The ruling on a complaint filed by a Cedar Lake poll worker against a police officer, who refused to conceal his “Trump Make America Great Again” T-shirt while voting, will have to wait.
The Lake County Board of Elections and Registration Board on Tuesday unanimously agreed to forward the complaint to the April 15 meeting.
“I’m willing to kick it ahead one more meeting. I want to have everything buttoned down,” board member Michael Mellon said.
Mellon and Kevin Smith, who serves as board chairman, agreed to wait a month because neither the poll worker, Madison Jostes, nor Jason Allande, the police officer for whom the complaint was filed, were in attendance.
Several representatives of the Cedar Lake and Hanover Township Democratic Precinct attended but none, including party chair Jeff Biel, said they had been present at the polling site and hadn’t witnessed the incident in person.
Precinct representatives told the board Jostes was unable to come in person because she had taken a job out of town.
Allande had been legally notified of the meeting but hadn’t responded, board staff members said.
“I’m not a big fan of him not coming,” Mellon said.
Smith added: “His (Allande’s) behavior is egregious. I was hoping he’d be here.”
The board directed staff to reach out to both Allande and Jostes before the April 15 meeting.
Those steps include issuing a subpoena to Allande and reaching out to Jostes via the phone or a Zoom meeting.
The complaint, if upheld by the board next month, could be forwarded to the Lake County Prosecutor’s office in reference to electioneering, interfering in the polls and interfering with an election officer.
According to the written complaint filed by Jostes, she said she saw Allande wearing a “Trump Make America Great Again” shirt at the Knights of Columbus polling location in Cedar Lake.
Jostes asked him to go to the bathroom to turn the shirt inside out or to go to his car for a jacket to cover the shirt, according to her complaint.
Jostes, in her complaint, said Allande told her “I’m not doing that” and continued to look at his phone. Jostes explained that because Trump was on the ballot his political attire couldn’t be worn inside the polling location.
Jostes told Allande that he would have his voice heard when he cast his ballot. Allande raised his voice and said, “What are you gonna do about it?”
When Jostes told her she would call the police and county officials, Allande said “Go ahead, call the police. I am the police.” Allande took out his Cedar Lake police badge and “shoved it in (her) face,” Jostes said.
Ultimately, another inspector came over and was able to convince Allande to flip his shirt inside out “because she’s his neighbor,” according to the complaint.
Last month a second complaint, filed by a Schererville poll worker against a Trump supporter, was forwarded to the prosecutor’s office after the board unanimously upheld the complaint.
That complaint, in reference to electioneering and interfering in the polls, was lodged against Martin Sorice for wearing clothing supporting then-presidential candidate Donald Trump at an early voting Schererville site last fall.
Sorice also became belligerent when asked by poll workers to remove or turn inside out his sweatshirt with the Trump logo, Schererville poll worker Susan Greenberg said.
“He (Sorice) became loud, intimidating and boisterous,” fellow Schererville poll worker Darnell Carter said.
Deborah Laverty is a freelance reporter for the Post-Tribune.
