is the worst crime rate in the city of chicago, and as you mentioned, sodas jackson mississippi. Well saw enforcement when it comes to criminal law, is the state and local. 90 of the enforcement is. So we can do a better job at the federal level, but everyone has to get on the same page. Im gonna close by thinking you all for being here. I think this hearing gets to the heart of whether we are going to have an election process we can trust in america. And for us to reach this point, members have to step up on both sides and say the big lie is a lie. Stop the steal has to stop. We have got to have a conversation at the highest levels of our government, democrats and republicans, about our election systems that we can trust. I believe we can do that. But people have to come out of the shadows and stop changing the subject. Im not offended by anything you said about the direction that we have taken on our side. I overheard some of your other colleagues, being referenced to it as well. But i have been trying to make the point that when you had, since the summer of 2020, the massive increase in crime that we have had in this country, the massive, while, all the crime. Ive gone through the statistics. I dont want to have to go on again. But when people go through this idea again, some of that is obviously going to carry over how people treat other people. Anybody else. And i know that you dont accept that argument but that is the point that im trying to make. When you are a u. S. Attorney in the Southern District, we have to deal with one of the highest crime rates in the country. Particularly project safe neighborhood initiatives to get criminals off the streets, the project is, quote, not to increase the number of our arrests and prosecutions, again, to emphasize the point im trying to make. If you are trying to just tell people youre gonna arrest them for certain crimes, this just enhances everybody freedom of i can get away with anything. How did cooperation through dedicated initiatives help address Violent Crime in mississippi. Thank you, glassman almost giving a promotion to children, when the department of justice leads these initiatives, it matters. Specifically, with project, eject in the neighborhood banner, and we start running that program, we started hearing recordings in jail of inmates, saying the feds are in town. The feds are enforcing the law. It is a whole different ball game. Is what the criminals were saying. When the federal government and federal Law Enforcement got involved. With project eject, we not only had atf participating, as a general league said earlier, we had fbi, we had dea, we had everyone at the table. So when doj steps, up when doj leads, when doj makes it a priority to really go after and take Violent Crimes head on, theres no reduction in Violent Crime and criminals respond to consequences but. Right now were not seeing a lot of consequences. Percentage of Violent Crime is committed by a few key defenders. So if you target them, he might substantially reduce crime rate. What does this mean for Law Enforcement and federal agencies using this knowledge to address Violent Crime, if you get Violent Crime down, maybe there will be less crime against Election Officials. Thank you senator. What it means for Law Enforcement is that, if the federal government can bring more resources there, they can help more local agencies with the use of big data to identify who the highest risks are in their communities. There is research for the Educational Fund to stop gun violence, in oakland, 0. 1 of the population is possible for the majority of the homicides. You can identify who those people are and bring the serious cases against them and make the case to take them off the street. Particularly through federal prosecution. You can get seriously large incapacitation benefits. And spare the offenses that they wouldve committed. Research shows that when policing is engaged it can produce very large gains in the form of Violent Crime reductions. Mr. Johnson, what difference would it make for baltimore specifically to target repeat offenders and keep them walked up. Well, senator, we understand, and you said yourself that the majority of Violent Crime is committed by a very small number of people. If we could. Bring Technical Assistance to identify, bringing men Power Resources to apprehend those people, and seek accountability through the federal courts, we can effectively remove them from the street, incapacitate them, and not commit anymore acts of violence. In state court, as of now cities like baltimore, illegally carrying firearms and many other cases are being dropped and still others even those who are convicted are serving small fractions of the sentence. Thank you senator grassley, senator whitehouse . Thank you chairman. Those of you who have Election Integrity responsibilities and your testimony that i related to mr. Pulley have made the case that there is a link between the large and fraudulent scheme to spread lies about the election. And the threats and harassment that you and your colleagues have experienced. And i think thats a very important point that you made, i want to highlight it and thank you for it. I also want to flag that this appears to be happening not just that random, there seems to be Organizational Support for this. And i will bring up a group called the conservative partnership institute. That has been described as a dark money mega hub. And a full service shop for a pro trump republicans. And this group is part of a network about this point, been determined 11 other groups. Not all are highly and closely associated with one another. During addresses, sharing staff, on each others incorporation papers. And also it involves a lot of the refugees from the trump election insurrection effort. So you have Jeffrey Clark out one of these groups. Hard for me to see it on the camera as well. Preserving america. And as we all know, his role was bad enough that the fbi generated