Richland County elections wants guidance after polling place voter intimidation incident
The Richland County Voter Registration office has asked for guidance from law enforcement on how to handle potential disturbances at polling locations after a person, who posts videos on YouTube, walked into a polling place and disrupted early voting.
The man wears a press badge and posts videos on B.D. Live YouTube channel, said Travis Alexander, the Richland County director of Voter Registration.
The channel describes itself as a “Constitutional Rights Journalist.”
In an email to fellow Richland County officials, Alexander said voters and poll workers at Richland County’s two Hampton Street early voting locations were intimidated and harassed. The person also came within 5 feet of voting equipment. The man also got into verbal arguments with voters and “put his camera within inches of the face of voters at the Brook Church location on Friday,” the email said.
“I told poll workers to be calm, (he’s) just trying to get a show on,” Alexander said in an interview with The State.
Alexander also advised poll workers to politely ask him to leave if he shows up.
In an email obtained by The State from Richland County Sheriff Leon Lott, who is running for reelection this year, he said “RCSD will do what we can legally in regards to the 1st Amendment auditor.”
Alexander also followed up with additional questions to Lott including what should poll workers do if someone tries to take pictures of other people’s ballots, if a person interferes with the voting process or comes within five feet of equipment, gets into arguments with voters, or walks around openly carrying a weapon.
“With election day nearing I need help developing a response to these questions to ease the minds of my team and poll workers,” Alexander wrote in an email to Lott.
In a response to Alexander, Lott said poll managers have the power to maintain order at polling locations and deputies can only come into a polling place when “summoned into it by a majority of the managers” and having a marked squad vehicle at a polling location without being requested can be seen as intimidation.
Lott added poll managers may call police for the items Alexander listed as concerns.
“The Sheriff’s Department will do all we can legally to ensure a safe voting process for the citizens of Richland Count,” Lott wrote.
At the very least, Alexander said he is hoping law enforcement is able to drive by and patrol around the polling places in case there is any other harassment of voters or poll workers.
In an email to The State, LiveBD said Richland County elections have had issues in previous elections.
“I have been visiting early voting sites in SC to get a count of the voting machines and staff. The altercations that have ensued have been with misinformed poll workers and the unprofessional director,” LiveBD’s statement said.
The S.C. Election Commission said it is not aware of any other reports of voter intimidation.
Reporter Anna Wilder contribute to this article.
This story was originally published October 30, 2024 at 1:48 PM.
