The Big Lie” is getting bigger, warns Colorado official
S E E D E D C O N T E N T
The Big Lie” is getting bigger, warns Colorado official
Why it matters: Roughly nine months after the Jan. 6 Capitol insurrection and President Biden taking office, the ripples are spreading far from Washington — now to local election officials.
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"The lies about 2020 are worse than they were in 2020," Griswold told Axios.
Driving the news: The secretary is advancing a lawsuit against a Republican county election clerk in Mesa County, Colorado.
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The clerk is alleged to have been involved in a security breach of the county election systems.
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Griswold told Axios she's received countless threats not just through professional email and phone lines but personal channels too.
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"I KNOW WHERE YOU SLEEP, I SEE YOU SLEEPING. BE AFRAID, BE VERY AFRAID. I hope you die," one message said .
Between the lines: In states like Colorado, Michigan, Arizona and Georgia, the idea that the 2020 presidential election was fraudulent and somehow stolen from Donald Trump has pushed voters to continue questioning — and, in some cases, threatening — their state officials who oversee elections.
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Arizona's secretary of state, Democrat Kathy Hobbs, was recently given security detail following increased death threats after the state's 2020 election audit, CNN reported .
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Georgia's secretary of state, Republican Brad Raffensperger, reported that he and his family received threats months after the election.
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In May, Michigan's secretary of state, Democrat Jocelyn Benson, released a statement denouncing "bills based on the Big Lie" in her state.
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Last December, "dozens of armed individuals stood outside my home shouting obscenities and chanting into bullhorns," Benson wrote in a statement.
The bottom line: Even without a President Trump in the Oval Office, his supporters are clinging to the idea he illegitimately lost the election. Election officials are paying part of the price.
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"This is new," Griswold told Axios. "When I was first elected, I got a couple of threatening communications, but not like this. We’re seeing this 'Big Lie' get bigger and the amount of vitriol is getting worse."
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"We won’t be intimidated," she said. "We won’t stop."
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"Deeply disturbing": Minnesota election officials face rising threats
Election officials across Minnesota are facing threats and vitriol from voters questioning the 2020 results, leading some local administrators to consider early retirement, Secretary of State Steve Simon tells Axios in an interview.
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"There is real anxiety out there among people who run elections," Simon said. "And it's deeply disturbing."
The big picture: False claims that the 2020 election was "stolen"— popularized by former President Trump and other Republicans, including some in Minnesota — are fueling backlash and intimidation campaigns across the country.
A Reuters investigation published in September documented more than 100 threats of violence or death targeting election officials and workers since last year's race.
Zoom in: Some threats in Minnesota have been serious and specific enough to be reported to law enforcement. In January, following the insurrection at the U.S. Capitol, Simon and his wife had to consider temporarily moving their family into a hotel.
"Secretaries of state in other states were getting visits at home from armed protesters, people brandishing guns," he said. "We had to meet with our local police chief and mayor and Capitol Police and come up with a safety plan."
See the monster domestic terrorist mob that whatshisname has unleashed on us? And loving every second of it since it's all about him.
The big lie is all on bigly Trump. Delusional is the best that can be said about him.