The Department of Justice (DOJ) on Monday announced the arrest of Nicholas Wimbish, a 25-year-old poll worker in Georgia, for allegedly mailing a bomb threat to local election officials.
Wimbish had a confrontation with a voter on October 16 that motivated him to write a menacing letter to the Jones County Elections Superintendent, according to a DOJ press release.
The letter was allegedly drafted to make it appear as if it came from the voter, such as by stating that Wimbish had “give[n] me hell” and that Wimbish was “conspiring votes” and “distracting voters from concentrating.” The letter threatened that Wimbish and others “should look over their shoulder,” that “I know where they go,” that “I know where they all live because I found home voting addresses for all them,” and that the “young men will get beatdown if they fight me” and “will get the treason punishment by firing squad if they fight back.” Further, the letter threatened to “rage rape” the “ladies” and warned them to “watch every move they make and look over their shoulder.” The letter concluded with a handwritten note, “PS boom toy in early vote place, cigar burning, be safe.”
Wimbish is being charged with mailing a bomb threat, conveying false information about a bomb threat, mailing a threatening letter, and making false statements to the FBI, the DOJ explained.
If he is convicted, Wimbish will face a maximum of 25 years in prison.
The Justice Department’s Election Threats Task Force, established in 2021, spearheaded the investigation, with the FBI’s Atlanta Field Office taking the lead.
Wimbish allegedly researched how his information could be found online in an effort to avoid detection, according to the DOJ. In the letter, he used phrases to make it appear as if they were written by a local voter, warning of violence against male and female poll workers.
Fears over election-related violence have grown more prevalent in the lead-up to the conclusion of the race. Intimidation tactics used against poll workers have intensified, according to a New York Times report.
On Monday, the Justice Department unsealed a complaint against a man in Philadelphia who had vowed to skin alive and kill a party official recruiting volunteer poll watchers. On Tuesday, the police in Tempe, Ariz., arrested a man in connection with shootings at a Democratic campaign office, which resulted in no injuries, and other acts of political vandalism.
On Wednesday, prosecutors charged a 61-year-old man from Tampa, Fla., with threatening an election official — on top of pending charges over menacing messages sent in the past five years. And on Thursday, police officers in Phoenix arrested a person in connection with a mailbox fire, damaging some 20 ballots in a Democratic stronghold.
Isaac Cramer, executive director of South Carolina’s Charleston County Board of Voter Registration and Elections, affirmed that threats against poll workers have increased. “Our polling places have become battlegrounds,” he told The Times.
A recent poll found that about 62 percent of Americans believe that some form of unrest is likely after Election Day. Another survey showed that about 64 percent of Americans will avoid traveling in the United States over concerns of violence.
