“It is a positive step that Byrne JAG funds may now be used to protect elections and election officials,” the Colorado secretary of state’s office said in an emailed statement. While Colorado was able to acquire emergency funding, no other Byrne JAG funding recipients have reported using the funds for election security as of the end of March reporting period, the most recent data available, according to the Bureau of Justice Assistance, the DOJ department that oversees the grants. But publicized efforts by the Justice Department and Department of Homeland Security to provide financial support to state and local election officials appear to have fallen short, with election officials saying they haven’t seen and can’t access the money. The officials say they need support from the federal government to help protect themselves and their offices. The threats have led to mass resignations, leaving their offices understaffed for future elections. With less than three months until the midterm election, many election officials across the United States say a continuing onslaught of violent threats makes them worried about their safety and that of their colleagues. The board did award the secretary of state’s office $160,000 of a requested $241,000 in emergency funding to combat threats through the end of September, but the funds will expire before the November election.
According to the denial email, the board thought the proposal lacked sufficient content and details, and the project duplicated services or research that is already available or being done. “We are, simply stated, facing a threat environment that is unprecedented for election officials and staff.”īut in June, the office learned that the advisory board of mostly law enforcement leaders considered and denied the secretary of state’s application for funding for the coming fiscal year. “There is a clear threat to Colorado Department of State (CDOS) staff, including the Secretary of State,” Beall wrote in a letter to the Colorado Department of Public Safety, which oversees the grant. In May, Deputy Secretary of State Christopher Beall made a presentation to the board that determines grant recipients. The office requested $396,000 to pay contractors to monitor social media for threats and to enhance physical security for the secretary of state’s office staff and county clerks through September 2023. Department of Justice would allow funding through the Edward Byrne Memorial Justice Assistance Grant program to be used by state and local election offices to combat threats, they submitted an application in March.
So when the Colorado secretary of state’s office learned early this year that the U.S. Federal authorities are prosecuting a man who pled guilty to threatening a Colorado election official on Instagram, where he wrote: “Do you feel safe? You shouldn’t.” And Colorado police arrested a man accused of calling Secretary of State Jena Griswold and saying that “the angel of death is coming for her.”
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