As we prepare ourselves for efforts at destabilizing our free and democratic election, we need to stay vigilant.
Here’s two recent examples of attempts at disruption at polling sites in other parts of the country.
Florida Teen Arrested for Threatening Democratic Voters With Machete
A Florida teenager has been arrested after he “brandished a machete in an aggressive, threatening posture over his head” at two women Tuesday [Oct. 29] outside an early voting location near Jacksonville, police said.
Caleb James Williams, 18, joined by seven juveniles, approached sign wavers and antagonized the “opposing political side,” Neptune Beach Police Chief Michael Key Jr. said. … The Duval County Democratic Party identified the sign wavers as supporters of Vice President Kamala Harris.
Williams is charged with aggravated assault on a person 65 or older and improper exhibition of a dangerous weapon …He was being held at a pretrial detention facility and is scheduled for a hearing Wednesday.
Williams was among a group of teens who showed up outside the Beaches Branch Library in Neptune Beach where early voting was taking place Tuesday afternoon and antagonized the sign wavers, Key said. At one point, Williams began waving a machete in a “threatening manner” over his head at two women, ages 54 and 71, according to Key. The women called police, Key said. “The group was there for no other reason but ill intentions and to cause a disturbance,” Key said. “Ensuring everyone’s right to vote is crucial and it will not be impeded upon in Neptune Beach or Duval County.”
The group was supporting former President Donald Trump, according to Duval County Democratic Party Chair Daniel Henry. “We are deeply concerned about a violent incident [Tuesday] at the Beaches Library, where a group of young men carrying Trump flags, with one individual armed with a machete, confronted peaceful Harris-Walz sign-wavers exercising their First Amendment rights,” the Duval County Democratic Party said in a social media post Tuesday.
“This troubling act of intimidation was met with a swift response from the Neptune Beach Police Department, who arrived within minutes to assess and de-escalate the situation,” the post added. (Yahoo – CNN)
MAGA Voter Gets Physical With Black Poll Workers in South Carolina
An incident at a polling station in Orangeburg, South Carolina, involving an apparent Trump supporter who berated a group of Black female poll workers on Wednesday resulted in a state investigation. The incident turned physical during early voting after a white man sporting a pro-Trump cap used expletives when told he could not wear the political paraphernalia. According to WIS News 10, the male voter wore a “Let’s Go Brandon” hat. The coded term is a known anti-President Joe Biden phrase for “F–k Joe Biden.”
When the man was told he could not wear the hat while voting and turned away at the polling station, he is heard calling a Black female poll worker a “f—king b–tch.” He then takes off the hat and points it toward another poll worker, and defiantly shouts, “This is my motherf—king right.”
Political or campaign apparel is barred at polling stations in 21 states, according to Democracy Docket. South Carolina law states that poll managers shall “use every reasonable means to keep the area within five hundred feet of any such entrance clear of political literature and displays.”
The incident in Orangeburg escalated further as the pro-Trump voter told the poll worker to “Shut the hell up and let me vote.” When he is still prevented from voting, he takes the hat off and tosses it to the ground by the feet of a woman recording the interaction.
After he is still refused at the polling desk, he appears to point in the face of another poll worker, also a Black female. The woman strikes the man, who then advances toward her. The poll workers, joined by two white female voters, attempt to retrain the man and remove him from the polling station. The video cuts off before the incident’s conclusion.
Christale Spain, chairwoman of the South Carolina Democratic Party, told theGrio that local party leaders informed her that the poll manager who struck the Trump voter was initially issued a “courtesy summons” for simple assault. However, the charge was later dismissed Thursday morning by the solicitor. Orangeburg Police Chief Charles Austin has referred the case to the South Carolina Law Enforcement Division to investigate the altercation.
Spain said she was “shocked” and “disturbed” by how the election workers were treated. It was not lost on the party chairwoman that the incident involved a white man and a group of older Black women. “To see someone resort to that type of aggression against a room full of women, there was no threat for him in that room. It’s upsetting to say the least,” she told theGrio.
Spain added, “Racism is alive and well in this country, and we’re in the South, and so those images are not new to us.” The Grio / Yahoo News
A similar incident happened at a polling station last week in San Antonio, Texas, where a Trump voter punched an election worker who told him that he couldn’t wear a pro-Trump baseball cap. The man, identified as Jesse Lutzenberger, was arrested on felony charges for assaulting an elderly person, reported CBS News.