is home to cease electronics. Cash patel was the part man of defense and we just know that on his way out, the Trump Defense department wiped the phones of individuals who might have been taxing about the january six insurrection effort. You have mark meadows who participated in the pressuring of georgia officials. Has now seized cooperation with the january six panel. You have got Stephen Miller who likely wrote president trumps speech january six, inciting the mob to go to the capitol and attack their nations capital. And you have the lawyer, cleat a mitchell who is on the phone with trump for the georgia call to the secretary of state. Or trump pressure the georgia secretary of state to go out and find the right number of votes to flip the election. And the likely coordination of that effort with Jeffrey Clarks effort out of the department of justice is pretty obvious. So this is not happening in a vacuum. In fact, its not even happening. Its being done and the sooner we can draw attention to those who are doing it and why it is being done than the better. In, essence its a giant p and shell game. With a dozen shells i can be pushed out to engage with the media or to engage politically. But all it would appear commonly controlled. Always funders her kept secret and all with murky relationships with one another and with the efforts to lead an insurrection against the popular vote in the last election. And where it comes to bear in this hearing is particularly with respect to clean up mitchell and her Election Integrity network. Because if what we are seeing is a deliberate strategy of fraudulent lying, designed to whip up earnest and sincere popular antagonism. And by the way for an american and tanker american democracy has been stolen from you, that is something to get mad about. So that is a lie your propagating, you have a vulnerable population of people who dont want to believe that that happen. Who can be angry to convince him that happen. And then you turn them loose on the Election Officials. And guess what . If you can drive Election Officials out of their jobs, if you can drive. Election volunteers away from the polls. You then have vacancies. Vacancies that cleat mitchell is training to fill right now to pursue the interference of american elections. The january 6th riot kicked off. There is nothing about this mister chairman that is random. And i hope that there would be investigations that are done either simply otherwise. To connect these obvious thoughts. That there is a fault lie that it is deliberately propagated. The propagation of that lie is intended to cause harassment and threats and Election Officials. Which in turn is designed to cause vacancies in a legitimate election official racks that can then be filled with never, election denier cohorts. And i see a lot of heads nodding as im going through this. I apologize not to be able to ask a question, given the shortness of time. We have a thing in the Senate Tradition committee called the question for the record. So i invite the officials who have knowledge of this to respond to this in whatever way you please and we can make your answers to that question for the record a part of the proceedings. Whitmister chairman . No objection, thank you mister senator right, house no sunder role in. Thank you mister chairman. I have listened to my republican colleagues question the first panel. And, yes they are attempting to minimize the very real attack on the integrity of our elections. And the threats and harassment of election workers causing are probably thousands of them to say forget it. I am not volunteering basically, thats what it is volunteering to being an election worker. And be exposed to these kinds of attacks. So basically, the maga republicans have weaponized the position of election workers by supporting to the extent these officials are elected. By supporting Election Officials who believe in the big lie and other conspiracy theories. And let us not forget that it is a big lie that led to a violent insurrection on january six. Which by the way than i just happen spontaneously. We can see by the work of the house, january Six Committee. Not the planning for this insurrection has been going on for quite awhile. And so we have the violent insurrection of january six with the big lie. And the former president s and then we have the dozens of Voter Suppression bills, lost out of been acted by republican legislators all across the country. And the fact that congress has not been able to pass the john lewis Voting Rights act. Or do other things that will actually protect the integrity of our elections. And we have a Supreme Court. Lets not forget the Supreme Court that has made it even tougher to enable the department of justice to prosecute some of these more obvious Voter Suppression laws under what is left of the Voting Rights act. Because the Supreme Court has basically created even more ways for these kinds of Voter Suppression laws, can be held constitutional. So we are in an environment where yes our democracy is at stake. And here we are focusing on Election Integrity and we are listening to our colleagues talk about how important it is to go after Violent Crimes. Yes it, is how about going after the massive gun violence in our country . How about focusing on some of that but we are not. In the meantime, i want to thank all of you have testified today who are election workers. Secretaries of new mexico and michigan. When i was a Lieutenant Governor of the state of hawaii, we do not have a secretary of state. And Lieutenant Governor was the elections person. One of the first things that i did because the Lieutenant Governors an unelected position, i believe the election should be run and i totally nonpartisan way. One of the first things that i did as with any governor to illuminate the election functions from the office of Lieutenant Governor and we created an office of elections. After every election prior to this action being taken by