A New Hampshire woman voting in the state’s Tuesday primary election voted topless after she was told that she couldn’t wear a shirt criticizing President Trump to cast her ballot.
Exeter Town Moderator Paul Scafidi said the woman walked into a voting location Tuesday wearing a T-shirt that read “McCain Hero, Trump Zero.” Scafidi said he told the woman that she could not wear a shirt featuring a political candidate while voting, the Portsmouth Herald reported.
The woman allegedly argued to Scafidi that another voter was wearing a shirt with an American flag on it. New Hampshire state law says that no person “shall distribute, wear, or post at a polling place any campaign material,” punishable by up to a $1,000 fine.
“She asked why her and not me?” Scafidi said, the Portsmouth Herald reported. “I said she was going to have to cover her shirt, and [a shirt] supporting the American flag was not electioneering. That’s my opinion, and that was my call as the moderator.”
The woman then asked if he wanted her to take off her shirt, according to the outlet.
“I said, I’d rather she not,” Scafidi said. “But she took it off so fast, no one had time to react so the whole place just went, ‘Woah,’ and she walked away, and I let her vote. She could’ve just gone into the hallway and turned it inside-out.”
The moderator said he could have called law enforcement authorities to remove the voter under the state’s indecency laws, but he did not want to escalate the incident.
“I don’t know if she was trying to have me get her arrested, but I thought it was better to just let things play out,” Scafidi said. “I don’t think there were more than 15 voters in the building at the time and if there were any children there, I didn’t see them.”
“If she felt it was her right, more power to her,” Scafidi said. “We all laughed about it as things were winding down, so I don’t know if it was a set-up, but I’ve never experienced anything like that. We had more important things to worry about; we had to get 2,000 people to vote safely, and check-in and count 2,000 absentee ballots.”