- The Justice Department charged Mark A. Rissi, for leaving threatening voicemails to an election worker.
- Rissi called himself a victim of the 2020 election and threatened to "hang" and "lynch" the election official.
A man in Iowa was arrested on Thursday after he left threatening voicemails to an Arizona election official, saying he was going to "hang" them for the 2020 election, the Department of Justice announced.
Mark A. Rissi, 64, sent voicemails in 2021 to an unnamed Arizona election official with the Maricopa County Board of Supervisors in Arizona protesting the 2020 election results and threatening to hang the official, according to a statement by the DOJ.
According to the DOJ, Rissi left a voicemail on September 27, 2021, which called him a "stupid lying commie" and threatened to "lynch" the official.
"We're going to hang you. We're going to hang you," the voicemail said, according to the DOJ.
Rissi left another voicemail on December 8, 2021, with the Office of the Arizona Attorney General telling the official that he and his family were victims of the 2020 election, according to the DOJ.
"I'm a victim of a crime. My family is a victim of a crime. My extended family is a victim of a crime. That crime was the theft of the 2020 election. The election that was fraudulent across the state of Arizona," the voicemail said, according to DOJ.
The voicemail went on to threaten the official to "do your job" or they "will hang."
"We will see to it. Torches and pitchforks. That's your future," the voicemail said. "Do your job."
According to the DOJ announcement, Rissi is charged with two counts of making a threatening interstate communication and one count of making a threatening telephone call.
Rissi's case is part of the DOJ's Election Threats Task Force, which was launched in 2021 to address violent threats against election workers and officials.
Following the 2020 election results, former President Donald Trump declared that election fraud occurred in Maricopa County, where Biden had won, and called for an "audit," Insider's Camila DeChalus previously reported.
When organizers of the troubled GOP-led election audit in Maricopa County, Arizona, finally released results from the months-long recount in September, the findings confirmed that President Biden beat Trump fairly in the largest county in the once-solidly red state, Insider's Erin Snodgrass previously reported.
But despite the additional proof of Biden's success, the controversial "audit" actually played a role in increasing the level of doubt surrounding the historic presidential election, according to a subsequent poll.
Political violence is expected to increase ahead of the upcoming midterm elections, and experts warn of harm to election workers.
Adrian Fontes, the former recorder of Maricopa County, told Insider earlier this year that there are real fears election workers will be physically assaulted or even die during the 2022 general elections.
"I'm concerned that it will cost human lives just to have elections in America," he told Insider's Camila DeChalus. "Elections administration is the one piece of critical infrastructure in the United States that cannot be skipped. We cannot underfund it, we cannot understaff it. And we have to make sure that it's protected."