Former Erie County legislator and Board of Elections worker Betty Jean Grant was recently charged with harassing a voter at a Buffalo, New York, polling place.
The 73-year-old was charged on one count of harassment in the second degree, and a single count of misdemeanor regarding elections under New York State election law, WKBW reported Tuesday.
The outlet continued:
According to the Erie County District Attorney’s Office, Grant entered an occupied voting booth at the Delavan Grider Community Center last month and watched as an elderly woman filled out her ballot. According to prosecutors, Grant used her cell phone to record the woman, who was being assisted by another woman in using the write-in Byron Brown stamp. The incident was streamed on Facebook live and later posted to Grant’s personal Facebook page.
The clip showed the individual helping the elderly woman:
In the video, Grant is heard saying repeatedly, “This is illegal.”
“It is further alleged that the defendant engaged in a course of conduct, with the intent to alarm or seriously annoy another person, by filming the individual who was submitting their ballot,” the attorney’s office noted.
Grant is featured on the Erie County Legislature Democratic Caucus website as a Democrat.
“You come here and you take an 80-plus year-old woman, and you make her feel like what she’s doing is against the law,” Carolette Meadows, who was helping the senior voter, said. “You intimidate and bully the community that if they want to support Byron Brown, they’re doing something wrong.”
According to the Erie County Board of Elections, it received a complaint from the New York Attorney General’s Office the next day.
“We have sent a letter to Betty Jean Grant, asking her to stay away from the polling places by 100 feet,” Democratic Board of Elections Commissioner Jeremy Zellner explained, the WKBW article said.
The note to Grant also said, “You have interfered with the election.”
The Board of Elections revoked her poll-watching certificate, and she was given an appearance ticket for arraignment December 6 inside Buffalo City Court.
