ENROLLED ORIGINAL
A RESOLUTION
25-431
IN THE COUNCIL OF THE DISTRICT OF COLUMBIA
February 6, 2024
To declare the existence of an emergency with respect to the need to amend the District of
Columbia Theft and White Collar Crimes Act of 1982 to enhance penalties imposed for
certain crimes against election workers.
RESOLVED, BY THE COUNCIL OF THE DISTRICT OF COLUMBIA, That this
resolution may be cited as the “Election Worker Protection Emergency Declaration of 2024”.
Sec. 2. (a) The emergency legislation (“measure”) addresses safety concerns facing
District of Columbia Board of Elections (“BOE”) officials and election workers. The measure
will provide additional safeguards to election workers to help ensure District elections are safe
for everyone.
(b) The hotly contested 2024 elections will bring a predicable increase in the abuse of our
election officials and poll workers. The District of Columbia, as the nation’s capital, will receive
increased exposure given the 2024 presidential elections. Already, the BOE has received
numerous threatening voice mail messages and had someone shatter the outer glass to their office
suite. We must take action to protect our election workers given these attacks and the high
likelihood of additional attacks or threats in the coming months. The measure will increase the
penalties for crimes against election officials and elections workers to deter these crimes and
show that the safety of these workers is a priority of our government.
(c) We are facing a nationwide increase in threats against those who serve the public,
including our elections officials. Many of these threats are largely inspired by the anti-
democratic lies about an alleged stolen 2020 election. State officials, including election workers,
are facing a torrent of threats largely inspired by those lies and former President Donald Trump’s
continuing election-denial movement. The rise in these threats creates an unstable environment
for Secretaries of State and our own Board of Elections, leading to historically high turnover
among election officials. These entities have had to prepare for the potential of violence in the
workplace by providing active-shooter training to their employees and additional trainings to
identify threatening situations. Additionally, election directors have had to get security details
and carry panic buttons with them.
(d) Emergency legislation is necessary to create criminal penalty enhancements to deter
crimes against our election officials and workers before the election cycle ramps up.
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 ENROLLED ORIGINAL
Sec. 3. The Council determines that the circumstances enumerated in section 2 constitute
emergency circumstances making it necessary that the Election Worker Protection Emergency
Amendment Act of 2024 be adopted after a single reading.
Sec. 4. This resolution shall take effect immediately.
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