Election Violence Already Happens

A man in a white van pulled up to an early voting location in Loxahatchee, Florida, and shouted racial slurs at a group of people campaigning outside. A man who was going to vote in Orangeburg, South Carolina, got into an argument with election workers after he was asked to remove his Trump hat. A man from Tempe, Arizona, was arrested for shooting up the DNC office three times.

These are some of the disturbing incidents that have happened in the last ten days only.

WIRED tracks how misinformation and high-profile political rhetoric spreads in the real world as Election Day approaches, marked by acts of vandalism, intimidation, and violence. Please access this form and tips.

Authorities have noted election-related violence this year. Since 2020, election workers have faced numerous threats, harassment and searches to such an extent that the DOJ created a special division just to investigate those types of threats. A series of intelligence memos reported by WIRED show that officials are considering possible chaos and sabotage from “insider threats,” as well as attacks on voting infrastructure in the 2024 US election. The IV-Dem Institute, a Sweden-based political science think tank that takes a data-driven approach to democratization and thinking around the world, released a report that predicted a “high probability of electoral violence” in the election.

We’ve rounded up the 13 latest confirmed cases so far, and will continue to update as we go along.

10/22/2024 – Tempe, Arizona

Jeffrey Michael Kelly, 60, was arrested and charged with terrorism in connection with three shootings outside the office of the Democratic National Committee over a two-week period in late September. Police say he also attached razor blades and bags of white powder labeled “biohazard” to anti-Democrat signs erected near his home. They found 250,000 rounds of ammunition, 120 rifles, and an explosive device when they searched his home, and believe he was preparing for a “mass death event.”

10/23/2024 – Phoenix, Arizona

The USPS box was set on fire, and about 20 ballots were damaged. Dieter Klofkorn, 35, is in custody for arson. His cause is unknown at this time.

10/24/2024 – Loxahatchee, Florida

A group of people were campaigning for a Democratic candidate outside the public library, which was an early voting location. Nicholas Farley, 30, is suspected to have driven around the area in a white van, yelling at the campaigners with anti-racist words. Later, when questioned by deputies, Farley brought up the name of a neo-Nazi website, went on to say racism and anti-Semitism, and said he uses those slurs for anyone who “commits a crime and doesn’t support America and patriots like him,” the Palm Beach Post reported.

10/24/2024 – San Antonio, Texas

Jesse Lutzenberger, 63, is alleged to have repeatedly assaulted an elderly poll worker at a polling station who repeatedly asked her to remove her MAGA hat. He was charged with injuring an elderly person. Another frequent feature of the violence appears to be state laws that prohibit voters from wearing political attire to the polls (21 states have such laws on the books).

10/25/2024 – Lancaster County, Pennsylvania

Election workers marked more than 2,500 votes as fraudulent. The ballots had the names of people from different political parties and officials suspect that they were sent as part of a campaign to destroy trust in voting. The incident is under investigation.

10/26/2024 – Montgomery County, Pennsylvania

The GOP headquarters in Montgomery County received a bomb threat. State police are investigating.

10/28/2024 – Vancouver, Washington & Portland, Oregon

Ballot drop boxes in Vancouver, Washington and Portland, Oregon, were set on fire using hot tools. A third, unexploded device was found in another drop box in Vancouver. Investigators said that “Free Gaza” signs were found nearby, but warned that those should not be an indication of intent because the suspect could have left them to criticize the extremists.

10/28/2024 – Delaware County, Pennsylvania

MAGA activist Val Biancaniello was taken into custody for disruptive and riotous behavior that appeared to be aimed at influencing other voters while waiting at a polling station. The video of Biancaniello being arrested went viral, and the GOP says it’s evidence of “voter suppression” targeting Trump supporters.

10/28/2024 – Redding, California

A landlord was fired after he bragged in a post on Reddit that he was using the votes of former tenants to vote for Trump. The local District Attorney told Action News Now that he is considering criminal charges.

10/29/2024 – Neptune Beach, Florida

Caleb James Williams, 18, showed up at the polling station early with a group of young men, holding a Trump sign and brandishing a machete at a group of Harris female voters. He is charged with assault.

10/30/2024 – Champaign, Illinois

A fight broke out at the polling station when an election worker told a man wearing a Trump hat that he was not allowed to wear political clothing while voting. It is said that the suspect took out a camera and started recording the election process, then he got into an argument with another voter.

10/30/2024 – Orangeburg, South Carolina

A man wearing a “Let’s Go Brandon” hat was told he could not vote at his polling station while wearing it. The video shows that he quickly became angry, a fight broke out, and he started targeting poll workers, most of whom are black women. Some workers had to move his arms back so he wouldn’t hit his colleagues.

10/30/2024 – Westminster, Maryland

The election leader successfully obtained a “peace plan” against a local GOP official and an activist who reportedly harassed election workers during early voting.

WIRED also noted several arrests for incidents that occurred earlier in our dataset period (which begins on October 21). On October 21, the Justice Department’s Election Threats Task Force filed a lawsuit against a Pennsylvania man who threatened a representative of a state political party that was hiring poll watchers. The identity of the group’s representative has not been disclosed in court documents, but investigators say the suspect threatened to hunt him down and strip him alive.

On October 29, authorities in Madison County, Indiana arrested Larry L Savage Jr., 51, a GOP candidate for US Rep. and faulty equipment.