Thugs harassing Washington state election workers? Unacceptable. Maybe this will help

This week’s impeachment trial of Donald Trump will make a compelling case that the former president, over the course of two surreal months, stoked a rage-fueled revolt while trying to delegitimize the election he lost fair and square.

The Jan. 6 mob attack on the Capitol is Exhibit A, but evidence started piling up long before that. Some of the most appalling behavior came in the days leading up to the Dec. 14 Electoral College certification, when election officials around the country were harassed, stalked and subjected to menacing phone calls — even death threats.

Here in Washington, the state elections director was targeted alongside dozens of peers from other states. An “enemies of the people” website featured her name, address and a photo with a crosshairs printed on her face, along with a countdown clock and a clear threat: “Your days are numbered.”

Democrats in the US Senate will try to hold Trump accountable for his role in unleashing this madness. Meanwhile, Washington state senators want to prevent baldfaced acts of political intimidation from becoming normalized.

A bill heard by a Senate committee in Olympia Monday would make it a felony to knowingly harass election workers, putting them at reasonable fear of harm in the performance of their duties. It would offer peace of mind to staffers in the Secretary of State’s office and county auditors’ offices, whether full time or part time.

Passing this into law would send an important message: Washington won’t allow elections to turn into free-for-alls disrupted by bullies.

The sponsor, Sen. David Frockt, calls it a “statement” bill. The Seattle Democrat observed that reports of election intimidation —though mostly in swing states where Trump clawed for every vote — should serve notice to Washington. In committee testimony Monday, Frockt said he believes a line has been crossed “where this type of thing could happen in the future if we don’t get on top of it now.”

Senate Bill 5148 needs work; we expect some amendments to clean it up around the edges. It’s curious, for instance, that harassing an election worker would be treated more seriously than harassing criminal justice employees, who face more frequent threats. As written, the bill prescribes Class B felony penalties (10 years maximum sentence, $20,000 fine) for harassing an election worker, but Class C penalties (5 years, $10,000) for harassing a cop, prosecutor or correctional officer.

Some may also criticize it as a solution in search of a problem. Other than the vile threat against Washington Elections Director Lori Augino in December, no other incidents have come to light. Pierce County Auditor Julie Anderson supports the bill but says she hasn’t received harassment reports from her election staffers in her 11-plus years in office. Nor is she aware of it happening in Washington’s 38 other counties.

But reports in other states are too chilling to ignore. In Arizona, poll workers were shouted down by angry Trump supporters outside a ballot-counting center and had to be escorted to their cars. In Michigan, demonstrators ringed around poll workers outside a voting headquarters and chanted “Stop the Count.” In Pennsylvania, two men were jailed on firearms charges after the FBI was tipped off they were headed to polling places with semi-automatic rifles to “straighten things out.”

Several states have had “credible, actionable threats,” Washington’s Republican Secretary of State, Kim Wyman, testified Monday. “It’s a serious level that I’ve never seen in 28 years of doing this work.”

There’s also a personal connection in Pierce County. Augino, the state elections chief who found herself in the crosshairs, ran our local elections for more than 10 years before going to work for Wyman.

Will SB5148 be the preventive measure its sponsor hopes? Don’t count on it. Conspiracy theorists who break into buildings, assault public servants and try to undo the will of voters don’t care about the law and surely don’t stop to read the fine print.

But criminalizing election harassment is not unlike holding an impeachment trial. Both make statements about defending democracy that shouldn’t go undelivered, even if they go unheard.