the state legislator. Removing the election function from that point in my office. After every election, the Lieutenant Governor would be sued. And the suits never got anywhere but because it was done by unelected person, then they are always those who thought that the outcomes could be challenged as somehow being tainted by political considerations. So i command all of you for putting yourself forward and i would like to ask the secretary benson. Why did you decide to become secretary of state as michigan sheaf Election Officer with everything that is going on around the election . Thank you for that question senator, i am here today wearing a bracelet i wear it with me all of the time. To remind me of the sacrifices made so that we can live in a democracy, one person one vote promise in the constitution. Its a reality for everyone. I started my career and alabama working to investigate hate groups, hate crimes throughout the country. Came to the conclusion that the only way we can ensure that every voice is heard in our country is to have a democracy that is led by people. Who are dedicated to making that promise true for everyone. State secretaries of state live that every day. We serve as guardians of the democratic process, whether we are democrats, republican or independent. We make decisions daily that are geared towards increasing the security of our process and the accessibility of it. That is why one of this job, you will find my story is not that different from my colleague in new mexico similarly with an Election Administrators who simply wanted to do our job to make sure elections are safe and secure for all and the tens of thousands of election workers around the country can share that story. So i am proud to stand among these individuals, mindful mana local level face threats without security details and other protections. They are the true heroes of the democracy. Thank, you i want to comment on the secretary of the elections new mexico. Thank you im out of time mister chairman. Thank you senator romo,s senator padilla who has been going back and forth between our two hearings. He can go first, i will go next. Senator padilla. Thank you mister chairman. Catch your breath, and salmon is a continuation of the rules Committee Hearing happening today as well. And for six years, this committee has heard me say time and again i had the honor of serving as californias secretary of state. And at that time, we are able to drive the success of three elections including in 2020 we will be ensure that more californians participated in the electoral process and the ever had before. Record registration, record turnout and smooth, safe, accessible election. Now that work would not impossible without the extraordinary effort of not just state elections, professionals involved here. So many at the local level as well. Successful lectures only happened because of the dedicated hardworking, patriotic staff that are willing to go above and beyond to ensure that americans could participate and the political process. But as the testimony here today has so credibly highlighted, our election workers now faced extraordinary threats. And harassment, just for doing the most basic, essential work of our democracy. Helping people cast their ballot. I am grateful the continue to show up for work, despite the additional hardships. I am also extremely concerned that unless we address this problem head on, not ignore it or not sweep it under the rug, unless we address it head on, fewer and fewer people would use to serve as election workers. So my first question is for the two secretaries of state, former colleague secretary benson, secretary oliver, can you expand on how the work of the election workers is so extraordinarily important to our democratic process and how the recent rise and threats is affecting recruitment and retention of workers . Thank you senator padilla, my former colleague and friend, appreciate the question. I dont think that folks realize how much goes into planning in executing an election. How many individuals, what i like to emphasize is the fact that we have a citizen in democracy in the United States and all though, this is my profession and my colleagues profession, the people on the ground on election day during early voting and checking often processing absentee ballots. Those are, volunteers are individuals and friends and family of both Political Parties have all Political Parties and no political party. From around the community and in the community. These are the individuals who come back here after a year, who believe it is their civic duty. Without them, we simply do not have a democracy. We will not have a democratic process. And so the point that have been made here today so eloquently by my colleagues, we are on the verge of not having that process anymore because we are not going to have enough committed citizen individuals if these threats and the big lie that is driving that continues. I will just add to that, the other side of this you know in michigan, which is all the primary election yesterday. I went around and thanked election workers throughout the day i when i actually saw was another piece of the story. Which is the same time while these threats are real and the loss of so much and institutional history is real, we also seeing a number of individuals and republicans, democrats and independents wellintentioned citizens standing up to say, i want to serve. We are seeing individuals and fact, 6000 individuals and michigan signed up to serve as new election workers. And yesterdays election. And so i have a lot of hope actually that through this moment, if citizens observe these challenges and simply seek out the truth, and step up with us to serve and protect our democracy, we can actually emerge from this moment with a stronger, healthier and more robust democracy than ever before. But that ultimately we determined by the citizens of our country itself, who will determine whether to