National: Ahead of election, Senate Dem0crats urge DOJ to hike poll-worker protections | Benjamin S. Weiss/Courthouse News Service
In the lead-up to November’s presidential election, a group of Senate Democrats on Monday asked the Justice Department to double down on efforts to investigate and counter threats against poll workers and local election officials. In a letter to Attorney General Merrick Garland and Deputy Attorney General Lisa Monaco, lawmakers led by Minnesota Senator Amy Klobuchar, Vermont Senator Peter Welch and Senate Majority Whip Dick Durbin sounded the alarm about what they call an ongoing barrage of abusive conduct towards people tasked with overseeing U.S. elections. “Our election officials and workers are public servants working on the frontlines of our democracy to make sure that every vote is counted,” the lawmakers wrote. Growing numbers of local election officials have reported experiencing threats, harassment or other abuse. In a survey published in May by the Brennan Center for Justice, around 38% of responding officials said they’d been the target of such conduct. Read Article