Elections Board Member Ordered to Apologize for Early Voting Incident

A member of the Board of Elections was ordered by her fellow members to apologize after a disruptive incident that took place at the site of early voting on Monday. The order arose from a vote taken at an emergency meeting of the elections board held on Tuesday afternoon.

But one board member described the meeting to address Monday’s alleged incident where Board Member Harriet Mercer disrupted a voting site as stressful, irregular and possibly illegal. The emergency session was held by way of live stream video. Some participants — including board members — struggled with connectivity lapses, while an executive session lasting close to 75 minutes kept the public from observing most of the proceedings.

In a series of votes taken Tuesday, a motion was passed directing Mercer to write a letter apologizing to Deputy Elections Supervisor Kevermay Douglas and Elections staff members who witnessed the incident. The apology is to be submitted within 48 hours, and if failing to do so, Mercer will be censured and barred from appearing at any place where balloting for the General Election takes place in 2024.

An amendment posed by Mercer was voted down; had it passed, it would have compelled the board to delay any votes until they could review a written communication submitted by the alleged offender and then to hear from Fawkes about her views on what took place.