independents.

thank you very much for your work.

>> A House Committee in Washington heard this week from election officials who say they have dealt with threats from voters who distrust election results in Wisconsin, clerks and elected officials, including judges, have also been targets of disturbing election related threats "Here& Now".

Reporter Steven Potter has more on this.

>> Until a few years ago, like, never thought about my personal safety.

clerks like Melissa Kono, and one of the places that I train election workers, they had to call the sheriff because there was an observer who had gotten angry.

She's been administering elections for more than a decade as the clerk for the town of Burnside in west central Wisconsin.

so much from when I started it.

You know, I never initially thought that I would have to talk to them about de-escalation.

And how do you get Ahold of the sheriff if you're getting a threat?

>> Kono trains other municipal clerks around the state.

As an associate professor with the UW Division of Extension.

>> There are outright threats, right.

But there are also comments and things that are said that feel threatening.

>> She noticed the shift in tone around 2018. their scales.

In my machine.

And I know that, you know that you're changing my vote like things, things like that that weren't weren't there before.

Are you worried that those kind of comments could increase or evolve into threats?

Yes, definitely.

Because I think that there's a reason somebody is saying things coming into the polling place and saying things like that, like they're looking for an argument or a fight, but it's just like this extra level of concern and concern for our safety.

Like, I didn't get into being the clerk to have to stave off physical threats.

>> Kono and other clerks around Wisconsin aren't alone.

It's a nationwide problem, one that U.S. Attorney General Merrick Garland addressed last week.

>> Election officials, workers and volunteers, and communities across the country have been targeted with heinous acts and threats of violence, according to an annual report released last May from the Brennan for Center justice.

officials experienced threats, harassment or abuse, and more than half of local election officials reported being concerned about the safety of their colleagues or staff.

>> And I just fear it's going to get worse.

You know, as we get closer to November, there are public officials.

I mean, we're listed publicly.

There's no way around that.

>> But election workers aren't Wisconsin Supreme Court justice Jill Karofsky knows this all too well.

>> So I personally have had several threats since I have been on the court.

The first time I received substantial threats was after the 2020 presidential election.

They were misogynistic in nature.

They were anti-Semitic in nature.

And that went on for weeks and weeks.

instance when you saw and heard about these threats?

>> It's terrifying.

Am I worried for myself?

I worried for my kids.

It's not something that you I ever conceived of.

I've been involved in Wisconsin politics and Wisconsin government since I was eight years old, and my mom ran for city council and the city of Middleton.

It's not something you think about.

And when suddenly you are confronted with it, it stops you in your tracks.

>> According to the state Supreme Court, Marshall's office, there were nearly 150 threats made against Wisconsin judges last year.

Justice Karofsky says that heated political rhetoric and election fraud conspiracies are fueling the fire.

were making these threats were extremists on the fringe.

That is no longer the case.

Now we have leaders talking about things like Bloodbaths for God's sakes.

So we all need to be vigilant.

>> Karofsky also says that threats like she's received have wide ranging and grand implications on society as a whole.

>> They are trying to instill fear in me, so I will make a decision not based on the law.

So I will make a decision because I am scared.

>> How does that impact, our elective process or democracy as a whole?

our democracy.

I think the public needs to understand these threats are real.

I think we all have an obligation in our democracy to be ever vigilant about these threats.

>> Governor Tony Evers did sign a bipartisan package of bills related to judicial security last March.

It covered making a judge's personal information and security detail private, and made it a crime to protest outside a judge's home.

Karofsky, however, says simply that more security is needed.

>> We need to dedicate more resources to protecting people like me who who are being the recipients of these threats.

>> On the other side of these threats are those who are making them.

And for that part, criminal prosecution is possibl.

Fond du Lac County District Attorney Eric Toney says his office has charged and prosecuted a few threat related cases over the years.

>> We have one case where a legislator was threatened as well, and we also see threats to judges.

At times, we're handling one in another county as a special prosecution.

I've had a few death threats made to me during my time as Da Toney says, that just like the range of targets, the different types of ways that threats are delivered also varies.

It can really be anything.

It can be a voice message, it can be a phone call, it could be a letter, it could be something in writing.

It could be an oral statement to somebody.

It can be things over the internet.

We see how I think when people can have some anonymity on the internet.

We see some very toxic words that are put out on social media.

>> In a recent case prosecuted by Tony's office, a 75 year old fond du Lac County man was convicted after threatening to kill state lawmakers that if they pass a law that they will be killed and murdered.

>> That's a threat to democracy.

And so we took that very seriously in this case, he was an elderly man, no firearms and no prior criminal history over 70.

And so ultimately the sentence was only a few days in jail.

What I have liked to have seen more.

Yes, but this individual now has a felony conviction.

He cannot purchase a firearm.

And so there is an added sense of security in that respect.

>> Threats and security concerns could also discourage some candidates from running for office.

up the higher the level of office that someone looks at, no matter what level of government.

>> Tony says that threats to civil servants will not be tolerated.

in politics, and if that ever occurs, we're going to aggressively investigate and prosecute that threats have no prosecute that threats have no