Local boards of elections in Maryland safe after emailed bomb threats

The State Board of Elections is coordinating with federal officials after 15 local boards of elections received bomb threats as votes were being counted Friday, according to Maryland’s elections administrator.

“This is something that I want to see pursued, because it affects all of us as election administrators. It affected our volunteers who help with the canvass teams here,” Maryland Elections Administrator Jared DeMarinis said Monday. “I want to make sure that they’re safe, and so it’s an ongoing investigation, and we are cooperating 100% with our federal partners about that.”

DeMarinis said that, around 7:15 p.m. Friday, local boards of election in Baltimore City and Allegany, Anne Arundel, Baltimore, Calvert, Charles, Dorchester, Frederick, Harford, Montgomery, Queen Anne’s, Somerset, Washington, Wicomico and Worcester counties received emailed bomb threats as votes were being counted. Elections buildings were evacuated around 8 p.m. No credible threat was found.

“Out of an abundance of caution,” DeMarinis contacted local election directors to have their buildings swept by law enforcement. He said the State Board of Elections is coordinating with federal officials to determine who is responsible.

Friday’s incident is not the first action perpetrated against election officials this cycle.

On Oct. 29, the Carroll County elections administrator was granted a peace order against a member of the county Republican Central Committee, alleging that she followed her from an early voting center back to her office.

DeMarinis called Friday’s incident “the only outlier” regarding threats against election workers since the peace order was granted. He doesn’t anticipate that Friday’s threats will dissuade people from serving as elections judges.

“These threats failed in their mission,” said DeMarinis. “We made it safe and secure, and we’re going to continue to make it safe and secure — not only for the voters but also for the election judges, as well.”

Under Maryland law, it is a crime to threaten or harm an elections official, including election judges or their family members, because of their role in administering the election process.

Anyone found guilty of this misdemeanor faces up to a $2,500 fine or three years in prison.

More than 23,000 election judges were serving across the state during the general election.

“This is our democracy, and you can’t understate that. This is what our country has been founded upon — having a participation level, making sure that citizens can exercise their right to vote and make their voices heard,” DeMarinis said. “They are the backbone of this entire operation.”

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