> “You need to do your fucking job right because other people from other states are watching your ass,” the man allegedly said in a voicemail. “You fucking renege on this deal or give them any more troubles, your ass will never make it to your next little board meeting.”

German election official with about one and a half decades of experience here: That's helluvalot disturbing. This is mafia mentality, this is shit I'd expect out of Belarus (or Russia proper), not out of the US. At that point it might be a valid statement to say that China has fairer elections - they only got one party but at least to common knowledge at least the officials aren't getting direct death threats!

How can y'all expect fair elections to happen when there will be no one left to count, record and certify the votes and results?

Interesting question. Why didn’t America fail right off the bat with this problem? What has changed that this type of behavior is becoming increasingly common?

The gain of cowardice and/or implicit official approval by not reflexively cracking down on them.

In the 18th to 19th century American administrations weren't squeamish to outright use the army to gun down riots or insurrections. Influenced perhaps by the very literal "reading of the riot act" as an official threat to shoot entire crowds as an accepted thing. Attempt death threats to public officials then and the only question was if you would be shot or hanged for doing so. The appetite for that has been lost over time, perhaps related to Kent State and Tienanmen Square changing the optics from 'strong authority restoring order' to 'depraved psychopathic tyrannical government'.

Not that we need that level of violence, all that is really needed to is to give the Secret Service standard of treatment for death threats to the president handed down to all other lesser officials. If being tracked down and arrested was an absolute certainty instead of something they could think they could get away with.

What’s the budget for 24/7 SS coverage of all legislators?