Beasty’s Back!
By: Tommy “Tj” Sotomayor

‘Let’s Go Brandon’ hat sparks cursing, shoving, alleged punch at South Carolina polling place

ORANGEBURG — A South Carolina election worker allegedly struck a voter in the face after he repeatedly refused to remove his “Let’s Go Brandon” hat in an altercation authorities say left visible swelling beneath the man’s bloodied left eye.

The confrontation, which took place during early voting, shows how divisive this election season has become amid rising tensions over political expression at the polls. 

It also has state election officials prepping for similar flare-ups in the lead-up to next week’s Election Day.

The State Law Enforcement Division is investigating the Oct. 30 incident that unfolded at the Old County Library in Orangeburg, one of the county’s three early voting sites.

Police identified the voter as 54-year-Mark Allen Morris and the poll worker as 53-year-old Angela Buchannon-Glover.

Video footage of the incident, captured on a bystander’s cellphone, was later posted to social media. An incident report obtained by The Post and Courier is heavily redacted, and the account given by Buchannon-Glover is covered in thick black lines.

The 90-second video shows a voting check-in devolving into a confrontation of cursing, shoving and the moment Morris was allegedly hit.

Morris told authorities he was given a hard time when he entered the voting area because he was wearing a “Let’s Go Brandon” hat, telling police “numerous members of the polling office seemed to be coming after him because of his hat.”

Local police responded to the scene after a poll worker dialed 911.

Across South Carolina, local county elections directors are taking newly required steps to ensure the safety of both voters and its poll workers. Training includes de-escalation tactics alongside more routine election procedures like learning how to open and close the polls.

The altercation not only disrupted the voting process, which is a potential crime, but also underscored how even the most mundane aspects of civic life can become political and cultural battlegrounds at the drop of a hat.

“We’re dealing with a very tense moment in our nation’s history and everybody is a little on edge,” said Howie Knapp, director of the S.C. Election Commission.

Knapp said it also gives him pause when he thinks about the final stretch of early voting, which ends in South Carolina on Nov. 2, Saturday.

“I think it’s important for poll workers to recognize the passions of voters, but I also think it’s important for voters to recognize that poll workers are their neighbors who are just trying to do their jobs to the best of their ability,” he said. 

The state’s top election official also said it’s hard not to wonder whether more volatile incidents could erupt at polling places around the state on Election Day, when a majority of registered voters are expected to cast their ballots.

Some states, like Massachusetts, require local law enforcement to have a presence in every polling place. South Carolina does not.

Knapp said this concern that looms large: because of retirements, exits and turnover, some 80 percent of the state’s county elections directors have never been in their current role during a presidential election. In addition, many poll workers are participating in this year’s elections process for the  first time.

“When there’s a lack of trained, experienced poll workers, mistakes happen. Things happen that shouldn’t happen, which ironically leads to more incidents happening,” he said, sighing. “It can be a recipe for disaster.”

The Orangeburg conflict began when election workers repeatedly asked the man to comply with the rule about what people can wear inside polling places as he tried to hand over his ID to be checked. 

Video footage, which was also provided to police, shows the dispute continued to unravel as the man tried to push and force his way through a wall of female poll workers to confront the woman who hit him.

When a poll worker waved him away, the voter erupted.

“You (expletive, expletive),” he snapped.

When another election worker tried to intervene, the voter took a step forward, snatching his hat off his head and waving it around to show her.

“This is my (expletive) right, right here,” he said before defiantly putting the hat back on his head.

“Well, then,” she replied, “take it outside.”

“Does it offend you?” he asked.

She shook her head no, “It’s not offending me but —”

“Alright then. Shut the hell up and let me vote,” he shouted back.

When the poll manager told him they could no longer serve him and there was nothing else to say, he threw his camouflage ballcap toward the line of voters waiting to file into the room.

One election worker responded with a quick, “no, no no” but the voter refused to leave. That’s when he told the poll manager, “You better back up” and seemed to turn and point in her face just before the poll manager allegedly struck him, though the move is not fully visible on the phone recording. 

Under South Carolina law, wearing anything supporting a candidate whose name appears on the ballot is not allowed. But wearing clothing with a more generalized political message is permissible. Knapp said poll workers had previously been instructed that “Let’s Go Brandon” would be considered electioneering, which is not permitted in polling sites.

The phrase has become conservative code for something far more vulgar: “(Expletive) Joe Biden.” It’s all the rage among Republicans wanting to prove their conservative credentials, a not-so-secret inside joke that signals they’re in sync with the party’s base.

But now that Biden is no longer on the ballot, Knapp said it is his understanding that “Let’s Go Brandon” merchandise would no longer flout state election law. “Make America Great Again,” or MAGA, gear would not be allowed because it is the official slogan of Trump’s reelection campaign.

Voters can wear old campaign merchandise, like a button from past presidential races, so long as that person is not on the ballot. But no one is allowed to intimidate voters or interfere with the election process.

Calls to Aurora Smalls, director of the Orangeburg County Voter Registration, were not immediately returned.

It is unclear whether the voter was allowed to cast his ballot on Oct. 30, or if the poll manager returned to work.

Election Day is Nov. 5. So far, more than 1.1 million South Carolinians have voted early, according to state election data.