Election violence is here
A man drove a white van around an early voting site in Loxahatchee, Florida, and shouted anti-Semitic and racist slurs at a group of people campaigning outside. A man voting in Orangeburg, South Carolina, fought with election workers after being asked to take off his Trump hat. A man in Tempe, Arizona, was arrested for shooting three times at the DNC office.
These are just some of the disturbing incidents that have taken place in just the last ten days.
WIRED is tracking how misleading information and the increasingly heightened political rhetoric is spilling out into the real world as Election Day approaches, manifesting in the form of acts of vandalism, intimidation and violence. Please contact via this form with advice.
Authorities are on high alert for election-related violence this year. Since 2020, election workers have faced a barrage of threats, harassment, and constant surveillance at such a level that the DOJ created a special division just to investigate these types of threats. That’s a threat. A series of intelligence memos reported by WIRED indicate that officials are preparing for potential chaos and sabotage from “insider threat,” also possible attacks on voting infrastructure for the 2024 US election. V-Dem Institute, a political science think tank based in Sweden, takes a data-driven approach to measuring and conceptualize democracies around the world, give a report that predicts a “relatively high likelihood of electoral violence” for the election.
So far, we’ve compiled a total of 13 recently confirmed incidents, and we’ll continue to update as we go.
October 22, 2024 – Tempe, Arizona
Jeffrey Michael Kelly, 60, was arrested and detained on terrorism charges related to three shootings outside the Democratic National Committee offices over the course of two weeks in late September. Police said he also taped razor blades and bags of white powder labeled “biohazard” to anti-Democrat signs posted around his home. They discovered 250,000 rounds of ammunition, 120 guns and a grenade launcher when they searched his home and believe he was preparing for a “mass casualty event.”
October 23, 2024 – Phoenix, Arizona
A USPS box was burned and approximately 20 mail-in ballots were damaged. Dieter Klofkorn, 35 years old, was taken into custody on suspicion of arson. His motive is currently unknown.
October 24, 2024 — Loxahatchee, Florida
A group of people were campaigning for a local Jewish Democratic Party candidate outside the public library, an early voting site. Nicholas Farley, 30, is said to have driven a white van around the site and shouted anti-Semitic and racist slurs at campaigners. Later, when questioned by deputies, Farley introduced the name of a neo-Nazi website, continued to make racist and anti-Semitic remarks, and said he used use those slurs against anyone who “commits crimes and does not support America and patriots like him.” The Palm Beach Post reported.
October 24, 2024 – San Antonio, Texas
Jesse Lutzenberger, 63, allegedly repeatedly assaulted an elderly election worker at a polling place who repeatedly asked him to remove his MAGA hat. He since charged with the wound of an elderly person. A frequent flashpoint for violence appears to be state laws banning voters from wearing political attire to polling places (21 states have such laws on the books).
October 25, 2024 — Lancaster County, Pennsylvania
Election workers flagged more than 2,500 mail-in ballots as fraudulent. The ballots contained the names of candidates from different political parties and officials suspected that the ballots were sent as part of a fraudulent scheme. coordinate activities erodes trust in the voting process. The incident is under investigation.
October 26, 2024 – Montgomery County, Pennsylvania
Republican Party headquarters in Montgomery County received bomb threats. State police are investigating.
October 28, 2024 – Vancouver, Washington & Portland, Oregon
Ballot boxes in Vancouver, Washington, and Portland, Oregon, were burned with incendiary devices. A third unexploded device was found in another storage container in Vancouver. Investigators say “Liberate Gaza” signs were damaged discovered nearby, but cautioned that they were not necessarily an indication of motive as suspects could be tempted to blame leftists.
October 28, 2024 — Delaware County, Pennsylvania
MAGA activist Val Biancaniello is detained as the disruptive and belligerent behavior appeared to be intended to influence other voters while waiting in line at the polling place. Videotape Biancaniello’s arrest went viral, and the GOP claimed it was evidence of “voter suppression” targeting Trump supporters.
October 28, 2024 — Redding, California
A landlord was was fired from his position after boasting in a Reddit post that he was using the ballots of former tenants to cast additional votes for Trump. The local district attorney told Action News Now that she is considering criminal charges.
October 29, 2024 – Neptune Beach, Florida
Caleb James Williams, 18, arrived at the early voting site with a group of young people, holding a Trump sign and swing a machete targeting a group of female Harris voters. He is facing aggravated assault charges.
October 30, 2024 — Champaign, Illinois
ONE fighting at the polling station erupted when an election worker told a man wearing a Trump hat that he was not allowed to wear political clothing while voting. The man allegedly pulled out a camera and began recording the election worker, then got into a fight with another voter.
October 30, 2024 – Orangeburg, South Carolina
A man wearing a “Let’s Go Brandon” hat was told he could not vote at the polling place while wearing that hat. Video shows forgivenessAs he quickly became aggressive, a fight broke out and he attacked poll workers, primarily Black women. Some workers had to tie his hands so he couldn’t hit their colleagues.
October 30, 2024 – Westminster, Maryland
An election leader has achieved success “peaceful order” against a local GOP official and activist who allegedly harassed election workers during early voting.
WIRED also noted a number of arrests for incidents that occurred before our data set’s time frame (starting October 21). On October 21, the Department of Justice’s Election Intimidation Task Force announced the indictment charged a Pennsylvania man with threatening a state political party representative who was recruiting poll watchers. The party representative’s relationship or identity was not disclosed in court documents, but investigators say the suspect threatened to hunt him down and skin him alive.
On October 29, Madison County government in Indiana arrested Larry L Savage Jr., 51, former Republican candidate for U.S. House of Representatives, for stealing several election ballots during voting machine audits and then attempting to spread false information There are rumors online about the machine being faulty.
