Iowa Man Gets Prison for Threatening Calls to Arizona Election Officials

The Justice Department Election Threats Task Force has charged 14 cases involving threats against “the election community.”

Voters drop their ballot in a dropbox in the U.S. midterm election at the Maricopa County Tabulation and Election Center, in Phoenix, Arizona on Nov. 8, 2022. Olivier Touron/AFP via Getty Images

An Iowa man has been sentenced to two and a half years in federal prison for leaving threatening voicemails on the phone of an election official on the Maricopa County Arizona Board of Supervisors and to the then-Attorney General of Arizona.

According to a statement from the U.S. Department of Justice, Mark A. Rissi, 64, of Hiawatha, Iowa, left the following message around Sept. 27, 2021, in the voicemail system of Clint Hickman, an election official with the Maricopa County Board of Supervisors:  “Hello Mr. Hickman, I am glad that you are standing up for democracy and want to place your hand on the Bible and say that the election was honest and fair. I really appreciate that. When we come to lynch your stupid lying Commie [expletive], you’ll remember that you lied on the [expletive] Bible, you piece of [expletive]. You’re gonna die, you piece of [expletive]. We’re going to hang you. We’re going to hang you.”