Press Statement: Gillespie County Elections Staff Resign Over Death Threats, Stalking

The director and staff of Gillespie County’s elections office resigned from their posts citing threats, stalking, and harassment from rampant misinformation surrounding the election process, according to a recent report in the Fredericksburg Standard. 

Anissa Herrera had been the election administrator in Gillespie County  in Texas’ Hill Country since 2019. She told the newspaper that she had received death threats and been stalked in connection with her job. 

Common Cause Texas support our state’s election administrators and workers. Tuesday is also National Poll Worker Recruitment Day. Those interested in becoming election workers in Texas can find more information here. 

Statement from Common Cause Texas’ Executive Director Anthony Gutierrez

Common Cause Texas stands in support of our election administrators and workers dedicated to making sure we have safe and secure systems in Texas.

The Gillespie County resignations are the direct result of bad actors who want dedicated election workers to abandon their commitment to us, the voters, and our election security. These threats are un-American and extreme attempts to stop professional, nonpartisan local election workers from doing the important work of protecting the vote in their communities and counting it fairly. 

Despite these illegal and egregious intimidation tactics, election protection efforts by Common Cause Texas and other groups continue to work toward staffing polling centers with those committed to safeguarding democracy. We are heartened and encouraged by those who are stepping up to become election workers and fill these critical roles of running our elections.

Many poll workers are committed to being the frontline of our democracy, so we must also fight on their behalf and leverage the tools we have to protect them and the crucial role they play in our democracy. 

We cannot allow our local election officials to be mistreated like this. Texas should enact stiffer penalties for those who harass our local election officials and prosecutors must take these incidents seriously. 

Importantly, we also need our elected officials, including our governor, to stop propagating lies that undermine faith in our elections.