Judge English Refuses to Discipline his Poll Inspector who Violated Voters at Opelika Sportsplex

With "republicans" like this, who needs democrats? That is a question many Lee County residents may have been asking themselves after having their constitutional rights violated by poll inspector Sharon Braswell while casting their votes on Election Day 2024 at the Opelika Sportsplex. Multiple reports spread like wildfire throughout the community in the aftermath of Braswell brazenly accosting voters wearing Trump hats and t-shirts while they waited to vote. One of those voters is James Anderegg who provided this exclusive account to the Examiner of what had transpired;

It was an exciting morning in our home on Election Day! My wife, three daughters, and myself decided to go early so we could all get to our jobs. Two of my daughters were first time voters and were very excited to exercise their right to vote for the very first time. When we arrived at the Opelika SportsPlex, it was a beautiful morning and the turnout of voters was amazing. The line was already outside and was quite long. I had on a Trump hat, and one of my daughters had on a MAGA hat and a Trump/Vance sweatshirt. The line moved fairly quick, and we made our way into the entrance of the building with no issues. The line continued on and we were finally to the gymnasium where there were several lines filled with voters.

We chose our line and my wife noticed someone looking our way and complaining to another person about what we were wearing. We moved up a few steps and was approached by someone who informed us we had to leave because of what we were wearing. We didn’t know if she was a worker or not. My wife responded by informing her of the Alabama Law explaining you can wear whatever. I told her that we were here to vote and would soon be leaving. She left momentarily then returned again telling us once again we needed to leave because what was wearing was not permitted. Again we quietly told her of the Law. She then left and sent another individual to tell us we couldn’t wear the items. We did not comply and continued to move forward. Seconds later we hear the person in charge approaching and shouts “anyone with a Trump hat on take it off now!”

She then shouts it a second time. Then she approaches us and demands we remove the hats. We endeavor to quietly tell her we are aware of our right to wear the items. She then loudly drawing all attention demands we remove the hats or she would take them!” We would not comply with her demands. She then loudly informs us that if we did not obey she would have a Deputy come and arrest us! That is when a gentleman sitting at a table voting about 25-30 feet from us encouraged us to “call the Police they cannot do this to you.” She then looked at my daughter and told her she had to remove her sweatshirt. She escorted her to the bathroom, where she should turn her sweatshirt inside out, waited for her to come out. My daughter had to walk through several lines of people waiting to vote, all of which heard the humiliating and bullying treatment my family received. I wondered if this daughter would ever want to vote again.

We both held onto our hats refusing to turn them over to this person. We finally made it to the table to receive our ballot, my wife was asked by one of the workers how she was doing. She responded by telling her she was doing fine until two of her family members were told to remove their hats. This woman responded by telling her there are signs on the doors at the entrance you cannot wear these items. Which was not the case, the signs informed that you had to keep 30 feet away from building if you were campaigning. This woman also didn’t have sufficient training as well. We all cast our votes and then began looking into how something like this could happen and how could we stop this humiliating experience from happening to someone else, especially young voters voting for the first time.

In the tormented wake of this dictatorial debacle, numerous violated voters shared their harrowing tales of shocking abuse at the wanton hands of inspector Braswell with many of their accounts even ending up on the pages of 1819 News.

Here are some of the accounts as reported by 1819 News;

Lee County resident Forrest Miller reached out to 1819 News, claiming a poll worker at the Opelika Sports Plex was intentionally targeting Trump voters, even escorting one from the voting location.

"It was just regular people standing in line next to me and everybody else in the giant gymnasium where the polling center was," Miller told 1819 News. "And one of the female polls staffers just walked out into the middle of the basketball court and announced super loudly, 'If anybody's wearing a Trump hat, you need to take it off right now.' And everybody kind of just started looking around. I almost thought she wasn't being serious. I couldn't believe that she had said it. Then she said it again a second time and specifically was calling out anything Trump-related. It was never like, 'Hey. If you have any political endorsement apparel on or donning anything that has a candidate, you need to take it off.' No, it was like, 'If you're wearing a Trump hat or a Trump shirt, you need to take it off right now."

He continued, "She zeroes in on a woman in the line to my right and goes up to her. She was wearing just a regular red 'Make America Great Again' hat. [The poll worker] singles her out, takes her out of the line, pulls her over to the side and you could see them talking. And the next thing you know, within like five seconds, she's escorting this woman out of the polling center."

Later that day, James Anderegg, another Lee County resident, relayed a similar story to 1819 News, this time involving Anderegg's entire family, including two of his daughters who were voting for the very first time.

According to Anderegg, he, his wife and their daughters went to the sportsplex to vote early Tuesday morning, waiting in a long line before having to go to work. Both he and his daughter donned Trump-supporting caps, while his daughter also wore a Trump-Vance sweatshirt.

