Florida

‘It's a Scary Time': Florida Election Workers Deal With Threats and Harassment

Despite the fact Gov. Ron DeSantis said Florida had a safe and secure election in 2020, election workers across the state have received threats over the phone and email, according to public records obtained by NBC 6 Investigators. 

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Since the 2020 election and former President Donald Trump’s false claim of a “stolen” election, election workers in Florida have faced an increasing amount of harassment and threats. Leading up to the 2022 election, some Florida Supervisors of Elections fear the trend will keep volunteers away and lead for non-partisan workers to quit, eroding trust in the election system. 

Despite the fact Gov. Ron DeSantis said Florida had a safe and secure election in 2020, election workers across the state have received threats over the phone and email, according to public records obtained by NBC 6 Investigators. 

Miami-Dade and Monroe County election offices did not have any reports or documented threats, according to the election offices and county police. But that’s not the case in Broward and other parts of Florida.

The people of Broward County elected Joe Scott to be the Supervisor of Elections in 2020. Since then, records show his office has received threats by email and by phone. Many of the threats to Supervisor Scott, who is Black, were filled with racist and derogatory language. 

One email from a self-described Minnesota veteran states, “Listen up you m---f---, 2022, 2024 is not going to be the same third world, banana republic s--- you blacks pulled in 2020.” The man went on to use a racial slur and called Scott “sub-human.” 

“We are very much open to thoughtful, reasonable feedback if it comes. But if someone wants to vent their racist, ignorant thoughts towards us, we have no time for that,” Scott told NBC 6 in response.

After the office required poll workers to get the COVID-19 vaccine in 2021, records show a woman emailed and called Scott’s office, sending them the Nuremberg code, and telling them by phone death was the penalty for mandating vaccines. Police showed up at her house but determined she was not a threat and did not arrest her. 

“I’m lucky to have people around me that are concerned about it and make sure we have really good security here. Both in the office as well as at home,” Scott said. 

Threats in Florida did not just come in against election workers in Democratic-leaning counties but across the state, including in Marion County where the Supervisor of Elections is Republican Wesley Wilcox. 

 “We no longer have all the face-to-face interactions and people have lost respect for each other," Wilcox said. 

Wilcox is also the President of the Florida Supervisors of Elections. In Fall 2021, he sent public letters to state leaders stating, “false claims of fraud … degrade confidence in the institutions,” asking all candidates and elected officials “to tone down the rhetoric and stand up for our democracy.” 

When asked about the false claims of voter fraud, Wilcox said “I am standing up and saying that’s just not accurate.” 

After those letters, his name was mentioned on a conspiracy podcast, which he said led to a voicemail saying, “If you want to live in a communist country, you can go to Cuba or Venezuela. You go eat dogs over there. But not us alright.”

Wilcox said he hasn’t seen anything similar to this amount of harassment since the controversial Florida ending to the Bush vs. Gore election in 2000. 

“I got a lot of phone calls saying what a piece of crap I am. They also sent in a lot of phone calls saying, 'look if all this fraud doesn’t stop, I’m never going to vote again,’” Wilcox said. 

Both Wilcox and Scott believe this harassment will bleed over into future elections. 

“It’s a scary time,” Scott said.

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