Texas secretary of state: Alex Jones ‘unleashed hell on our election people’

Texas Secretary of State John Scott (R), in an interview with Texas Monthly published Monday, decried the “absurd” amount of threats faced by election workers in recent years, pointing the finger at conspiracy theorists such as Alex Jones.

“The Infowars guy has unleashed hell on our election people,” Scott said.

Law enforcement officials have pointed to a worrying trend of rising threats against election personnel and infrastructure, particularly in the wake of the 2020 election, which former President Trump and many of his supporters have falsely said was skewed by voter fraud.

“That behavior is unacceptable under any scenario,” Scott said of the threats. “Just because somebody said something, or they saw something on TV, that doesn’t excuse it.”

Texas Monthly pointed to a survey conducted by the Brennan Center for Justice that found that one in six election workers has received threats because of their job.

In response, Scott said, “It’s a huge problem … [it] is pathetic — the fact that they’re in that much fear of their life, that it’s gotten that heated. I think it’s obscene.”

“This is insanity — you can’t have people receiving death threats for doing their jobs,” said the secretary.

Scott added that he himself has received death threats along with others in his elections division, calling it “absurd” and saying that he does not “know what’s caused it.”

“Any time the temperature gets turned up, it’s possible to have nuts making these statements,” Scott responded.

“At least in our office, what I was told is that these threats long preceded the 2020 election.”