The guilt or innocence of a Cedar Lake police officer, who allegedly obstructed or interfered with the duties of a poll worker during the Nov. 5 general election, will now be left up to the Lake County Prosecutor’s office.
The Lake County Board of Elections Registration Board voted 3-2, following a lengthy session, to forward to the prosecutor’s office the question of whether Cedar Lake Police Officer Jason Allende is guilty and could be charged regarding a complaint filed against him by poll worker Madison Jostes.
The original complaint against Allende by Jostes was that he initially refused to conceal his “Trump Make America Great Again” T-shirt while voting.
Neither Allende nor Jostes, who provided testimony at last month’s meeting, were in attendance on Tuesday and not required to attend, board chairman Kevin Smith said.
Allende, at last month’s board meeting, said he didn’t realize Jostes was a poll worker because she didn’t identify herself as one and wasn’t wearing an identification badge. Allende reportedly complied with the request after a second poll worker, a neighbor whom he knew, told him why he needed to remove the T-shirt.
The board at last month’s meeting dismissed the electioneering portion of the complaint but took under advisement the question of whether Allende is guilty of obstructing or interfering with the duties of a poll worker.
Both Jostes and Allende last month provided their side of what took place on Nov. 5 during the general election polling place held at the Knights of Columbus in Cedar Lake.
Jostes, who at one point became visually emotional during her testimony, told the board she saw Allende wearing the shirt with the Trump logo and asked him to either go to the bathroom to turn the shirt inside out or to go to his car for a jacket to cover his shirt.
She said Allende told her he wasn’t going to do that and continued to look at his phone.
Jostes explained that because Trump was on the ballot the political attire couldn’t be worn at the polling location.
She said Allende was rude to her, refused to comply and swore at her.
When Jostes told him she would call police and county officials, she said Allende said, “Go ahead, call the police. I am the police.”
Jostes said the Cedar Lake police officer then took out his police badge and “shoved it in her face.”
The board’s vote on Tuesday, which was along party lines with three Democratic board members voting yes and two Republican board members voting no, was denounced by several members of the public including Republican Jeff Rosignol of Highland.
“What they did in there is “bull (expletive),” Rosignol said after the meeting.
Other residents, including Barbara Koteles of Hobart and Sheila Madjecki of Schererville, voiced similar disappointment in what they called a partisan vote.
Koteles, who said she has worked as a poll worker for a number of years, said that getting some negative feedback from voters is part of the job.
“He (Allende) was guilty of bad judgment but not a crime,” Koteles said.
The two Republican members of the board, Michael Mellon and John Reed, both left the meeting room after the 3-2 board decision.
“I’m disappointed they (Mellon and Reed) walked out. I hope they will be back at our next meeting,” Smith said.
Smith along with fellow Democrats Michael Brown and Matthew Fech, who served as a proxy for an absent Mara Candelaria-Reardon, all voted to forward the complaint against Allende to the prosecutor’s office.
Lake County Election Board Attorney Carly Brandenburg said the complaint, accompanied by a written report compiled by the election board attorneys, will be forwarded to the prosecutor’s office.
During the meeting, Brandenburg said key to the complaint is whether Allende knowingly obstructed or interfered with the poll worker’s duties. If he did, it would rise to a Level 6 felony.
“Based on what I heard I do not see any evidence of that,” Brandenburg said.
She said Allende, according to his testimony, thought Jostes was a Harris supporter who wanted to embarrass him.
“When another poll worker came up he complied,” Brandenburg said.
Lake County Election Board Attorney Michael Tolbert, who attended the meeting remotely, said Jostes testified last month that the confrontation with Allende did disrupt what she was doing on Election Day.
“She may have been flustered but she did her job,” Mellon said.
Tolbert returned: “She was disrupted.”
Mellon said he’s served on the board for many years and was disappointed that the decision was based on politics.
“Today I’m seeing partisan politics and I’m sad. This is a travesty,” Mellon said.
Smith said he was giving it his level best not to be partisan and he said he doesn’t want to look at the repercussions for someone’s career, about Allende’s 20-plus years on the job.
“This is a tough decision for me…I go back to the behavior issue. It’s unacceptable,” Smith said.
Deborah Laverty is a freelance reporter for the Post-Tribune.
