TBA Law Blog


Posted by: Kate Prince on Oct 20, 2020

A poll worker in Shelby County was fired yesterday after he turned away voters wearing t-shirts and masks that said “Black Lives Matter,” the Commercial Appeal reports. While state law prohibits voters from wearing items with the name of a political party or candidate currently on the ballot into a polling location, statements like “Black Lives Matter” or “I Can’t Breathe” do not violate that law. “What he did was patently wrong and he was fired,” said Suzanne Thompson, spokeswoman for the Shelby County Election Commission. The worker was fired on the spot from the polling site at Dave Wells Community Center in Memphis after election officials confirmed the reports.