A wave of new bills in the U.S. protecting elections workers from threats have come in response to unprecedented vitriol targeted at them since 2020, when former president Donald Trump and his allies made baseless allegations that voter fraud cost him the election.
Lawmakers in several states are crafting legislation that would increase the penalties for harassing or threatening an election worker, but that effort has been rebuffed by groups which say the idea shouldn't be part of a criminal punishment.
Before President Joe Biden was certified as the election winner, Donald Trump pressured Georgia’s secretary of state to find enough votes to reverse that win.