Charleston County poll security plan could be illegal
JIM DAVENPORT
Associated Press
COLUMBIA, S.C. - Charleston County's election board has rejected a plan that would have encouraged police to step into polling places on Nov. 2 as a way of increasing security.
The plan could have led the officers to violate state law and face arrest.
The county, home to a Naval brig that has jailed enemy combatants, an Air Force base, Navy research and nuclear facilities and one of the nation's largest seaports, has plenty of reason to be concerned about security, said Jill Miller, the Charleston County Board of Elections and Voter Registration director.
MORE AFTER JUMP BUT:
What is that you ask? What party affiliation is Ms. Miller attached to?
Oh, well recent newspaper articles discuss her "strong connections" to the Republican party.
I wonder if there is a memo out there to all GOP election officials on the official suppress the vote campaign.
Who knows?
But the county election board rejected having police at polling places Wednesday, a day after Miller said she wanted officers to stop in at polling places and check with poll managers.
"They'll continue to patrol the parking lots as they have in the past," Miller said. "If the police are needed, the poll managers will contact them."
The intent of the plan was to help poll workers and voters feel protected. "I don't want them to feel intimidated. I want them to feel safe," Miller said.
But police could have faced arrest under that proposal. Officers are allowed in polling places only to vote or at the request of a majority of a poll's managers. A state law requires poll workers to sign sworn statements that would lead to the arrest of an officer who is in a polling place without being asked.
The law is on the books for good reason, other election directors say.
"You don't have police officers in a voting precinct because that could be intimidation to voters," said Mike Cinnamon, Richland County's election director.
Poll managers have authority to enforce election laws on their own and can summon the police if they need them, said Conway Belangia, Greenville County's Election Commission director.
"We don't want to look like a police state," Belangia said. "We don't want police officers hanging around."