Amid the trend of generally heightened partisan rhetoric and sharpened vitriol in politics, there are growing concerns about the potential threats of harassment, intimidation, and even violence aimed at election workers.

In response to those concerns, the Biden-Harris Justice Department has mobilized and deployed district elections officers across the country to help guard against and react to any such alleged threats, Fox News reported.

Those officers, appointed in each district by their respective U.S. Attorney's Office, will coordinate with the DOJ's Election Threats Task Force, the FBI, and local law enforcement to investigate and prosecute alleged illegal acts or threats of intimidation and violence against election workers.

DOJ rolling out announcements of district elections officers

The Epoch Times reported that U.S. Attorneys from the Biden-Harris DOJ have been issuing press releases that are individualized to announce their particular district's elections officer but otherwise read as a generalized release DOJ release with similar quotes and wording.

One such release, from Washington D.C. U.S. Attorney Matthew Graves, revealed that the appointed officer will be "responsible for overseeing the District’s handling of election day complaints of voting rights concerns, threats of violence to election officials or staff, and election fraud, in consultation with Justice Department Headquarters in Washington."

The release further stated, "The Department’s longstanding Election Day Program furthers these goals and also seeks to ensure public confidence in the electoral process by providing local points of contact within the Department for the public to report possible federal election law violations."

"Every citizen must be able to vote without interference or discrimination and to have that vote counted in a fair and free election. Similarly, election officials and staff must be able to serve without being subject to unlawful threats of violence," Graves said in a statement. "The Department of Justice will always work tirelessly to protect the integrity of the election process."

AG Garland says DOJ will find and prosecute those who threaten election workers

The press releases come about a month and a half after Attorney General Merrick Garland convened the Election Threats Task Force for a meeting in early September and delivered prepared remarks about the DOJ's ongoing response to "a dangerous increase in violent threats against the public servants who administer our elections," which he described as "threats to our democracy itself."

After first addressing a reported mass shooting in Georgia and then discussing recent actions taken against alleged foreign election interference efforts by Russia and Iran, Garland said, "Just as we are dedicated to combating foreign threats to our election security, we are equally dedicated to confront domestic threats against the public servants who administer our elections. Since the 2020 election, we have seen an unprecedented spike in threats against the public servants who do administer our elections."

He then provided several examples of actions taken by the DOJ in multiple states against alleged acts or threats of violence toward election workers and stated, "These cases are a warning: if you threaten to harm or kill an election worker or official or volunteer, the Justice Department will find you. And we will hold you accountable."

"Protecting our democracy and protecting our elections was a founding purpose when the Justice Department was established in 1870," Garland concluded. "The Department answered that charge then. And we will answer that charge today as we confront those who would use violence or threats of violence to attack those who administer our elections."

The Election Threats Task Force

As for the DOJ's vaunted Election Threats Task Force, it was first launched by AG Garland in June 2021 to "address violence against election workers and to ensure that all election workers -- whether elected, appointed, or volunteer -- are able to do their jobs free from threats and intimidation."

The Task Force works in coordination with state and local authorities in the "elections community" and law enforcement to "assess allegations and reports of threats against election workers and, where appropriate, has investigated and prosecuted these matters in partnership with FBI Field Offices and U.S. Attorneys’ Offices throughout the country."

While there is a wide range of activities that Task Force is keeping an eye on, it is particularly focused on so-called "swatting" incidents -- false 911 reports of imminent harm that prompt potentially dangerous emergency responses -- and the use of artificial intelligence to create "threats, fraud, and deprivation of the right to vote through disinformation related to the time, place, or manner of elections," which it will consider to be an "aggravating factor" in a potential prosecution.