Justice News

Remarks as Prepared for Delivery

Good afternoon. I appreciate the willingness of so many of you to be with us today to discuss threats to the safety of election officials and election workers. I am doubly appreciative of your willingness to do so on relatively short notice.

But as you well know, this is a problem that will not wait.

Moreover, it is a problem that is the subject of intense focus by the highest levels of the Department of Justice. That is why I am joined today by the Deputy Attorney General, the Associate Attorney General, and the Director of the FBI.

The right to vote is the foundation of our democracy, the right from which all other rights ultimately flow. Protection of that right is a top priority of the Justice Department. Indeed, it was one of the principal reasons for the Department’s founding in 1870.

Today, we must protect not only the right of eligible voters to vote. We must also protect those who administer our voting systems from threats and intimidation. Only by protecting those who administer the election process can we ensure that the right to vote, itself, is protected.

But no one needs to tell you that. Indeed, you have been making the point publicly and repeatedly. And we have heard you.

In June of this year, I publicly noted “the dramatic increase in menacing and violent threats against all manner of state and local election workers, ranging from the highest administrators to volunteer poll workers.” Those threats, I said, “...

Read Full Story: https://www.justice.gov/opa/speech/attorney-general-merrick-b-garland-delivers-remarks-justice-department-leadership-meeting

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