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Lehigh Valley Politics and Election News

Pa. election workers receiving death threats amid baseless claims of election fraud

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Tyler Pratt
/
LehighValleyNews.com
Election workers count ballots in the basement of the Lehigh County Government center election night, Nov. 3, 2020.

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HARRISBURG, Pa. - The Trump campaign continues to assert baseless claims of voting fraud in the commonwealth. And extremist supporters are now threatening election workers. 

Secretary of State Kathy Boockvar’s home address and phone number were recently posted on right-wing social media platform Parler, with calls for people to show up at her house. The posts were later deleted.

Suzanne Almeida is with the Pennsylvania chapter of the government watchdog group Common Cause. 

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A redacted screenshot of a post on Parler revealed Pa. Secretary of State Kathy Bookvar's home address and cell phone number. Photo provided by Brad Klein / WLVR.

“We’re hearing reports of election directors getting death threats and voice mail boxes being full of angry people.”

Almeida says acts of intimidation are destructive and dangerous to American democracy. 

“We as citizens, we as voters, should hold all of our elected officials and elections officials accountable to a high standard of conduct, but accountability does not stretch even close to the area of death threats.”

In response, the Pennsylvania Department of State is calling for all government officials to denounce the threats, describing them as un-American, and to remind residents that such threats will be met with criminal investigations.