Scripps News visits Surry County, North Carolina, where an election official has been targeted by disinformation and threats by Trump supporters who believe the 2020 election was stolen.
We hear from Michella Huff, who began to receive phone calls and public questions about whether the 2020 election was valid.
"I was cornered and pressed for twenty minutes," she said of one confrontation. "All of a sudden election officials are people to not be trusted and not believed."
In one case in 2022, people pushing so-called election "integrity efforts" arrived to Huff's office and asked for access to voting machines. They claimed they had proof that the machines had contacted cellular towers on Election Day in 2020.
"I didn't expect to have to think about the safety of myself, my staff, my family," Huff said. "But that began to be a reality."
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Election administration is overwhelmingly female. About 80% of election workers in the U.S., including Huff's team, are women. 38% of those officials have reported experiencing threats, harassment or abuse. 7 in 10 say those threats have increased since 2020.
Watch Scripps News' full report in the video above.
