'People will have to go to jail': How a new law will thwart election worker attacks

Ahead of 2024 elections, Nevada became the latest state to enforce new legislation "making it a felony to harass, threaten or intimidate election workers." According to The Associated Press, "Other states have taken similar steps to better protect election officials in recent years, including Maine, Vermont, Washington, New Mexico and Oklahoma."

However, according to MSNBC analyst and former federal prosecutor Glenn Kirschner, Nevada's law is notable because of its bipartisan support.

MSNBC host Jessica Layton spoke with Kirschner and former Congressman Charlie Dent (R-PA) about the new law and how difficult — or not — it might be to enforce.

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"It won't be difficult to enforce but prosecutors will have to aggressively consider whether charges should be brought under this new law," Kirschner said. "Enhanced penalties for threatening election workers is not only important but it has unfortunately become increasingly necessary. One thing about the new legislation that should be music to everybody's ears is it passed both houses of the Nevada legislature, unanimously. It was supported by a secretary of state who's a Democrat. It was signed into law by a governor who's a Republican. So it's nice to see that people have come together in Nevada to recognize that we have to protect election workers, and it also expands criminal liability. So, it makes it a felony for anybody to disseminate personal information about an election worker without their consent. And I have to believe that Shaye Moss and Ruby Freeman, the Georgia state election workers, could have benefited from a law like that in Georgia."

Layton replied, "You bring up a great point. Nevada's just one state, but coming off the heels of Georgia, Charlie, how big of an issue do you expect election worker intimidation to be nationwide throughout the 2024 presidential race?"

Dent said, "I think this is an enormously consequential issue. These elections only function because of these people who do the work on election day, and they're not getting paid a whole lot of money. They think they're doing it out of civic duty. And if they have reason to fear for their safety, i'm not sure how we can conduct free and fair elections without them. So I think it's really important that other states follow Nevada's lead, and do things to enact laws to protect these election workers. Because we desperately need them. So I think it's a very important issue. We saw what happened in Georgia where Giuliani was hit with a big settlement over his misconduct down there because of what he did to two election workers. And these are the types of messages being sent, I think, to some of these people who don't respect our democratic institutions and make our elections functional."

Layton asked, "Follow up to that, are these messages that you talk about — is that enough? Or do there have to be more concrete consequences?"

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The ex-GOP leader emphasized, "I think they need to pass laws like Nevada, and as these prosecutors are gonna have to make decisions about when to prosecute. When does the conduct of a person become intimidating? And what is harassment? These are going to be judgment calls. But I do think some signals are going to have to be sent. Some people will have to go to jail in order to send the message. Because we're seeing aggressive behavior by people against election workers who are simply doing their job, and being accused of all sort of things they did not do. So I think it's long past time that law enforcement step it up, so to speak, on these transgressors."

Watch the video below or at this link.