Members of the Montgomery County Board of Elections participate in a press conference on Nov. 5, 2024, after the polls closed on Election Day. Pictured, from left, is Commissioner Tom DiBello, Election Board Chairman Neil Makhija and Vice Chairwoman Jamila Winder. (Rachel Ravina – MediaNews Group)
Winder addresses reported threats, violence over past week: ‘Montgomery County is no place for hate.’
The Montgomery County Board of Commissioners convened last Thursday for its first meeting since the 2024 general election.
Unofficial county election results showed an 81.5 percent voter turnout as counting efforts continue in an election that featured several high-profile races, including the presidential race between Vice President Kamala Harris and former president Donald Trump.
While Harris won handily in the state’s third most populous county, Trump claimed victory in the nationwide contest by more than 2.7 million votes, according to figures from The Associated Press.
“… We were committed to a free and fair election this year, and we delivered on that, and we respect the results of that, and look forward to certifying the election as soon as we’re done with all the processes. There’s still a very close Senate race, which is going to result in a recount,” Montgomery County Commissioners’ Vice Chairman Neil Makhija said, referencing the contest between incumbent Democrat U.S. Sen. Bob Casey and Republican challenger Dave McCormick, a former hedge fund CEO.
Montgomery County Commissioners’ Chairwoman Jamila Winder, a Democrat, called for area residents to “move forward” following the election but stressed serious concerns about reported threats and violence in the days following the election.
“This means working together despite differences in opinion, differences in backgrounds and differences in how we may have voted,” she said. “However, in the past week, our friends and neighbors have experienced truly disturbing threats, acts of hate speech and violence.”
“Young Black Americans are being targeted with racist text messages, including students from districts right here in Montgomery County: Lower Merion, North Penn School District and campuses all across the country,” Winder continued. “People of color in the Philadelphia suburbs have been targeted with racist graffiti spray painted on their own properties. These acts are being investigated as hate crimes.”
Winder referenced reports of a Nazi flag flown in recent days at a Whitpain Township home. Elected officials at the local, state and national levels have condemned the act that was said to have taken place on the 86th anniversary of Kristallnacht on Nov. 9. Also known as the “night of broken glass,” violent, anti-Semitic assaults were taken on Jewish businesses, homes and synagogues in Germany, according to the U.S. Holocaust Museum.
“As a leader in this county who is responsible for our staff and our residents, this is deeply unsettling, and as a mother raising a Black child, this is incredibly viscerally personal to me,” she said. “I want to make everyone clear that Montgomery County is no place for hate. Hateful speech and rhetoric will not be tolerated.”
“I want to thank Commissioner Winder for her leadership. There’s certainly a lot of uncertainty about what happens next,” Makhija, who serves as chairman of the county election board, said as he stressed that “people are genuinely concerned on the issues of civil rights.”
Winder, who’s also vice chairwoman of the Montgomery County Board of Elections, identified instances “in the wake of last week’s election” where threats were made against county personnel and Makhija’s family.
Security was top of mind in the days before the election. A bomb threat forced the evacuation of the Chester County Government Services Center in West Chester, which caused delays and extended hours as voters at two polling places were redirected to vote at different precincts.
In Montgomery County, preparation measures included forming partnerships with local law enforcement and several county jurisdictions. The Montgomery County District Attorney’s Office previously established an election-related tip line and the Montgomery County Detective Bureau formed a threat assessment management unit tasked with investigating threats against public officials, schools, houses of worship, election offices, and public property.
In addition, the county’s information and technology solutions department’s enhanced firewall security measures thwarted more than 1 million “attempts of intrusion to our county network,” with roughly 600,000 coming from Russia and Bulgaria, Makhija said during a press conference last week. He touted the county’s security participants as “all made sure that we could vote safely and securely and protected everybody’s rights.”
“I never thought on election night we would be having bomb-sniffing dogs around these offices, but that’s … where unfortunately we remain in terms of the state of politics and the threats that we have faced in simply exercising our fundamental rights,” he said.
Makhija and Winder, both Democrats, lead the two boards majority-wise, while Republican Commissioner Tom DiBello serves as a minority board member.
“Elections, it should never matter who wins, who loses, whatever, but people making these type of statements, or rhetoric, or displays of anything that … has a negative impact on another individual in our county, state or country is just wrong, and I fully support anything that we can do to ensure that all our residents, all our county employees, everyone has the same protections, and that we as commissioners will stand behind those individuals that have received those types of threats,” DiBello said. “... I think it’s appalling and disgusting, and we will do everything we can to ensure that justice is brought.”
While the elected officials differed politically, they stood united in denouncing these actions and the threat assessment team would investigate maintained instances.
“As chair of the Montgomery County Board of Commissioners, I remain deeply committed to the values that have always defined our community: inclusivity, respect and progress,” Winder said.
“The outcome of this election does not change our shared commitment to these principles,” she said. “My responsibility is to the people of Montgomery County, and I will continue to lead with integrity, ensuring that our services and our programs reflect the best interests of every person who lives, works and visits here.”
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