U.S. Attorney's Office rolls out plan to protect democracy on Election Day

Oct. 20—Assistant U.S. Attorney John Osborn will serve as district election officer in Maine to oversee complaints about voting rights concerns, threats of violence to election officials or staff, and election fraud for the Nov. 8 general election.

"Every citizen must be able to vote without interference or discrimination and to have that vote counted in a fair and free election," U.S. Attorney Darcie N. McElwee said in a statement. "Election officials and staff must be able to serve without being subject to unlawful threats of violence."

Osborn joined the U.S. Attorney's Office in 2011 and is the chief of the civil division. A graduate of the University of Vermont, he earned his law degree and a master's in public policy from the College of William & Mary. He is the former president of Portland Trails.

The U.S. Department of Justice has been staffing Election Day voter hotlines for so long that they recycle the same canned news releases every election, no matter the state, the year or the U.S. attorney, with the same word-for-word quotes used year after year by all U.S. attorneys in every state.

This year's quotes showed a few telling deviations from the decades-old Election Day integrity program.

For example, former Maine U.S. Attorney Halsey Frank said "every citizen must be able to vote without interference or discrimination without it being stolen because of fraud" when he announced that Osborn would be responsible for protecting Maine elections in 2020.

The next sentence in this year's script — "election officials and staff must be able to serve without being subject to unlawful threats of violence" — was likely added in response to the rise in reported threats against election officials following false claims of voter fraud in the 2020 presidential election.

Federal law makes it a crime to threaten violence against election officials or staff, intimidate or bribe voters, buy or sell votes, impersonate voters, alter vote tallies, stuff ballot boxes, and mark ballots for voters against their wishes or without their input.

U.S. Sen. Angus King, I-Maine, is co-sponsoring a bill to further bolster election worker protections.

The Voting Rights Act also protects the rights of voters to mark their own ballot and to be assisted by a person of their choice when needed because of a disability or an inability to read or write in English.

Anyone with election concerns can contact Osborn at 207-771-3214 or Assistant U.S. Attorney Andrew McCormack in the Bangor office at 207-262-4615 while the polls are open. The local FBI office will also field election fraud and abuse complaints at 207-541-0700.

In the case of a crime of violence or intimidation, however, voters should call 911 before contacting federal authorities. State and local police have primary jurisdiction over polling places, and almost always have faster reaction capacity in an emergency.