Philly area Trump voters file lawsuit over pre-election threats. They don’t know who they’re suing.

Two Philadelphia-area Trump voters who received threatening letters weeks before the 2024 election are suing the people responsible.

But they don’t know who those people are.

Robert Butwin Jr. of Tredyffrin Township and Janet Schmidt of Lower Merion, both supporters of President Donald Trump who put Trump lawn signs outside their houses last year, filed a lawsuit this month against John Does who mailed them letters promising consequences for their vote and ominously declaring “we know where you live.”

The Public Interest Legal Foundation, a conservative law firm, is representing the voters in an effort to use civil courts to track down the source of the threats. In addition to the suit, the firm is offering a $2,000 reward for any information leading to the identity of the people who sent the letters.

“The stakes are too high to do nothing,” J. Christian Adams, the president of the Public Interest Legal Foundation, said in an interview. “When voters get death threats there has to be a response by civil society that this is unacceptable behavior.”

The lawsuit, filed in federal court in Eastern Pennsylvania last week, alleges that whoever sent the letters illegally threatened voters. The suit asked the federal judge to give the firm time to conduct an investigation into the defendants using the court discovery process. Additionally, the suit asked the court to find that the defendants violated federal law with the letters and block them from sending any additional threatening content.

Adams said the firm will use open records to obtain investigative files from police agencies that have looked into the threats. If the investigations are still open, the documents will not be subject to public record law, but Adams said the requests will allow the firm to pick up the investigations if law enforcement has abandoned them.

However, it is not uncommon for law enforcement agencies to leave cases open even after investigations have stalled.

At least one police agency that received a report told The Inquirer on Wednesday that it did not have an active investigation into the threats.

“Either the Pennsylvania police have an active investigation going or they don’t and if they are punting here then we’ll be getting those records,” Adams said.

Butwin and Schmidt both received letters in October of last year warning them that their support for Trump “comes at a cost,” according to the suit.

The letter warned of consequences to the economy if Trump won a second term and that “more importantly, we know where you live, you are in the database.”

“In the dead of a cold winters night, this year, or next and beyond, there is no knowing what may happen. Your property, your family may be impacted, your cat may get shot. And more,” the letter said.

The letter finished by declaring that a vote for Trump would tread on the writer’s rights and “you tread on me at your peril.”

According to a Delaware Valley Journal article at the time, similar letters were reported across the state. The letters arrived in a political cycle that was rife with violence. Just months earlier, Trump survived an assassination attempt on the western side of Pennsylvania.

“Plaintiffs are neither public figures nor political operatives; they are simply private citizens who displayed signs supporting the candidate of their choice. They did not seek to be a part of the nasty political discourse. Rather, a bad actor sent it to their door,” the lawsuit said.

Capt. Tyler Moyer of the Tredyffrin Township Police Department said the agency did not investigate the letter. Unlike a text message or phone call, Moyer said, it is difficult to trace the origins of physical letters mailed to homes.

“If it’s something that just shows up in your mailbox one day there’s very little that we can do with that,” Moyer said.

While it’s unclear how likely it is that the suit will successfully uncover the source of the threats, Adams said taking action was essential. The letters, he said, were frightening for his clients and represented a broader threat to democracy itself.

“People should not get death threats based on who they have a sign or a flag for in front of their house,” Adams said. “That you can’t threaten to kill people or their family or their pets, all of which were in the letter, because of who they plan on voting for. That’s just a fundamental principle of America.”