Orangeburg, S.C.–A fight broke out at a South Carolina polling station during early voting Wednesday between poll workers and a voter after the man refused to remove his “Let’s Go Brandon” hat.
Footage obtained by WIS News 10 and a viral video on social media show a heavy-set, white male voter engage in an altercation with a group of Black, female poll workers at the Orangeburg County Library. The video begins with the workers explaining to the man he can’t vote while wearing the politically-affiliated outfit.
“‘You f*cking b*tch,” the voter says.
“Sir, don’t cuss at me,” a poll worker responds. They tell him to take the hat outside.
“Shut the hell up, and let me vote, the man responds.
“Let’s Go Brandon” is an anti-Biden slogan. South Carolina law forbids campaign material or politically-affiliated attire within 500 feet of a voting location. Poll workers “shall use every reasonable means” to keep polling places “clear of political literature and displays, the law states.
South Carolina poll workers fend off angry voter
In the video, the poll workers attempt to diffuse the situation and ask the next voter to step forward. The man responds by throwing his hat at the next person in line and putting his finger in a poll workers’ face.
Next, footage shows the poll worker exchanging blows with the man as other workers try to keep the two separated. A woman removes herself through a back door as the video shows the man trying to go after the female poll worker.
The South Carolina Law Enforcement Division is investigating the incident, the South Carolina Daily Gazette reported Thursday.
It marks the latest incident of a right-wing voter attacking a poll worker. A 63-year-old man in Bexar County, Texas was arrested last week after he assaulted a poll worker.
He was told to remove his MAGA hat and responded by punching the poll worker in the face several times.
A tight presidential race
Wednesday’s battle comes as polls shows heightened anxiety around the 2024 presidential election, where nearly 65 million Americans have already voted early or via mail-in ballots ahead of election day on Tuesday, Nov. 5.
According to the latest polling, presidential nominee Vice President Kamala Harris has a slight lead over twice-impeached, former President Donald Trump in the national vote, but Trump leads Harris in several of the seven swing states needed to win the election.
Notably, Trump’s rhetoric led to threats and intimidation against Black female poll workers in Georgia, who recently won a lawsuit against Rudy Giuliani for his role in aiding Trump’s effort to overturn the 2020 election results.
Trump ended his 2024 campaign with a racist, pro-fascist rally at Madison Square Garden in what some have compared to the Nazi rally at the same location in 1939, where he once against referred to Democrats as “the enemy of the people.”
A closing argument
A day before a voter would threaten poll workers in South Carolina, Vice President Harris gave what she called a closing argument at the Ellipse in Washington, D.C.
Over 70,000 people came to hear the Vice President’s speech, which occurred at the same location where Trump incited a fascist mob to storm the U.S. Capitol and overturn the results of the 2020 election.
“On day one, if elected, Donald Trump would walk into that office with an enemies list. When elected, I will walk in with a to-do list, full of priorities of what I will get done for the American people,” Harris said.
Related Stories
- Georgia poll workers say they fear for their safety after Trump’s election lie
- Election workers who face frequent harassment see accountability in the latest Georgia charges
- “America’s Mayor” Rudy Giuliani didn’t put America first
Comments are closed.