An unspecified number of Alaskans received emails Tuesday morning warning them to “vote for Trump or else,” in an incident that’s drawn the attention of the FBI and the state Division of Elections.
Several Alaskans in communities across the state posted screenshots of the emails early Tuesday, and news reports from Florida indicated the same messages were sent to some voters there.
In a copy of the email shared by Anchorage resident Kane Stanton, the sender told Stanton that “we are in possession of all your information (email, address, telephone).”
“You are currently registered as a Democrat and we know this because we have gained access into the entire voting infrastructure,” the message said. “You will vote for Trump on Election Day or we will come after you. Change your party affiliation to Republican to let us know you received our message and will comply.”
Identical messages were sent to residents of Petersburg in Southeast Alaska and Bristol Bay in Southwest Alaska.
A spokeswoman for the Division of Elections, Tiffany Montemayor, said the state is aware of the emails and had sent them “to the appropriate federal agency for their review.”
An Anchorage-based FBI spokeswoman, Chloe Martin, said her agency is also aware of the emails but declined to immediately answer questions.
The emails were sent from multiple addresses, according to copies shared with Alaska Public Media and posted to social media. One was sent from “trumpdigitalsoldier11@hotmail.com,” and the one sent to Stanton came from “info@officialproudboys.com.”
The Proud Boys are right-wing group known for their violent demonstrations, but it’s not clear whether that email address is formally linked to the organization.
CBS News reported that the messages came from internet addresses linked to servers in the Middle East and Estonia — though the story quoted a cybersecurity expert as saying that the messages could have been routed through the servers from “nearly anywhere” and that there’s no evidence that they were orchestrated by a foreign government.
It’s also not clear how the senders obtained the email addresses of the Alaskans who received the messages Tuesday. While the state makes some voter data publicly available, those voter files do not include email addresses, said Montemayor, the elections division spokeswoman.
But some email addresses used for absentee voting, along with party registration, can be accessed through a public website designed to allow Alaskans to search for their own voter information.
Stanton, the Anchorage resident who received one of the emails, said he didn’t feel intimidated by the message, but shared it with Alaska Public Media in case others were.
“My first reaction was, ‘Are you kidding me? Bring it,’ just because that’s my personality and I don’t scare very easily. But I understand the gravity of the situation,” he said in a phone interview. “Others might not be as unaffected as I am and could scare very easily, and that’s a threat to our democracy.”
This story has been updated with new information. Isabelle Ross contributed reporting from Dillingham.
