A Memphis poll worker was fired after reports that they had turned away voters wearing shirts supporting the Black Lives Matter movement.
Shelby County Election Commission officials received a call from a witness on Friday saying a worker at the Dave Wells Community Center in North Memphis was turning away voters wearing shirts with "Black Lives Matter" and "I Can't Breathe" messages, NBC News reports. The commission took swift action, firing the worker on the spot.
"That was pretty bad," said Suzanne Thompson, Election Commission spokeswoman. "They were not supposed to be turned away."
In Tennessee, voters can't wear items with the name of a candidate or political party inside polling locations; however the law does not prohibit statements such as what the Memphis voters were wearing. Thompson said the worker thought the statements were associated with the Democratic Party rather than a social justice movement.
According to Elections Administrator Linda Phillips, the worker had been told multiple times of the rules regarding appropriate clothing inside polling locations.
"He was given very clear instructions," she said. "He was given clear instructions the next day, and again he didn't pay attention to them. So he was terminated."
Early voting in Tennessee ends October 29, but voters have been making their voices heard since day one. More than 29,000 voters in Shelby County cast ballots on Monday for the upcoming election, WREG reports, making it the second highest one-day total since 2000.
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