After entering the building, a woman Anderegg believes to be another poll worker began "complaining" about multiple individuals who were similarly wearing Trump regalia. The woman approached Anderegg and his family, demanding they leave.

After informing the woman of Alabama law that allows citizens to wear campaign materials and apparel while voting, she returned with a poll worker he identified as poll inspector Sharon Braswell, who reportedly took a more aggressive approach with Anderegg's family.

"I guess she was the head person," Anderegg told 1819 News. "She started hollering to everyone, 'If you've got a Trump hat on, take it off now.'"

Braswell then reportedly approached Anderegg's family, demanding they remove their apparel. After similarly informing Braswell of the state law, Anderegg says she did not back down and even threatened to take the hats of him and his daughter herself.

"I said, 'No, ma'am. We're just going to vote and leave," Anderegg continued. "And she said, 'Take the hats off now, or I'm going to take them from you.' Then she looks at my daughter – again, this is her first time voting – and she tells my daughter, 'You have to take that off. You're going to have to go to the bathroom and turn that inside out.' And my daughter was just absolutely bewildered at what's going on, as we all are. About that time, [Braswell] says, 'If you don't take them off, I'm going to get a deputy and you're going to be arrested.'"

After the threat of arrest, which Anderegg described as "humiliating" since everyone in the building was observing the scene, he and his daughter eventually relented and removed their hats. Braswell also reportedly tried to confiscate the hats after the family removed them.

Braswell then allegedly escorted Anderegg's daughter to the bathroom to turn her shirt inside out. He became audibly emotional while detailing his daughter being "marched to the bathroom" through lines of voters to ensure she turned her sweatshirt inside out.

"This woman just pretty much humiliated my family in front of hundreds of people," Anderegg said. "And we know everyone there heard what was going on because she was trying to get the attention so people knew that she had all the authority in that place."

"I'm highly upset because she walked my daughter across line after line after line of people waiting to vote to a bathroom to make sure that my daughter changed her sweatshirt inside out. It was all so inappropriate and it was humiliating. I'm wondering if my daughter would ever vote again because of the way that she was attacked," he added.

As usual, Lee County Probate Court Judge Bill English reconfirmed for his constituents once again what a perennial bad actor he is in this 1819 News follow up article;

Lee County Probate Judge Bill English told 1819 News that there would be "no punishment" for the Lee County chief poll inspector accused by multiple people of harassing and intimidating voters for donning attire supporting President-Elect Donald Trump while attempting to vote during Tuesday's general election.

Multiple Lee County residents contacted 1819 News Tuesday, detailing stories of chief poll inspector Sharon Braswell badgering voters at the Opelika Sportsplex.

Several claimed Braswell threatened people with arrest, threatened to physically remove voters' MAGA hats, escorted a man's daughter to the bathroom to turn her Trump-Vance sweatshirt inside out and forced a woman out of the polling location.

"[W]hen we went to vote, [Braswell] approached us and commented on our 4 small children's shirts," Moncrief wrote in a message. "They had all chosen funny shirts to wear in support of Trump. Following her comments to our children she then GRABBED the bill of my hat saying, "If you had been here with this 35 minutes ago, I would've made you take it off!"

"I asked her why and she said, 'Because I've been making people turn their shirts inside out and take their hats off. One man told me he wasn't doing it so I called the Sheriff's Office. The Sheriff said 'Let them wear it!' so I can't do anything about it now.'

"She let my hat go at that point, but while turning to walk away she commented on the number of children we have and in a negative tone said 'Ma'am, you just have a real nice next 10 years of your life.' I felt as though she was attempting to humiliate me in front of everyone there and the aggressive physical behavior I experienced was frightening."

An employee from English's office told 1819 News the judge would investigate the matter personally. Secretary of State Wes Allen's office directed 1819 News to English's office when asked if Allen was aware of the situation.

On Wednesday, English told 1819 News that he had received multiple official complaints of Braswell's behavior.

"I've gotten some written complaints; I'm not really sure how many; I think three or four," English said. "I know one voter came in and filled one out, and another sent one by email; I haven't compiled all that yet. We're still, as you can imagine, still digging out from yesterday, But it apparently did occur, and she is the chief inspector at that precinct. I'm not positive who did it. I've had a report it was [Braswell]. I know that they were instructed in the school that we cannot make voters remove attire, and apparently, she missed that lesson."

When asked if Braswell would be punished for her behavior, English said that would be for his successor on the appointing board to decide.

"We won't have another election until 2026, and the new judge will be the one to make that call," English continued. "There's no outcome. There's no punishment. We don't do things like that. We'll report it in our reporting and store it, but the appointing board will have to make the call on her two years from now."

