Department won’t provide election security after sheriff’s posts about Harris yard signs

RAVENNA, Ohio (AP) — A neighborhood Ohio elections board says the county sheriff’s division is not going to be used for election safety following a social media put up by the sheriff saying individuals with Kamala Harris yard indicators ought to have their addresses recorded in order that immigrants might be despatched to reside with them if the Democratic vice chairman wins the November election.

In an announcement on the Portage County Democrats’ Fb web page, county board of elections chair Randi Clites mentioned members voted 3-1 Friday to take away the sheriff’s division from offering safety throughout in-person absentee voting.

Clites cited public feedback indicating “perceived intimidation by our sheriff in opposition to sure voters” and the necessity to “be certain that each voter in Portage County feels secure casting their poll for any candidate they select.”

A Ravenna Document-Courier story on the Akron Beacon Journal web site reported {that a} day earlier, about 150 individuals crowded right into a room on the Kent United Church of Christ for a gathering sponsored by the NAACP of Portage County, many expressing worry in regards to the Sept. 13 feedback.

“I imagine strolling right into a voting location the place a sheriff deputy might be seen might discourage voters from getting into,” Clites mentioned. The board is utilizing personal safety already in place on the administration constructing or having Ravenna police present safety, Clites mentioned.

Portage County Sheriff Bruce Zuchowski posted a screenshot of a Fox Information phase criticizing President Joe Biden and Harris over immigration. Likening individuals within the U.S. illegally to “human locusts,” he urged recording addresses of individuals with Harris yard indicators so when migrants want locations to reside “we’ll have already got the addresses of their New households … who supported their arrival!”

Native Democrats filed complaints with the Ohio secretary of state and different businesses, and the American Civil Liberties Union of Ohio accused Zuchowski of an unconstitutional “impermissible menace” in opposition to residents who wish to show political yard indicators. Republican Gov. Mike DeWine referred to as the feedback “unlucky” and “not useful.” The secretary of state’s workplace mentioned the feedback didn’t violate election legal guidelines and it didn’t plan any motion.

Zuchowski, a Republican supporter of former President Donald Trump, mentioned in a follow-up put up final week that his feedback “might have been a little bit misinterpreted??” He mentioned, nevertheless, that whereas voters can select whomever they need for president, they “have to just accept accountability for his or her actions.”

A message searching for remark was despatched Sunday to Zuchowski, who spent 26 years with the Ohio State Freeway Patrol and was a part-time deputy sheriff earlier than profitable the highest job in 2020. He’s operating for reelection because the chief regulation enforcement officer of the northeast Ohio county about an hour exterior of Cleveland.