Duval supervisor of elections says police guarded his home in November shortly after the election

JACKSONVILLE, Fla. — The Jacksonville Sheriff’s Office is on the hunt for a man seen in surveillance video wearing a gas mask and leaving a threatening note at the Duval Democratic Party headquarters.

As detectives analyze the video, it is possible the suspect could be identified soon.

The incident shows how far partisan politics has gone this year.

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Action News Jax called the Duval Supervisor of Elections, Mike Hogan, to hear his take on how the political environment affected his staff this election cycle, and he shared something that caught our attention.

“I had a police officer at my house for a period of time,” he said.

Hogan was referring to the time after Nov. 3 when his staff was counting ballots.

“They had gotten some information of some things that might be happening, so they were just getting prepared for it,” Hogan said.

Police were at his home for less than a week and ultimately there were no incidents, but it was the first time as supervisor of elections that police had to be sent to his house.

“How much of your time was spent battling misinformation?” asked reporter Lorena Inclán.

“Misinformation was pretty much a daily event, not only for my staff but for our call center,” Hogan said.

He wasn’t too surprised to hear about the incident at Duval Democratic Party headquarters given the current political climate.

“There are crazies out there, and a lot of them will do anything. It’s unfortunate,” Hogan said.

But despite the bitter partisanship, Hogan said there were some bright spots this election cycle.

“Most exciting thing to us as a staff was, we have never received as many compliments from the public,” he said.

Cox Media Group