Here is a sampling of reactions from citizens in the comments sections of these articles;

I'm truly disappointed in Judge English's failure to handle this or even address it

Unacceptable from the probate judge

Then may be we stand up and go after that judge. Where's the Sheriff of Lee County its his job to protect the people of his county. I'm tired of the ill behaved not being held accountable.. it's time to start spanking the asses of those in public office that can't up hold good moral and ethical standards for all. It's time to put the brats out on the side of the road for real this time.

The way that courthouse is ran, I’m not surprised

Of course they won’t do anything !!

Make Sharon Braswell popular. And sheriff jones for not doing sh*t to protect tax payers rights.

Dozens of people wore there hats and shirts today. It is legal to wear what you want. The poll worker broke the law.

Typical behavior from the democrats. I’d sue them it’s perfectly legal to wear them while voting . Violation of his and his daughter’s rights .

I wore my Trump hat in Lee County (Pine Grove Church polling place) and they did not say a word.

because the poll workers there aren't communists.

REMOVE the poll worker immediately

This is true!!! She hassled me too after the Sheriff put a stop to her nonsense. Idk why it says Jay Jones hadn't heard about it...she was clear with me that he's the only reason she couldn't keep the Trump apparel out.

We bought funny shirts to wear today and we all had fun with it! A poll worker approached us while we were waiting in line and she GRABBED the bill of my hat and said, "If you had been here with this 35 minutes ago, I would've made you take it off!" I asked her why and she said, "Because I've been making people turn their shirts inside out and take their hats off. One man told me he wasn't doing it so I called the Sheriff's Office. The Sheriff said 'Let them wear it!' so I can't do anything about it now." True story. This is STILL AMERICA...for now.

I was afraid she was trying to get me arrested so I wouldn't be able to vote today. Not joking. I get it but she didn't say that to me because it was a rule. (It's not btw.) She physically put her hands on me because she didn't like what I was wearing and wanted to make it known to me and everyone around, which was a few hundred people might I add. I've always intentionally worn political attire to vote since I've been old enough and no one has ever had a problem with it. She said she couldn't do anything about it, as in, she couldn't even ask me to take it off. I would've declined if she had but the aggressive behavior proves she wasn't just trying to do her job. She was trying to get me to swat at her hand or hit her. She didn't even let my hat go until she was done talking. Putting her hands on you is assault. I would have told her she can call the Sheriff right back up there.

It's really sad that a person who was entrusted with keeping our election fair and orderly abused voters this way. 😥 I'm glad you were able to remain kind, yet stand up for your rights.

Please consider holding her accountable, and even pressing charges for assault if that's possible. Accountability in our government and elections is important.

Really disappointed our current probate judge is not handling this. It happened while he is in office and should be handled swiftly.

When you have a situation in Lee County where everyday voters are better informed on election law than so-called poll inspector Braswell, that is smoking gun evidence of a terminal leadership problem with Judge English. For the record, here is the easily accessible online relevant Alabama code;

Here is the crystal clear answer in the FAQ from the also easily accessible online Alabama Secretary of State website;

One longtime Lee County resident who contacted the Examiner in regards to this week's voting fiasco at the Opelika Sportsplex recounted the damning details of a nearly identical 2014 incident at the Dean Road polling station in Auburn where a poll worker was demanding that voters remove campaign apparel. In that instance, the resident was able to get Judge English on the phone who then instructed his poll worker to stand down. Goodness knows it should never have gone that far to begin with, and in the ten years since it seems English is apparently more concerned with drawing a paycheck on his way to retirement than actually doing the job which taxpayers have elected him to do.

For residents who have firsthand experience with the authoritarian manner in which Judge English conducts himself in his dual role as Chairman of the Lee County Commission and the constitutional abuses he has committed during his infamous tenure there, it has seemed like it would only be a matter of time until his draconian leadership style crept up and led to the same chilling consequences under his purview as manager of elections for the county as probate court judge. Given the deranged megalomania that English has descended into over the past several years, it is quite a wonder that more of his mindless minions such as Braswell haven't publicly imploded to the same extent up until this point. In a classic case of 'monkey see, monkey do', the fish has truly rotted from the head down in an odorous legacy for English that would best see him tossed away in a trash can along with villainous scum like Braswell and his cohorts at the commission.

With Election Day 2024 in the rear view mirror, another momentous milestone has been reached with the formal confirmation of new Lee County Probate Court Judge Jere Colley. It can't come soon enough for the horrendous reign of terror with English as probate court judge and county commission chairman to end. In a perfect world, English would have the common decency to resign immediately so that the residents of Lee County could be free from his malevolent malfeasance once and for all. A fella can dream, can't he?