Georgia poll worker arrested over bomb threat as security bolstered across U.S. [View all]

Source: Axios

10 hours ago


A Georgia poll worker was arrested and charged with mailing a bomb threat to election workers on Monday, the Department of Justice announced.

The big picture: The arrest comes as police step up security around the White House and Vice President Harris' residence in D.C. and National Guard units in several states and local law enforcement agencies prepare for possible Election Day violence.

Unprecedented steps are being taken to protect election workers and ballots amid rising concern about voter intimidation and other threats, as the Proud Boys and other Trump-supporting extremist groups signal they'll be at polling sites on Tuesday.

The Justice Department will monitor polls in multiple states for compliance with federal voting rights laws on Election Day.

Driving the news: Nicholas Wimbish, 25, of Milledgeville, Georgia, is accused of mailing a letter addressed to the Jones County elections superintendent on Oct. 17, purportedly from a "Jones County Voter" — one day after he "allegedly had a verbal altercation with a voter," per a DOJ statement.

Prosecutors allege this letter stated that Wimbish had "give[n] me hell" and that he was "conspiring votes" and that it made threats against him and others to "look over their shoulder" as the "voter" knew "where they go" and that the writer had "found home voting addresses for all them."

The letter claimed "young men will get beatdown if they fight me" and "will get the treason punishment by firing squad if they fight back," while also threatening "rage rape" against the "ladies."

"The letter concluded with a handwritten note, 'PS boom toy in early vote place, cigar burning, be safe,'" the DOJ alleges.

Read more: https://www.axios.com/2024/11/05/election-security-poll-workers-bomb-threat