Mike Lindell group fishing for personal info from Georgia election officials
MyPillow founder Mike Lindell's "election crime" group allegedly sent out emails requesting personal information from local officials and information about security threats by impersonating a nonprofit cybersecurity initiative.
The Lindell-backed Election Crime Bureau emailed at least one Georgia county Sept. 5 asking officials to respond to a survey about the nonprofit Center for Internet Security (CIS) and its Elections Infrastructure Information Sharing and Analysis Center, which is funded by the U.S. Department of Homeland Security, reported Rolling Stone.
“The Election Crime Bureau has been investigating what steps have been taken in all 3,143 counties across America to ensure the security of the upcoming 2024 election,” reads the email from Lindell’s Election Crime Bureau. “In support of this investigation we have enclosed a very short survey for your response.”
The survey asked election officials for their home addresses, cell phone numbers and other personal information and asked whether they were using two monitoring systems developed by CIS, and the cybersecurity firm issued an advisory warning to election officials warning the Lindell organization was impersonating them.
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"[CIS] received multiple reports of emails from [the] ‘Election Crime Bureau’ being disseminated that could lead a recipient to believe these emails are from the Elections Infrastructure Information Sharing & Analysis Center," the organization said.
Joseph Kirk, the election supervisor in Bartow County, confirmed to Rolling Stone and American Doom that a message from Election Crime Bureau landed in his spam filter, and he only learned about the email after receiving the CIS advisory, and the next day secretary of state Brad Raffensperger’s office sent warnings to county election offices about the messages.
“Georgia election officials are some of the best in the country, and we remain vigilant and stand ready to defend our election from all threats,” Georgia Deputy Secretary of State Jordan Fuchs says in a statement.
A staffer from Election Crime Bureau accused CIS of "engaging in a disinformation campaign" and attempting to "restrict access" to information about election security, and Lindell – a fervent supporter of former president Donald Trump – texted Rolling Stone and American Doom to say he knew little about the situation.
“I haven’t been following this but I do know the Election Crime Bureau is helping secure our elections for all people,” Lindell texted.
“Not sure why the media is attacking the Election Crime Bureau," he added. "My guess is like always they do not want to go to paper ballots hand counted in our country. 132 countries have outlawed computers and electronic voting machines… the uni-party wants to keep the machines!!"
The email provides background on DHS’ Elections Infrastructure Information Sharing and Analysis Center and then includes a fact sheet on CIS’ Elections Infrastructure Information Sharing and Analysis Center that links to a Gateway Pundit story on a sensor monitoring system based on false claims that election equipment is connected to the internet.