Durham County
Sheriff’s deputies in uniforms turned away from early voting site in downtown Durham
Two uniformed Durham County sheriff’s deputies were mistakenly turned away from an early-voting site this week, a Durham County election official said.
Former Sheriff Mike Andrews posted Tuesday on Facebook that two deputies were denied the right to vote while in uniform.
“Durham Board of Elections what is the problem,” he wrote in the post that has been shared more than 230 times. “I worked for 39 years in a uniform (and) never was turned away.”
Derek Bowens, the county’s elections director, confirmed that at least one deputy, possibly two, were turned away from the Main Library polling place downtown in error earlier this week.
Bowens said current Sheriff Clarence Birkhead reached out to after the incident, and the deputies were told they could come back and vote.
“There was concern from an intimidation standpoint about weapons from the site coordinator,” Bowens said. “She did voice concerns to the sheriff, but that was completely an error in terms of not letting them come in.”
In general, it is the responsibility of the site coordinator under law to maintain order in the polling place, Bowens said.
Part of that includes preventing voter intimidation, he said.
If the site coordinator thinks an activity is disrupting order or impeding access to voting, he or she can tell people to leave, he said.
“There is no direct statutory prohibition to weapons in the voting enclosure, but if it is causing intimidation and uproar it is the responsibility of that site coordinator to maintain peace and good order,” he said.
The Durham County Board of Elections does put signs at polling places saying no weapons are allowed to keep people from bringing them into the public facilities, and, in this case, there was a confusion about whether that should apply to an officer of the law, Bowen said.
A Sheriff’s Office spokesperson said it was a misunderstanding.
“The Sheriff and the Board of Elections spoke and it was resolved quickly,” spokesperson AnnMarie Breen wrote in a text.
Earlier this month, the State Board of Elections told local election officials not to station uniformed law enforcement officers at polling places, The News & Observer reported.
“County boards of elections must be mindful that some voters find a law enforcement presence at polls intimidating,” states a memorandum on conduct at the polls from Karen Brinson Bell, executive director of the State Board of Elections.
Law enforcement can vote with their uniforms on, the memo states.
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