Threats prompt Arizona’s top elections official to denounce spread of misinformation
Arizona’s top elections official on Wednesday spoke out against threats and misinformation surrounding the outcome of the presidential race.
Katie Hobbs, Arizona secretary of state, said in a statement posted to Twitter that she’s received “escalating threats of violence” toward her family and her office, calling them “utterly abhorrent.”
“They are a symptom of a deeper problem in our state and country — the consistent and systematic undermining of trust in each other and our democratic process,” she wrote of the threats.
The statement didn’t specify the nature of the threats. But in a recent interview with local outlet 12News, Hobbs said her personal information was shared on the social media site Parler along with threats to “burn her house down and kill her and her family.”
Hobbs said in the statement Wednesday that the threats won’t prevent her from doing her job.
“Our democracy is tested constantly,” she wrote. “It continues to prevail, and it will not falter under my watch.”
She also pointed to President Donald Trump and other lawmakers who she said are “perpetuating misinformation” that fuels distrust in in the election results.
“It is well past time that they stop,” she wrote. “Their words and actions have consequences.”
Trump and his allies have lodged unfounded claims about election fraud and cast doubt on the outcome since President-elect Joe Biden was projected the winner of the presidential race by The Associated Press and other media outlets on Nov. 7.
Biden has won 290 Electoral College votes to Trump’s 232, according to the AP, with Georgia yet to be called.
Elections officials representing both parties across the country have said there’s been no evidence of widespread fraud or “other irregularities” that would shift the results of the election.
Trump’s campaign has filed numerous lawsuits in multiple battleground states — including one in Arizona that it has since dropped — but it has not had success in court.
Arizona’s Republican Party also filed a lawsuit seeking a hand count of a sample of ballots in Maricopa County, which went for Biden and put him “over the top” to win the state. The party has asked a judge to keep the county from certifying its election results — which it is set to do Thursday or Friday — until a decision is reached on the lawsuit, The Associated Press reports.
The county, however, said it has already completed an audit of the ballots and that it didn’t find any discrepancies, according to the AP.
Arizona has until Nov. 30 to certify its election results, which Hobbs is in charge of. The Associated Press projected Biden the winner of Arizona, historically a Republican stronghold, on Nov. 4.
Officials in other states have also reported safety concerns and threats amid the election and its aftermath, including in the key states of Georgia and Nevada.
While votes were still being counted in Nevada, Joe Gloria — the Clark County registrar of voters — said he was “concerned for the safety” of his staff as protesters gathered outside the Clark County Election Center challenging the vote, McClatchy previously reported.
In Georgia, Secretary of State Brad Raffensperger, a Republican, told FOX 5 he’s dealt with death threats and attacks as a hand recount of ballots shows numbers in favor of Biden.
Hobbs in the statement called on other leaders to “stand up for the truth.”
“This should be a time for thanking voters and election workers for their incredible commitment during unprecedented challenges,” she wrote.
This story was originally published November 18, 2020 at 2:09 PM with the headline "Threats prompt Arizona’s top elections official to denounce spread of misinformation."