stand with us in this moment and for the rights of the truth in our democracy or not. And to be abundantly clear, there is a problem that i laid out, a danger, does it hurt democrats the voters, republican voters, all voters . I. Not only did the big lie push that county so far as to actually take an initial vote not to certify the election process, who have disenfranchised 732 voters in that county, the vast majority of whom are republicans. All other candidates with two exceptions on the ballot that would be disqualified from the general election or republican candidates. We are fighting to save the vote for every voter in this party. With your chair, one more question that ties the discussion to reform the electoral county to this topic here in the committee. Discussing the increasing threats that election voters face simply for doing their job, i think it is important we understand why in the first place. To this day nearly two full years after the november 2020 election, people should know better, continue to spread lies and disinformation about the election. They continue to claim, without any shred of evidence that there was massive fraud and regularitys in the ballot counts. There was not. They continue to refuse that joe biden won the 2020 election. He did. These lies arent innocuous political rhetoric, but dangerous statements that have the effect of riling people up, undermining faith in our dog moxie, and putting real people from election workers, two candidates for office in harms way. Im not even talking about the deadly insurrection that took place here in the nations capital. My final question, secretary, you are perfect to respond here, can you walk through the committee the increase in election threats that we have seen since the 2020 election . Yes, i think we have to recognize that while we have talked a lot today about challenges, threats facing Public Officials generally, there is a particular nuance here that is critically important that those attacking us are motivated by lies and misinformation that they have been told by people they trust. In fact, there are members of the u. S. Senate, some of whom who are on this committee, who knowingly spread falsehoods about the security of our elections with zero evidence, factual basis. Today, i hope they hear me when i say that in doing so they are hurting us. They are hurting our democracy. We are professional Election Administrators, we ensure that every voter, regardless of where they live, who they work for, can participate in choosing their leaders and holding them accountable. When many of those leaders turn around and spread conspiracy theories about the security or accuracy of our elections. They have been proven false by multiple sources, they then put our lives in danger. They put the lives of our kids and our loved ones in danger. So i hope that the viewers of this here that from us today and put an end to it. That is what is going to have to happen for these threats to stop. Thank you mister chair. Thank you mister chair. Secretary benson, we have worked together, i appreciate you coming before the committee. Weve done some really important work there. We are about to do some very important work on the electoral count act. That could not have gone better. That was going on over there. It was very bipartisan and we had a very positive hearing with everyone agreeing, including the republicans. We should reform the act and basically restructure those reforms. Ill start with you, secretary benson. In december of 2020, approximately two dozen protesters accused you of ignoring voter fraud in the 2020 election. Chanting, stop the steal. You prepared, as i understand, to watch a Christmas Movie with your fouryearold son. You updated to social media, one person could be shouting, you are murderers, within your shot of your childs bedroom. Can you describe the toll that those kinds of intimidation tactics have taken on you and your family . Yes, thank you senator. Really for your leadership and bringing people together to move things forward. I hope we will see more bipartisan leadership as well, many of the other things we need to protect our democracy. Im grateful for your leadership on that. You know, i signed up for this work knowing that defending democracy means being able to and willing to stay on the front lines, face down threats. Heroes have done that throughout the history of our country. We dont expect men in the dark of night to come to the doorstep of our homes. I certainly didnt expect as a mom to have to explain to my kids what the noise was. Even again, that was a very wellknown incident, it was not the only incident outside of my home. And you have to teach my son that standing up for what is right often does require us to handle threats like these, threats to our lives. It creates an air of anxiety and stress that no child or parent should have to endure. To know that this is happening because of a lie, because of lies about our democracy, makes it particularly pernicious the painful. The last thing i will say is, for me i knew they were not protesting me, those individuals were protesting the will of the people and our state. As the secretary of state of michigan, i will defend the will of the people every day and stand up to do it again. Thank you, again. Secretary, good to see you again. Thank you, i know you served in term also the heads of state naturally. Got to work with my friend. It is the highest in the country. I want to thank you, following the 2020 election, your personal information was published, you left your home under Police Protection for weeks. In the years since, you and members of your office have removed personal information from the internet. As recently as this past year, you are seen threatening phone calls that had to be referred to the fbi. We know election workers like yourself and like the people who work for you in every state in this country are necessary to the functioning of our democracy. It is