A pivotal voting season is underway, and research shows threats and harassment against public officials can increase during election periods.
More than 50% of elected officials included in a recent Princeton survey said they have already experienced at least one form of hostility this year. Separate findings from the University of Illinois-Chicago show roughly 60% of mayors and nearly half of municipal and county officials have received threats since 2022.
Alexandra Filindra, professor of political science and psychology at the university, said the numbers could be even higher because some officials worry reporting a threat makes the problem worse.
"Elected officials are reluctant to talk about what is happening to them because they're afraid that it will invite more political violence to their door," Filindra explained.
Filindra noted they may also be reluctant to support security measures or policies to address the violence because they think it could be seen as self-dealing rather than a legitimate response to safety risks. She added that the intimidation is not necessarily politically motivated, but there is a partisan divide in how people perceive the threats.
Her research showed nearly 80% of respondents view safety concerns raised by officials from their own party as legitimate, compared with about 30% for officials from the other party.
Filindra pointed to growing inequality, rising costs and reduced access to healthcare and other government services as factors leaving more people frustrated and in need, sometimes with local officials as their most accessible point of contact. She stressed they need to be hard on the problems, not the people.
"It is perfectly understandable that one gets angry at a decision and that a decision is not fair, but threats and doxing and showing up at somebody's home and threatening their kids is not acceptable," Filindra emphasized.
With many local government positions having low pay or even being voluntary, she warned threats could make it harder to recruit people willing to serve in local or state government. In the Princeton report, 76% of surveyed officials said hostility concerns make them less willing to participate in at least one political or civic activity.
Illinois News Connection originally published this story.
