Rep. Alma Adams (D-NC) was removed from a polling place in Charlotte, North Carolina Tuesday morning after a maskless man showed up with a gun, and was asked by police to leave.
The interaction was reported by local media outlet Charlotte Agenda, which wrote: “As several prominent local female politicians spoke at precinct 212, one of the largest Democratic polling places in the state, the event was cut short when a maskless white man open carrying a gun showed up and began circling the property. Congresswoman Adams was quickly whisked away, and Mayor Lyles left soon after. Poll watchers said the man was here for nearly an hour before heading in to vote.”
“Precinct volunteers called CMPD, who took down the man’s information to share with other polling places,” CA added. “The man was not arrested, but he was told not to return. North Carolina is an open carry state, so he technically was not breaking the law. Still, voters and volunteers here are describing this as voter intimidation.”
“Volunteers say a handful of people left without voting when they saw him,” CA continued. “‘I wasn’t intimidated. The polls are safe,’ city councilwoman Renee Perkins Johnson said. ‘If they saw a Black man with a gun they would have emptied the whole damn precinct,’ said poll watcher Tim Carmichael, a Black man and retired Navy veteran.”
