38% Threatened. 1 in 5 Quit.
Thirty-eight percent of election workers reported threats in 2024, up from 17% in 2020. One in five quit after the last election cycle. Reports of armed watchers and vigilante-style voter challenges at polling places have increased in every cycle since 2020.
38% of election workers threatened. 1 in 5 quit. 564 threats per year against federal judges. When the people who run elections are driven out, the elections themselves are compromised.
Federal judges who ruled on election cases faced 564 threats per year. Election workers who count the ballots face worse, with no security detail and no legal protection in most states.
What Intimidation Looks Like
It is not subtle. Armed individuals stationed outside polling places in Arizona and Georgia during the 2024 election. Mass challenges filed against voter eligibility in counties with high minority populations.
Photography of voters entering polling locations posted to social media with identifying information. Poll watchers who refuse to follow distance rules and intimidate voters in line.
States have inconsistent rules about what constitutes intimidation versus “observation.” Federal law prohibits voter intimidation but enforcement is weak and penalties are rarely applied. The Department of Justice scaled back election monitoring in 2025.
What You Can Do
- Write your representatives about protecting election workers →
- Sign up with a nonpartisan voter protection group like Election Protection if you can be at the polls this cycle.
- Check your state’s voter protection resources before early voting begins.
Sources
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The GOP Is Targeting Black Voters in the Former Confederacy With Surgical Precision — Mother Jones (2026-05-29, update)