Safeguarding Election Administration: Profiling Perpetrators and Emerging Threats

Since 2020, election workers have been harassed, targeted, threatened, and intimidated. This thesis examines the 21 cases prosecuted by the U.S. Department of Justice’s Election Threats Task Force. The thesis is the first of its kind to examine and identify behavioral indicators, patterns of radicalization, and shared characteristics among prosecuted election crime cases. The cases were analyzed using a behavioral threat framework focusing on personal grievance, bias motivation, online radicalization, and the pathway to violence with an emphasis on hunters and howlers to contrast the cases and show intent and escalation points. The research relied exclusively on publicly available data and information, including legal documents, press releases, and open-source reporting, to conduct a comparative analysis of the cases and information. Findings reveal consistent demographic and behavioral patterns, including the predominance of middle-aged male offenders, the presence of personal grievances linked to perceived electoral injustice and the amplifying role of online communities, and behavioral health challenges. This thesis contributes to the limited body of scholarly work examining election threat cases through behavioral threat assessment. It offers recommendations for election administrators, election officials, lawmakers, and security practitioners aimed at strengthening election infrastructure, safety, security, and readiness.

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