A man in Illinois punched an election judge at a polling location and was arrested on Sunday, two days before the climax of the US presidential race, according to authorities.
The man, identified as 24-year-old Daniel Schmidt, was charged with two counts of aggravated battery to a victim over 60, two counts of aggravated battery in a public place, and five misdemeanor counts of resisting arrest and one count of disorderly conduct.
His case follows numerous attacks on the voting process and threats of violence, the purpose of which often is to create fear and distrust around voting, according to extremist experts.
Election officials across the US say voting is safe, and voters should not be deterred from casting their ballots in Tuesday’s presidential race.
In Schmidt’s case, police say they responded to reports of a man causing a disturbance in the voting line at the township office of Orland Park, Illinois.
Officers arrested Schmidt after learning that he had allegedly entered the building and attempted to cut in front of other voters in line for early voting.
An election judge at the entrance instructed Schmidt to go to the back of the line and wait his turn. But authorities say that Schmidt refused.
At that point, another election judge was called to assist, police said – and Schmidt was again instructed to go to the back of the line.
According to the police, Schmidt then attempted to push past that election judge who stopped him from entering alongside several other staff members.
Schmidt then reportedly began yelling profanities and punched the election judge in the face, knocking the official’s glasses off. At that point, several other patrons jumped in and restrained Schmidt until the officers arrived.
Authorities added that, while being arrested, Schmidt also resisted Orland Park officers.
Schmidt was held overnight on Sunday and transported to Bridgeview courthouse for a detention hearing on Monday morning.
Ahead of this year’s election, election offices around the country have strengthened their security measures in anticipation of potential violence at the polls, in part in response to a rise in threats and harassment directed at election workers after the 2020 election that Donald Trump lost to Joe Biden.
Trump is running in Tuesday’s election against Kamala Harris.
Many offices have also trained their workers on de-escalation techniques and conducted drills for active shooters as well as other kinds of attacks.
In the last week alone, the US has already experienced multiple attacks on the voting process, threats of violence and extremism, including bomb threats, ballots being burned and more.
Source: US Politics - theguardian.com
