Complaints rise about ‘adult daycare’ behavior among campaigns at Wake polling sites
Early voting sites in Wake County have turned into battlegrounds where elections officials say police have been called in to keep the peace between political campaigns.
Gary Sims, director of the Wake County Board of Elections, said complaints about unruly candidate behavior at polling sites have reached levels not seen before. Sims said it’s gotten pretty close in some incidents to him asking police to make arrests at polling sites.
“These campaigners, I swear to God, have been like adult daycare,” Sims said in an interview Friday. “I’ve never seen anything like this in my life.”
Early voting began on Oct. 20 and goes through Saturday. More than 176,000 people had voted at Wake County’s 15 early voting sites through Thursday.
‘Tempers on edge’
This year’s midterm elections will decide control of Congress, the state legislature, the state Supreme Court, county and local governments as well as school boards.
“We’ve seen tempers on edge during this campaign cycle,” David McLennan, a political science professor at Meredith College in Raleigh, said in an interview Friday. “What we’re hearing about in Wake County is reflective of the national mood. The candidates and their surrogates are just part of the political environment now.’’
Sims said observers from the political parties have not been causing problems. The same cannot be said for individual campaigns, he said.
Sims did not identify which campaigns have drawn complaints. But he said they’ve had issues with candidates across party lines, as well as in non-partisan races.
Most of the complaints have come from the early voting sites in southern and southwestern Wake, according to Sims.
“It’s really just campaigners acting like adult children yelling over each other, yelling at other people,” Sims said.
For instance, Sims said one campaign calls another an insurrectionist in front of voters, causing the other campaign to yell at them. Or he said one campaigner argues because another campaign puts a sign in front of their sign and police have to be called in before it gets physical.
Sims estimated that half of his 16-hour days are spent dealing with complaints about candidates at polling sites. There have been so many “petty violations” that they don’t report them to the State Board of Elections.
It’s been especially rough on the early voting site supervisors, Sims said. They’ve faced foul language and rude behavior as they try to deal with the problems at their sites.
“I feel sorry for my early voting supervisors,” Sims said. “They’ve been unfairly treated by that petty behavior.”
Recording at polling sites
One of the areas of complaints is about people being recorded at polling sites.
Sims said there isn’t much they can do about people recording video if it’s happening outside the voting area. For instance, he pointed to how people take selfies and how reporters are at polling sites.
Sims said recording is illegal if it can be viewed as voter intimidation. But he said it’s hard to prove.
At least one candidate, Steve Bergstrom, has been wearing a body cam at polling sites. Bergstrom is running against Wake County school board chairwoman Lindsay Mahaffey for the District 8 seat that represents southwestern Wake.
Laura Macklem, Bergstrom’s campaign manager, said the body cam is for his protection against the North Carolina Association of Educators, which has endorsed Mahaffey.
Bergstrom said he only turns on the body camera if someone verbally or physically assaults him. He says it’s actually NCAE volunteers who are causing problems at the polling sites that are leading to police being called.
“NCAE agitators” have become desperate because they’re worried Mahaffey will lose, according to Bergstrom..
“It is there for my personal protection,” Bergstrom said in an interview Friday. “I’m not recording unless somebody tries to assault me.”
But some people have gone on social media to complain about Bergstrom wearing a body cam at polling sites.
“What? Steve Bergstrom wears a body cam and has yelled at at least one voter?” Chantelle Miles tweeted Thursday. “Say it isn’t so. There’s a law against voter intimidation. Folks, our social norms are decaying rapidly.”
Taking ‘extra precautions’
In the face of rising numbers of complaints, Sims said the Board of Elections has been taking “extra precautions.” He said they’ve talked with Wake County Emergency Services, including the Sheriff’s Office, about providing additional resources at polling sites.
Sims is hoping things will run smoother on Election Day Tuesday because campaigners will be spread out over 200 sites instead of being concentrated in just 15 early voting locations.
McLennan, the professor, said it’s a reflection of the political climate.
“We’re seeing a lack of civility and inappropriate behavior at school board meetings now spilled over into actual voting,” McLennan said. “The question is will actual violence break out?
“To see the police called into polling sites, it’s not something we’ve seen in North Carolina since the 1800s during Reconstruction.”
This story was originally published November 4, 2022 at 7:19 PM.