Never Acceptable for anyone to use violence or threats of violence to advance political goals. Could you talk about how these threats have made it harder for not just you, but for your staff to do their jobs. Thank you senator, thanks for being such a wonderful partner and working with Election Officials off the board. I had, not the same situation as secretary benson, but like secretary benson this has had a deep and profound impact on me and my personal life, and on my staff. I think it is the state Election Officials, and of course the folks who are really on the frontlines. County clerks, local Election Administrators, their family and their staff, those pool workers who are in the field who literally just come in to do their jobs. They leave their partisan hand at the door. I was at our state, meeting prior to our general election. We do it before every statewide election in mexico, having very important, moving conversations primarily with county clerks from across party lines that are experiencing the impacts most deeply in their counties. Theyre wondering if they can keep going on, theyre talking about retirement. Theyre wondering if theyre going to run for reelection because the daily pressure and stress, and serious concern that theyre dealing with is making them wonder if they can continue. I know that is just a microcosm of a macro cause of what we are experiencing as Election Officials at all levels. Thank you. I missed your statement because i was busy. You did a great job. I thought this question, playing with the secretary of state. She talked about turnover. Including from the kentucky secretary of state, republican secretary of state just about how it was hard to retain volunteers and staff. How perhaps federal law, senator durbin and i have talked about this, they could address these threats. They could help in terms of recruiting and retaining workers if they knew that their safety was protected. Do you want to elaborate . Thank you, senator. It has been a big concern as my colleagues here of that. It is interesting. We talk about it as officials. We sign up for this, we know secretary benson so eloquently talked about that. Secretary oliver said this, it is our church members, it is the pta, these are the people that are conducting the elections. We have seen an increase in threats and intimidation to election workers too. We are seeing our counters in colorado, with people or trying to get the information, names, addresses, telephones of the citizen election workers. They can put pressure on them and terminate them. It has had a Chilling Effect on their willingness to participate. However, like secretary benson, i think we see people getting their second wind, finding resolve, saying, we are not going to let this get to us. We are gonna do this, we are going to defend democracy. We are starting to see more and more of that. That is why during this, we are here because of fear of leadership. If people would just stand up and tell the truth on both sides of the aisle, we would be much better off and we can look around, we would see that we are all together in this. I think the way that we can move Forward Together and continue to run successful elections, and elections that our citizens can be proud of and have confidence in. We need people to step up and lead. If they dont want to lead, they will get behind us. That is what we have been doing for two years. I really appreciate those remarks because i think it is very important for republicans to stand up in addition to democrats. We have seen that in the january six hearings over in the house. We have seen people, democrats and republicans talk about what has happened to them. I was thinking about those workers in georgia, the mother and daughter pair. The mom, miss ruby, was always proud to wear the tshirt that said lady ruby. She couldnt wear it anymore because she had been sold out by the president of the United States. Those stories are heartfelt. The former republican, election commissioner in philadelphia, three kids, he had moved out of his house. Having both sides come and speak out, that is what is going to make the difference. I like what you said. Thank all of you, we look forward to that. I see the chair, he did a great job testifying before the committee. He came by to see you. Thank you very much. Thank you senator, thank you for your role on the committee. It is parallel to this conversation which we had for three hours today. This is the first hearing we have ever had in this committee on threats against election workers. Im sorry we had to have it. We shouldve been more bipartisan, i appreciate those members who did attend and participate. We have to solve this problem together. I dont know who the winner will be in the election next election, nobody does. It is up to the american people. It is up to create a process so that it is credible. That is the only way a democracy can prevail. There are some who did not accept the 2020 results and we are paying a heavy price for it. Mr. Crane, going back to your point, both parties have come together to make sure that in the future, we do have a critical outcome and standby if we want to preserve this democracy, that is our first obligation. Thank you for your testimony, there may be a question for the record. If you receive one, please respond to it as quickly as possible so we can complete the record. Thank you for your patience today. [captions Copyright National cable satellite corp. 2022] [captioning performed by the national captioning institute, which is responsible for its caption content and accuracy. Visit ncicap. Org] next, the small businesS Administration associative administrator pack trick kelly testifies on why the agency stopped processing covid19 loan applications, citing tax related issues as the main issue for the delay. He also talks about fraud and abuse within the Paycheck Protection Loan Program and other Economic Relief assistance. This is an hour and 45 minutes