County clerk: MAGA hat-wearing election judge created disruption due to 'misunderstanding'

While voters went to the polls on Tuesday in Springfield, one election judge wore a "Make America Great Again" hat while helping voters at the polls. Greene County Clerk Shane Schoeller called the incident a "misunderstanding" that was corrected.

While serving as an election judge, individuals are not allowed to wear or promote sloganeering clothing, such as the MAGA hat associated with the political campaign of former President Donald Trump.

"We've always talked about no political conversations among judges. And going forward, I'll make it very clear that it's not appropriate to have political slogans or other things when you're serving the general public," Schoeller told the News-Leader.

According to Schoeller's account, the election judge in question did not begin the day wearing the MAGA hat but went home at one point and came back wearing it in the afternoon. After a voter complained about the hat, Schoeller personally asked the election judge to remove the hat, which they did. The volunteer was allowed to continue as an election judge the rest of the day.

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Different rules apply to voters, election judges

The election judge believed they were permitted to wear the hat so closely aligned with partisan politics because of a misunderstanding of the rules given to them, Schoeller said. While at a polling place, voters are not allowed to wear any clothes that promote any of the candidates or issues in the election, but voters are allowed to wear sloganeering attire not related to the current election.

The election judge mistakenly believed that same rule applied to them as well, in the local, nonpartisan election.

"When you're wearing a hat that in essence is almost similar to conversation. We will make sure that every voter that comes in (knows) we're there to serve them and to help them and we don't create unnecessary distractions that cause a challenge like we saw there," said Schoeller, who added that he believed it unnecessary to ask the election judge to leave after they agreed to remove the hat.

"If I had asked him to leave, it would have been hard to have another bipartisan election judge to finish out the day. But secondly, when I asked him to remove the cap, he was willing to do that. He did not have any issue with that. I understand it to be a misunderstanding on his part. So, we want to make sure that we allow people to make mistakes, understand that it's a mistake, and then remove that cap. And, you know, I would give anyone that same courtesy who serves as an election judge."

Schoeller, who is also running to be Missouri Secretary of State, said he plans to update election judge training to prevent such an issue from occurring in the future.

"Part of the new additional training we'll be talking about is we want to refrain from having political slogans or any type of campaign attire. Even if it's not on the ballot, it's not appropriate because our role is to serve the public."

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Political pamphlets removed from polling place

During the Tuesday election, there was also an issue of political pamphlets being left for voters in a polling place — likely by another voter. Once these pamphlets were discovered, they were immediately removed, according to Schoeller.

Other than those two issues, the election went smoothlyy, he said.

"It was a good election day. Those in Greene County were easily able to cast their ballot. Overall, it was a good day."

Turnout for the county was at 17.5%, which is within the 17% to 19% voter turnout Schoeller anticipated for the local election.

This article originally appeared on Springfield News-Leader: MAGA hat-wearing election judge created disruption in Springfield