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Washington — U.S. Justice The Department on Wednesday announced it had indicted a Missouri man for leaving threatening voicemails to election officials in Arizona. One was accused of communicating an interstate commerce threat and the second was charged with making threatening phone calls.
According to the indictment, Hoornstra left a voicemail on the Maricopa County Elections Officer's personal cell phone saying: You should check yourself. Others in other states are looking at your ass so you need to do your job right.If you wreck this deal or give them any more trouble, your A bum will never attend the next small board meeting.
The indictment does not specify which officials in Maricopa County, Arizona's most populous county, were targeted for intimidation. Not.
Last year, the Justice Department launched an Election Intimidation Task Force. The rise in threats coincided with false claims by former Republican President Donald Trump that the 2020 election was stolen due to widespread voter fraud.
In the 2020 election, Arizona was one of the key battleground states. President Joe Biden swept Maricopa County by about 45,000 votes to seal a narrow victory.
Maricopa County election officials later disputed a partisan audit by Trump allies conducted by a private firm called Cyber Ninjaz, which sought to cast doubt on Biden's victory.
In a series of investigations published last year, Reuters documented more than 850 of his threats and threatening messages to US election officials.
Since the Task Force was launched, the Justice Department has investigated more than 1,000 of her contacts reported as being hostile or harassing by election officials and volunteers.
Of these, approximately 11% meet the legal criteria required to initiate a federal criminal investigation.
Hoornstra's attorney was not immediately identified. If convicted on both counts, Hoornstra could face up to seven years in prison.
(Reporting by Sarah N. Lynch, Washington; Editing by Matthew Lewis)
