Ohio Poll Worker Who Was Threatened With Gun Tells Her Story

[yuiyoshida]

CLEVELAND, OHIO — “The Board of Elections really needs to do their background on these people,” said Tonya Gallardo, hours after she was threatened with a gun by a fellow poll worker on Tuesday.

Gallardo, the presiding election judge at the Louisa May Alcott Elementary School in Cleveland, Ohio, said she had about 50 voters casting ballots when poll worker Alan Bethea threatened to kill her, and showed at least one firearm to another poll worker. Bethea was eventually arrested for, among other things, having a weapon under disability.

The charge likely means Bethea had some sort of criminal record that prevented him from owning a gun. Ohio weapons under disability law forbid people from owning guns if they’ve been convicted of a violent crime; if they have been indicted; if they’re a chronic drug user or alcoholic; or if a judge has deemed them mentally ill.

Whatever the case, Gallardo wonders why Bethea was allowed to become a poll worker — at an elementary school, no less — if he fell into one of those categories.

http://thinkprogress.org/politics/2016/03/15/3760639/ohio-poll-worker-gun/

[raging moderate]

1. How horrible!

Thank you for your service, Tonya Gallardo.

[progressoid]

2. If only Tonya had been packing too.

Then she could have settled this the 2nd amendment way.

[winter is coming]

3. Wow. The worst I've ever seen are ugly looks over who took the last doughnut.

Scary day for her. Glad she's okay.

[awoke_in_2003]

4. You can't even vote

without being around scared gun packers

[OhioBlue]

5. and in a school!

[gratuitous]

6. Well, there's nothing that can be done about it

Best to just accept the situation and be at peace with gunplay in our voting places. Ain't that America something to see?

[awoke_in_2003]

8. Little pink houses for you and me...

I don't get these people. They can't go anywhere without a gun. How does one live in so much fear?

[jwirr]

7. While I see the problem here and do not approve of what

happened here I have one real beef against this article.

Being mentally ill is given as a reason for not being able to own a gun. I totally agree with that decision.

However, "Gallardo wonders why Beathea was allowed to become a poll worker" - so mental illness should be a reason that you cannot work in a election as a poll worker?

My brother is bi-polar and he was a Sanders delegate from his precinct in Iowa this year. I have not talked to him about the experience yet but apparently he did not bring a gun. I would like to know which persona he went as thought as he is either the biker or the preacher. It would have been interesting to see how he handled himself at the convention.

Gallardo is merely once again saying that people should be obstructed in political activity because of an illness. She is wrong. My brother has been very active in politics from the day he read "Black Like Me" and started following Dr. King.

The fact that he had a gun is the problem not the fact that he was politically active.

[gratuitous]

9. Not all mentally ill persons are unstable

Last edited Wed Mar 16, 2016, 03:46 PM - Edit history (1)

But it appears that Mr. Bethea was unstable. From the Think Progress story:

Bethea was eventually arrested for, among other things, having a weapon under disability. The charge likely means Bethea had some sort of criminal record that prevented him from owning a gun. Ohio weapons under disability law forbid people from owning guns if they’ve been convicted of a violent crime; if they have been indicted; if they’re a chronic drug user or alcoholic; or if a judge has deemed them mentally ill.

The problem for Bethea wasn't solely mental illness, but that illness may be antecedent to his other problem. Screening may have eliminated Bethea from the volunteer pool and kept him from threatening a polling place with a gun he shouldn't have in the first place.

[jwirr]

10. Those of us who know my brother - most of the

people in his precinct know he can be very unstable but they also know that he is very smart and knows what he is doing regarding politics.