Fredreka Schouten for CNN:

Richard Barron, who oversees elections in Georgia’s biggest Democratic county, is announcing his resignation Wednesday — following a tumultuous year that has included death threats against him and his staff and the potential takeover of election operations in the county by state officials.His announcement comes one day after municipal elections that he and other Fulton County, Georgia, officials said ran relatively smoothly.

Barron’s departure underscores the precarious position of election officials, who have faced unprecedented personal attacks in the last year and punishing new laws that threaten to sideline professional supervisors and install partisan actors in their stead.

Election observers have warned for months that the country could face a mass exodus of experienced election supervisors if the onslaught of threats continues, driven by relentless falsehoods that election fraud contributed to former President Donald Trump’s loss a year ago.

“I think we have a lot of cowardly elected officials who won’t let go of the ‘Big Lie’ because they are scared of their constituents,” Barron told CNN in an interview. “If they could have stood up, they could have put an end to this a long time ago.”

Barron said he’s faced a threat to “serve him lead,” and another that talked about “taking me out by hanging or a firing squad.” He previously told CNN that he had spoken with the FBI as part of an investigation into the threats.