As election nears, Michigan, other states confront intimidation of clerks

ROCHESTER HILLS – Exactly seven days had passed since the 2020 presidential election when Tina Barton sat down at her desk and saw the blinking light on her office phone.

It had already been a week from hell for the city clerk of Rochester Hills. Her office was responsible for administering an election that had grown increasingly contested, especially in her home state of Michigan. At one point, she’d worked for 36 hours straight.

She picked up the phone and hit the flashing button. A voice rang out that she would never forget.

“We will f***ing take you out,” a man said on her voicemail. “F**k your family, f**k your life, and you deserve the f***ing throat to the knife. … Watch your f***ing back.”

She listened again. She’d heard correctly. The man parroted then-President Donald Trump’s false claims that the election had been stolen, savaging Barton, a Republican, for her role in the “fraudulent” outcome.




https://www.bridgemi.com/michigan-government/election-nears-michigan-other-states-confront-intimidation-clerks