As concerns over violence during the 2024 election rise, Arizona’s secretary of state issued a warning, stating that threats made against US election workers constitute domestic terrorism.
During a roundtable discussion on “Meet the Press” on Sunday, Arizona Secretary of State Adrian Fontes stated, “One of the ways that I have been looking at this and addressing this is telling the really hard truth, and that is this: Threats against elections officials in the United States of America are domestic terrorism.”
According to him, terrorism is defined as the use of violence or threats to achieve political goals.
“That’s what this is,” he continued.
Fontes discussed the presidential race with moderator Kristen Welker and three other secretary of state from states that are considered electoral battlegrounds: Georgia Secretary of State Brad Raffensperger, Pennsylvania Secretary of State Al Schmidt, and Michigan Secretary of State Jocelyn Benson.
The four secretaries all reported receiving threats directed at their loved ones and families.
“We welcome people to ask us questions. We welcome people to serve as election workers themselves so they can see up close just how secure our elections are and how many layers of security we have to ensure that only valid citizens are voting and that we count every ballot,” Benson stated.
“The offshoot of all of this, however, as my colleague Sec. Fontes has alluded to, are the threats that come to the everyday elections officials that are just trying to do our job.”
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Though worries about non-citizens casting ballots in recent elections have increased, experts point out that this is incredibly uncommon.
In addition to House Speaker Mike Johnson, R-La., former President Donald Trump has backed legislation that would make voting by non-citizens impossible, as it is currently prohibited at the federal level. At the moment, no state allows non-citizens to cast ballots in state-level elections.
According to a Brennan Center for Justice study conducted in March 2022, one in six election officials reported having received threats, and three out of every four officials said that threats have grown recently.
According to the study, over 50% of election officials expressed their concern that it will be challenging to recruit and retain election workers as a result of the dangers.
Fontes also released a film that his office produced using artificial intelligence to demonstrate how new technologies can be exploited to spread false information and propaganda about elections.
The Arizona secretary’s image, created by artificial intelligence, was uncannily close to the genuine person in the video.
WATCH: Arizona Sec. of State @Adrian_Fontes created an AI version of himself to warn voters about fake election content.@kwelkernbc: “Why did you feel that was necessary?”
Fontes: “In bootcamp … we looked at the weapons of our enemies and we trained against them.” pic.twitter.com/HmhGb6spyC
— Meet the Press (@MeetThePress) May 26, 2024
