'Shut up and go home": Trump-supporting election official harasses early voters and blocks them from polling place
US Uncut
Fri Nov 4, 2016
Category: Politics
Area: Little Rock, Pine Bluff
Voter suppression is already well underway in Arkansas as early voters cast ballots, with just four days to go until Election Day.
As voters are turning out in high numbers for early voting around the country, particularly in must-win swing states like Nevada and Florida, Democrats are seeing an early boost. This apparently has some Republicans worried, like Stu Soffer, an election commissioner from Jefferson County, Arkansas.
According to local media, Soffer is being accused of of using his official capacity to prevent early voters from casting ballots. Pine Bluff, Arkansas resident Victor Johnson said Soffer "interfered and intimidated" voters at a Jefferson County polling place by blocking the doorway and telling early voters to "shut up and go home." Soffer did not offer an explanation of why voters had to leave. Johnson said as a result of Soffer's actions, he was deterred from casting a ballot.
"This is deeply troubling to the voters of Jefferson County and also to the election administrators whose job it is to administer the elections free of fear and intimidation," Chris Burks, an attorney representing Johnson, told Arkansas Online.
Soffer, who applied to be a poll watcher on October 18, has already has his poll watcher credentials revoked. Doyle Webb, who is chairman of the Arkansas Republican Party - which is also being sued by Johnson - said the lawsuit was unnecessary, as the matter is now "moot."
Arkansas Online also reported that Soffer has long been a nuisance for voters in Jefferson County. At one local meeting, Soffer pulled a gun on former election commissioner Ted Davis, saying he felt "threatened" by him. While local Democratic Party leaders have called for Soffer's removal from the election commission as a result of his actions, he is currently serving his second four-year term on the commission, having been appointed by Doyle Webb for another term this past June.
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