A voter checks in at a polling location during the South Carolina Democratic Primary on February 3, 2024, in Orangeburg, South Carolina. | Source: ALLISON JOYCE / Getty
Viral video footage shows a white man physically attacking a group of Black women poll workers in South Carolina after they prevented him from voting, apparently because his attire violated state election laws.
The incident took place during early voting in the city of Orangeburg, according to the source of the video, which was posted on X, formerly Twitter, on Wednesday evening.
In the 90-second clip, the unidentified white man is shown erupting in anger and using vulgarities to address the poll workers. The man then took off his hat and showed it to another poll worker, saying that it was hit “right” to wear it.
“Shut the hell up and let me vote,” the man yelled at the poll workers.
He threw his hat outside of the room where voting was taking place, but the poll workers told him he still would not be able to vote.
A physical altercation began soon afterward, with one woman telling the man, “don’t do that!”
The man then turned toward the woman and appeared to threaten her before he had to be physically restrained by the other poll workers, all women.
As one woman calls for security, the man appears to swing his arm and grab her while other women move to intervene.
Attorney and political pundit Bakari Sellers reposted the footage from his X account and credited the women who he said “followed the law and preserved the integrity of the election site.”
Sellers, a former South Carolina state legislator, also called on the state Republican Party to “denounce that bullshit.”
It was not immediately clear what on the man’s hat violated the law, but cynics could be forgiven for suspecting that he was wearing a MAGA hat, or at least one bearing pro-Donald Trump verbiage.
Political pundit Keith Boykin referred to the man as a “Trump supporter” who “refused to take off his Trump cap.”
To be sure, Section 7-25-180 of the South Carolina Code of Laws prohibits all forms of the distribution of campaign literature, including hats.
“This law applies to any type of visual display of campaign material, including posters, pamphlets, brochures, signs, buttons, hats, t-shirts, etc.,” the South Carolina Election Commission wrote on its website. “Voters displaying campaign material who enter the 200-foot area will be asked to remove the material, cover the material, or otherwise cause the material not to be seen.”
Local news outlet WCBD specifically reported that the state law “means you might be asked to remove your ‘MAGA’ hat or cover up your ‘Harris-Walz’ shirt before entering.”
While the man did ultimately — and begrudgingly — comply with the law, it was only after he spoke threateningly to the poll workers, an intimidation factor that is also illegal.
The incident happened amid heightened concerns of political violence around the election, including in South Carolina, where local election officials have ramped up security measures because of threats and other incidents at polling places.
“Lexington and Richland County election officials say they’re training their officials on conflict de-escalation and preparing them for disruptions to voting,” according to News 19 CBS News.
The political violence is far from restricted to a local level — it’s happening around the country as a possible sign of what’s to come following Election Day next week.
Citing statistics, Reuters reported that the surge was “part of the biggest and most sustained increase in U.S. political violence since the 1970s.”
Earlier this month, Republican presidential nominee Donald Trump — who’s been the target of multiple assassination attempts this election cycle — suggested that voters for Vice President Kamala Harris could be physically “hurt” for supporting her candidacy over his.
Of course, Trump is the same person who denied his 2020 election loss and on Jan. 6, 2021, told his supporters to “fight like hell,” fearmongered that they were “not going to have a country anymore” and encouraged them to go to the U.S. Capitol to disrupt the certification of Joe Biden’s presidency — leading to the single worst instance of political violence in the U.S. in decades.
This is America.
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