By Marilyn Odendahl
The Indiana Citizen
December 13, 2024
Before making a decision whether to refer the matter to prosecutors, the Marion County Election Board wants to hear from the Indianapolis man who walked into a voting center on Election Day with two handguns and a knife.
The election board met Thursday afternoon and discussed the findings of an investigation into an incident at a voting center inside a church. In addition, board members watched a short video filmed by a poll worker at the scene which showed the man, who has not been publicly identified, becoming belligerent in the middle of the polling place and eventually taking off his t-shirt, revealing two handguns holstered on his waistband. He was said to have also had a knife, but that could not be seen on the video.
Nolita Stewart, chair of the election board, described the video as “disturbing to watch.” She credited the poll workers with handling the “situation extremely well because that could have escalated.”
According to Patrick Becker, Marion County Election Board director, taking steps to potentially refer a voting incident for prosecution is unprecedented for the board. Moreover, the man at the center of the incident may have violated a new state law that took effect July 1, that makes threatening, obstructing, interfering with or injuring an election worker a Level 6 felony.
The board unanimously adopted the findings of the investigative report and opted to send the man a notice, asking him to come before the board and explain his actions. The man will not be required to appear.
Officials said the next board meeting is scheduled for Jan. 21, 2025.
After the meeting adjourned, Kate Sweeney Bell, Marion County Circuit Court clerk and board secretary, said the board wants to make sure that everything it does in this matter is within the confines of the law. She noted that in the video the man appears to have potentially violated not only the new state election worker protection law but also the prohibition against electioneering by wearing or carrying political paraphernalia into a voting center.
“What I saw today showed me that there was enough to ask more questions before we make our decision,” Sweeney Bell said, explaining the decision to give the man the opportunity to speak to the board. “He’s got a right to come and tell us his version.”
Margo Kelly, the inspector at the voting center where the incident occurred, said she does not think the video really reflected what happened, because viewers could not hear how hostile the man was. He was using a lot of profanity, she said, and the poll workers were concerned for the safety not only of the voters but also of the children and staff in the day care and preschool housed at the church.
Kelly said she believes the man intended to cause trouble at the voting center because he wanted to intimidate voters.
When the man entered the polling place in the Quaker church, First Friends Meeting, he was asked to remove his baseball cap and turn his t-shirt inside out because they displayed a “photograph and a campaign slogan of a candidate” who was on the November ballot, according to Becker. Indiana law prohibits voters from wearing any article of clothing that includes any likeness or reference to a candidate while in a polling place.
The video shows the man appearing to angrily confront two poll workers while other voters are nearby. He then removes his red cap and places it on the head of one of the poll workers before pulling his t-shirt off over his head. From the video, two holsters with handguns – one on his right hip and the other on his back – can be clearly seen attached to his waistband.
Poll workers moved the man to the front of the line of voters and got him to the check-in station where he could sign the poll book and get his ballot. The video shows him, shirtless, leaning on the check-in table.
According to Becker, many of the individuals in the voting center were visibly upset as the incident unfolded. Some, he said, fled into a kitchen connected to the polling place.
Kelly said she had the man put his shirt back on, “because the guns were exposed and he was naked from the waist up” and then directed him to a voting machine so he could fill out his ballot and complete the voting process. After that, she said, she escorted him out of the building and then called the Indianapolis Metropolitan Police Department.
The man then went into a wooded area close to the church, Kelly said. When police arrived, they entered the woods and spoke with the man, but she said they did not arrest him.
First Friends Meeting posted a statement about the incident on its Facebook page.
“First Friends has been happy to provide this community service for many years, but is saddened by the behavior of this voter and the fear this naturally caused for all who were present,” the statement said. “We are glad no one was harmed during the incident.”
Also, First Friends said it would “fully cooperate with the Marion County Election Board and Indianapolis Metropolitan Police Department on any inquiries or investigations they may conduct.”
Indiana’s election worker protection law, which might have been violated in this incident, was passed with bipartisan support during the 2024 session of the Indiana General Assembly. Authored by Sens. Greg Walker, R-Columbus, and Sue Glick, R-LaGrange, Senate Enrolled Act 170 protects a broad range of “election workers,” from a member of a county election board and circuit court clerk to an employee of the clerk’s office, absentee vote counter and all the individuals who work at the polls on Election Day.
Anyone violating the law could be charged with a Level 6 felony which could result in a jail sentence as long as two-and-a-half years and a fine up to $10,000.
The Association of Clerks of Circuit Courts of Indiana, Common Cause for Indiana, the Indiana Prosecuting Attorneys Council and the Accelerate Indiana Municipalities all supported the bill.
Nicole Brown, Monroe County Circuit Court clerk and president of the clerks association, said Walker’s bill offered necessary support and reassurance to poll workers as more and more stories of threats and intimidation arise every day.
“Not only has it become increasingly difficult and exponentially more difficult for clerks to recruit and retain new poll workers,” Brown told legislators, “but current, inexperienced poll workers are expressing concern for their personal safety and their well-being at a time when we are preparing for what is likely to be history’s biggest election to date.”
Sweeney Bell said that to her knowledge, the election board has never had an Election Day incident to investigate or about which to convene a meeting. The election laws and voting rules apply uniformly to everyone, she said, regardless of their political beliefs. So the board has to ensure laws and rules are being applied in a uniform and nondiscriminatory manner when making any decisions about this matter, she said.
“This is new territory,” Sweeney Bell said. “If people are mad that we’re giving this guy a chance to have his say, they’re allowed to be mad, but I’m not proceeding without giving him an opportunity.”
This article was edited by DougJaggers, assistant director of the Pulliam School of Journalism at Franklin College and Colleen Steffen, executive editor of The Statehouse File at Franklin College, edited this article.
The Indiana Citizen is a nonpartisan, nonprofit platform dedicated to increasing the number of informed and engaged Hoosier citizens. We are operated by the Indiana Citizen Education Foundation, Inc., a 501(c)(3) public charity. For questions about the story, contact Marilyn Odendahl at marilyn.odendahl@indianacitizen.org.
