Emailed threats in Florida dry up as congressional delegation asks for FBI briefing
Threatening emails that claimed to be from a proTrump group called the Proud Boys and that were sent to voters in Florida and other states this week appeared to have come to a halt after the FBI accused Iran and possibly Russia of being behind the attacks to influence the U.S. election.
But two Florida members of Congress are now requesting an FBI briefing for the Florida delegation, and at least seven local election officials say they have not been given any information from authorities on the scope of the issue other than what has been publicly reported.
“This request is in direct response to reporting from your offices yesterday, October 21, 2020, that Iran and Russia have targeted voter registration data, including in the state of Florida,” Florida Reps. Stephanie Murphy and Michael Waltz wrote in a letter to FBI Director Christopher Wray. “According to multiple county Supervisor of Elections in Florida, ‘spoofing,’ or threatening emails have been sent to registered voters in Flagler County, Brevard County and Alachua County.”
During a hastily called press conference Wednesday evening, Director of National Intelligence John Ratcliffe said Iran used the information to send emails to voters and that Iranian intelligence distributed a video that “implies individuals could cast fraudulent ballots, even from overseas.”
In Florida, hundreds of the emails were received by voters in at least six counties on Tuesday morning. The sender purported to be affiliated with the Proud
Boys, a far-right group, and claimed to have the voters’ personal information, ordering them to vote for President Donald Trump or “we will come after you.” By Wednesday night, the U.S. government had concluded Iran was behind the effort — a swift turnaround that raised suspicion among some Democrats.
Elections officials in at least one Florida county said Thursday they also are aware of a spoofed video claiming to hack a federal voting assistance program.
Gov. Ron DeSantis, during a press conference Thursday, said the emails were simply an attempt to “get things in the zeitgeist with voters,” not an attack on anyone’s access to vote.
“It’s something we take very seriously,” DeSantis said. “We are concerned about China, Russia, Iran. Iran, what they were doing with these emails. … It’s still a terrorist regime and we don’t want them to be involved in anything we are doing.”
At the Collier County Supervisor of Elections office, staff members became aware of a video that might be the one Ratcliffe mentioned.
The video, described as “spooky” by an elections spokeswoman who saw it, shows someone pretending to hack the Federal Voter Assistance Program, which helps overseas military members, their families and voters cast their ballots.
Trish Robertson, who is a spokeswoman for the office and saw the video, said the video plays over death metal music and pretends to hack the program’s website. Voters in the county did not report it — she was shown the video by a coworker and emphasized she was not “fooled” by it.
“All they were doing was going between two websites on their desktop. But when you add death metal music in the background and you know it is something dealing with elections, it’s a spooky video. It’s creepy,” Robertson said.
The video was first reported by Vice.
Jesse Littlewood, vice president of campaigns at watchdog group Common Cause, said emails and videos meant to make the elections system look insecure or suspicious follow a pattern of attempts to “shake people’s faith in the integrity of our elections.”
The problem is not exclusively foreign either, he added.
“We have seen some domestic bad actors use disinformation to create mistrust and it has had measurable effects,” Littlewood said. “These examples try to prey on and stoke people’s fear, and that has been amplified.”