Democrats push Justice Department to keep Election Threats Task Force amid rollbacks
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The task force was created to help protect election officials from stalking and threats, but its future remains in question after the Trump administration scrapped other election integrity initiatives.
Senate Democrats are sounding the alarm about the future of the Justice Department’s Election Threats Task Force in the wake of the Trump administration’s moves to curtail or disband other federal election security initiatives.
In a March 17 letter to Attorney General Pam Bondi, 31 senators — led by Sens. Alex Padilla, D-Calif., and Dick Durbin, D-Ill. — called for the DOJ to continue the work of the task force, which was launched following the 2020 presidential election to investigate threats of violence made against election officials and workers.
Since its creation, the group has probed thousands of extremist messages and acts targeting officials and has successfully taken enforcement actions against individuals who sought to harm election administrators. The letter’s signatories warned that “these threats have not only continued but escalated” since the task force’s establishment.
The senators’ missive comes as President Donald Trump continues to sideline officials, entities and other groups who he believes have stifled conservative voices online or colluded to sway the 2020 presidential election in favor of former President Joe Biden. Trump’s claims of massive election fraud have been debunked by state and local officials from both major political parties.
Agencies and initiatives focused on combatting election interference have been early targets of Trump and his political appointees, most notably when it comes to countering the spread of mis- and disinformation and coordinating information-sharing activities with state and local officials.
In one of her first acts as attorney general, Bondi eliminated the FBI’s Foreign Influence Task Force, which was created in 2017 to address foreign election interference threats. A number of employees at the Cybersecurity and Infrastructure Security Agency focused on countering mis-, dis- and malinformation were also placed on administrative leave last month as part of Department of Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem’s stated goal of overhauling the nation’s cyber agency.
Although CISA — in compliance with guidance from the Trump administration — also terminated a number of its probationary employees, it is in the process of reaching out to laid off staffers to onboard them back to the agency after a federal judge ruled last week that the White House’s terminations were unlawful.
The senators wrote that “given the recent disturbing personnel and policy decisions at the [DOJ] and the lack of transparency about the future of the Task Force, we request an immediate update on the status and activities of the Task Force, as well as what resources will be provided to ensure its important work continues so that election officials of both parties can safely administer our elections.”
Election officials have voiced growing concerns in recent years about the amount of abuse and vitriol leveled at them for simply doing their jobs, with many veteran administrators choosing to leave the profession rather than be subjected to harassment.
A survey conducted by the Brennan Center for Justice in May 2024 found that 38% of local election officials reported experiencing threats, harassment or abuse, with one in five of overall respondents saying they were unlikely to continue serving in their roles during the 2026 midterm elections.
But even as CISA and other agencies continue to work with state and local officials to ensure that voting systems are protected from outside risks, the proliferation of mis- and disinformation presents an ongoing threat to administrators and, by extension, the entire voting process.
“Election workers continue to fear for their safety, so it is critical that the work of the Task Force continues to deter and counter these threats,” the senators wrote, pressing DOJ to inform them about “the status and future plans of the Election Threats Task Force, the extent of resources and personnel dedicated to its work, and how it plans to incorporate related work previously led by CISA and the Foreign Influence Task Force by March 31, 2025.”
Nextgov/FCW cybersecurity reporter David DiMolfetta contributed to this report.