An election complaint filed against a Cedar Lake police officer, who initially refused to conceal his “Trump Make America Great Again” T-shirt while voting, has been dismissed, but he isn’t off the hook yet.

The Lake County Board of Elections and Registration Board voted on Tuesday to dismiss the electioneering complaint filed by Cedar Lake poll worker Madison Jostes against Jason Allande.

Allande apologized at the meeting to Jostes for his actions.

The board took under advisement the question of whether or not Allande is guilty of obstructing or interfering with the duties of a poll worker.

“That’s what was left under advisement. It’s in the board’s hands to make a determination,” board president Kevin Smith said.

Smith said another vote could be taken on the matter, after a review by attorneys, at the next regular meeting in May.

He told Jostes, Allande, and Allande’s attorney, Nathan Vis, that they are welcome to attend the meeting but don’t have to attend since they provided testimony on Tuesday.

Both Jostes and Allande provided their side of what took place on Nov. 5 election day at the Knights of Columbus polling location in Cedar Lake.

Jostes, who at one point became visably emotional during her testimony, told the board she saw Allande wearing the shirt with the Trump logo and asked him to either go to the bathroom to turn the shirt inside out or to go to his car for a jacket to cover his shirt.

She said Allande told her he wasn’t going to do that and continued to look at his phone.

Jostes explained that because Trump was on the ballot the political attire couldn’t be worn at the polling location.

She said Allande was rude to her, refused to comply and swore at her.

When Jostes told him she would call police and county officials, she said Allande said, “Go ahead, call the police. I am the police.”

Jostes said the Cedar Lake police officer then took out his police badge and “shoved it in her face.”

“That was uncomfortable,” Jostes said.

Ultimately, another inspector came over and was able to convince Allande to flip his shirt inside out “because she’s his neighbor.”

Allande told the board he didn’t realize Jostes was a poll worker because she wasn’t wearing a badge and she didn’t identify herself as an official.

He admitted he was wearing a shirt with the logo, “Make America Great Again,” but didn’t realize it wasn’t allowed in the polling place.

“I had no idea,” Allande said.

He said once his neighbor came to him and told him to turn his shirt inside out he complied.

“Tell her I’m sorry,” Allande said he told his neighbor to tell Jostes.

Jostes said she was wearing a badge identifying herself as a poll inspector but admitted she didn’t identify herself to Allande when confronting him about his shirt logo.

After both Allande and Jostes gave their testimony, board member Michael Mellon said he felt there were two different parts of the complaint with one electioneering and one the verbal attack.

“Had the second part not taken place would you have filed a report?” Mellon asked.

Mellon made a motion to dismiss all complaints against Allande.

“If we refer something like this to the prosecutor’s office, we’re heading down a partisan path,” said Mellon, a Republican member of the board.

Although Mellon’s initial motion failed, in a 3-2 vote along party lines, his second motion, to dismiss the electioneering complaint, passed 5-0.

Board member John Reed, who is also a Republican, said the obstruction of a poll worker complaint was never alleged in the original complaint.

“Obstruction of poll workers doing her duties was the argument. I haven’t seen any evidence as to how her job was obstructed. She wasn’t physically restrained. It was two people having an argument,” Reed said.

Allande’s attorney, Nathan Vis, said he felt the board’s evidence against his client is weak.

Vis, who said he had his own experience as a poll worker in 2008, said that an “integral part is educating people.”

He said Jostes should have identified herself as an election officer when she approached his client.

New board member Mara Candelaria Reardon, a former Democratic State Representative, told Allande that Jostes did the right thing in approaching him and she believes his interaction was intimidation since he is both a male and a police officer.

She said she hopes he has learned a lesson.

“I think your behavior was intimidating and you made a huge mistake. And should you pay with your career? I don’t know,” Candelaria-Reardon said.

Deborah Laverty is a freelance reporter for the Post-Tribune.