A complaint filed by Schererville poll workers against a man who became belligerent after they asked him to turn his Donald Trump shirt inside out will be forwarded to the Lake County prosecutor’s office.

The complaint was lodged against Martin Sorice for wearing clothing supporting then-presidential candidate Trump at an early voting Schererville site last fall.

Sorice also became belligerent when asked by poll workers to remove or turn inside out his sweatshirt, with the Trump logo, Schererville poll worker Susan Greenberg said.

“He (Sorice) became loud, intimidating and boisterous,” fellow Schererville poll worker Darnell Carter said.

The Lake County Board of Elections and Registration Board agreed on Tuesday to uphold the complaint against Sorice and forward it to the prosecutor’s office in reference to electioneering and interfering in the polls.

“We can’t do anything beyond referring it to the prosecutor’s office,” board member John Reed said.

Sorice did not attend the meeting and he couldn’t be reached for comment.

Board members Kevin Smith and Michael Mellon said although Sorice had been notified to respond to the complaint he hadn’t shown up at last month’s meeting or at Tuesday’s meeting.

Both Smith and Mellon said that absence of response upset them since they weren’t able to get his side and whether he “knowingly” did what he did.

“I don’t appreciate being blown off,” Mellon said.

Smith said in past cases, when someone has attended to speak on his or her behalf, there may have been extenuating circumstances.

“We’ve bent over backwards not to refer to the prosecutor when they are here,” Smith said.

Greenberg said she and her fellow poll workers saw Sorice enter the chute, or line roped off leading into the voting site, while he was wearing a hooded sweatshirt with the Trump logo.

She said he was told he couldn’t come in to vote with the sweatshirt and that he should take it off or turn it inside out.

In the complaint, the workers stated Sorice “wanted it in writing that per the Bill of Rights he was being violated by being asked not to wear” the sweatshirt. He kept demanding every poll worker write their names on a piece of paper for him, according to the complaint, and they gave him contact information for the Lake County Board of Elections and Registration Board.

Greenberg said after a few minutes, she went outside to get the chute sign that lists the rules for voters to follow. She showed him the rule that states he couldn’t wear political attire into a polling place.

Sorice kept getting louder, Greenberg said, and that’s when police were called. While Sorice “gave them some lip” he ultimately listened to the police officers.

The officers walked with Sorice through the polling place, waited on the other side of the machine as he cast a ballot and then escorted him out, Greenberg said.

Carter, who was working the polls, previously told the board that what she witnessed was police officers calming Sorice down.

She said he took off the sweatshirt, which covered his t-shirt, before voting while police officers remained on the scene.

He then left, Carter said.

“He didn’t physically do anything, but he was belligerent and he scared all the people around him,” Carter said.

One of the police officers asked Greenberg to explain what occurred, she said. Greenberg told the officer that while in line in the polling location, people can’t wear political attire, she said, and showed him the sign posting the rule.

“He said, ‘I don’t agree with that.’ That really made me angry,” Greenberg said.

Another poll worker called the police chief about what the officer said, Carter said. The officer came back to apologize to the poll workers, Greenberg said, but he didn’t apologize to her.

Both Greenberg and Carter told the board that there is a need to educate police departments throughout Lake County when it comes to election protocol.

Carter said a majority of the poll workers are older retired women like her and Greenberg and pretty much defenseless when it comes to handling rowdy or angry voters.

“We don’t have a bouncer; we don’t have security,” Carter said.

The board agreed to defer to the March 18 meeting a complaint made by pollers at a Cedar Lake polling location.

In that complaint, Madison Jostes said she saw Jason Allande wearing a “Trump Make America Great Again” shirt at the Knights of Columbus polling location in Cedar Lake.

Jostes asked him to go to the bathroom to turn the shirt inside out or go to his car for a jacket to cover the shirt.

Jostes, who filed a written complaint, said Allande told her “I’m not doing that” and continued to look at his phone. Jostes explained that because Trump was on the ballot his political attire couldn’t be worn inside the polling location.

When Jostes told her she would call the police and county officials, Allande said “Go ahead, call the police. I am the police.” Allande took out his Cedar Lake police badge and “shoved it in (her) face,” Jostes said.

Ultimately, another inspector came over and was able to convince Allande to flip his shirt inside out “because she’s his neighbor,” according to the complaint. Post-Tribune’s Alexandra Kukulka contributed to this report.

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