The Philly DA’s office is building a team to target serious election interference crimes

Philadelphia District Attorney Larry Krasner’s office is in the beginning stages of creating an “elite team” to target election interference crimes surrounding the 2024 election, should they occur.

Matthew Stiegler, senior adviser to the DA, has been tasked with launching, building, and leading a team that aims to identify and prosecute serious election interference crimes.

The team will focus on investigating threats against elected officials and other intimidation efforts, and serve as expansion of the DA Office’s current Election Task Force, which has primarily focused on day-to-day complaints that unfold at polling locations.

“Our efforts are absolutely nonpartisan,” Stiegler said. “We’re firmly committed to protecting the democratic rights and safety of every Philadelphian. We’re significantly expanding our efforts in the face of increasing threats to democracy nationally.”

While the expanded team will most likely not be a permanent fixture of the office, the group would continue to work until all reported interference crimes are prosecuted.

The most significant incident of election interference in U.S. history was the Jan. 6, 2021, attack on the U.S. Capitol, fueled by former President Donald Trump’s false election fraud claims. In the months leading up to that day, Philadelphia encountered interference attempts during the 2020 election.

Two illegally armed men were arrested outside of the Pennsylvania Convention Center after traveling from Virginia to Philadelphia to attempt to disrupt the vote counting process. Secretary of State Al Schmidt, then a city commissioner, and his family began receiving threats after refusing to back Trump’s unfounded claims of election fraud.

One message sent to Schmidt’s family members threatened to fatally shoot them and their children, Schmidt told the congressional committee investigating the Jan. 6 attack.

Philadelphia is currently in the “best shape” in terms of maintaining election integrity, said Lauren Cristella, president and CEO of Committee of Seventy, a nonpartisan civic leadership organization, thanks to the experience levels of city commissioners and voters’ increasing comfort level with the city’s voting machines and mail-in ballot process.

Philly’s elections are secure, but the prominent role the city could play in choosing the next president raises the possibility of someone interfering with the results, Cristella added, also noting that she doesn’t believe there will be an exact repeat of the incidents from 2020.

“I think the rhetoric and the temperature and the stakes and the role that Philadelphia plays in deciding who the next president will be are so high that attention naturally turns here,” Cristella said.

The DA’s election interference crimes team will continue to be developed in the weeks moving forward and the office expects there to be an ongoing effort to notify the public of their endeavors throughout the voting and vote counting processes.

Stiegler placed a callout to join the team on X Tuesday morning, noting that litigious power is needed in the biggest city in a battleground state.

“Let’s not kid ourselves,” Stiegler wrote. “We’re in real danger of election interference from hate groups at war with democracy. Help is not on the way. To get through this, we need to turn our alarm into action.”

During the November 2023 election, Krasner warned that anyone who participated in election interference would be prosecuted.

“We got a pair of handcuffs, we got a jail cell, and we got a Philadelphia jury,” Krasner said at the time. “The reason we haven’t had problems here is that the enemies of democracy wouldn’t dare.”

It’s important for the DA’s Office to communicate with the general public about what constitutes an election interference crime and how they will respond to such crimes, Cristella said.

“Nothing could be more important to our elections than ensuring that they’re free, fair, safe, and secure,” Cristella said. “Our law enforcement officials play an important role in that, as well as our election officials and everybody you would assume has a strong role to play.”

The DA’s Office most recently activated its current election task force during the primaries in April. Voters were directed by the DA to use the task force’s hotline to alert the team of any polling location complaints or violations of Pennsylvania Election Code.

Federal and Pennsylvania laws prohibit election officials and poll workers from discriminating against voters and conspiring with others to strip someone of their right to vote. It’s also illegal for any person or corporation to intimidate or coerce an individual to vote or refrain from voting for a candidate or issue through various tactics including force, violence, and infliction of injury, damage, harm, or loss.

Penalties for depriving or attempting to deprive someone of their right to vote includes a fine of up to $5,000 or a prison sentence of up to five years. Those who intimidate voters can be fined the same and face up to two years in prison. Conduct that discriminates or intimidates may include violations under other federal or state laws that could bring additional criminal penalties.