A woman poll worker was yelled at by a police officer at a Cedar Lake polling location after she asked him to conceal his “TRUMP Make America Great Again” T-shirt, according to an election complaint.

The Lake County Board of Elections and Registration will review two election complaints in which voters refused to remove or cover clothing with President Donald Trump’s name or Make America Great Again.

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 to 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.

Jostes told Allande that he would have his voice heard when he cast his ballot. Allande raised his voice and said, “What are you gonna do about it?”

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.

The board voted to defer the complaint to its March meeting because Jostes and Allande didn’t attend Tuesday’s meeting. Allande did not immediately respond to requests for comment.

Jostes couldn’t attend Tuesday’s meeting, but Jeff Biel, the Cedar Lake and Hanover Township Democratic party chair, went on her behalf. Biel told the board Tuesday it’s unfortunate that Jostes had to go through this.

Mary Joan Dickson told the board Tuesday that she’s been a poll worker in Cedar Lake for more than 50 years and has encouraged younger people to work the polls.

“What I am asking you now is to make sure that they feel safe and protected when they’re working the polls,” Dickson said.

Dickson was working at a different polling location on Election Day but she received many calls about what happened to Jostes, she said. Jostes has been a poll worker since she was 17 years old and is very professional, Dickson said.

“I believe in all my heart that she did 100% what she needed to do and she was threatened. I really hope that you’ll take care of that situation. I don’t want to ask one of the youth of our community to come back to work the polls and be a victim of that — ever,” Dickson said.

Poll workers from the Schererville early voting site filed a complaint against Martin Sorice for wearing clothing supporting Trump to the polling location.

Sorice did not attend the meeting and he didn’t immediately respond to requests for comment.

Susan Greenberg, a poll worker, told the board Tuesday that she and another worker saw Sorice inside the polling place wearing a Trump sweatshirt. When a poll worker approached him to tell him to either take off the sweater or turn it inside out, Greenberg said Sorice became “belligerent.”

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.

“He didn’t like it. He was loud, obnoxious,” Greenberg said. “He kept saying over and over again it’s his right to vote and he’s going to vote.”

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 and turned his sweater inside out, she said.

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.

Darnell Carter, who was working the poll pad at the time, told the board Tuesday that what she witnessed was police officers calming Sorice down, Sorice turning his sweater inside out before voting and police officers remaining on scene until he left.

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

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.

Board chairman Kevin Smith said the situation was resolved that day and doesn’t seem to rise to the level of an election law violation.

“It sounds like overall you guys did a great job trying to explain the rules to everybody,” Smith said.

Ultimately, the board voted to continue the hearing on the complaint and send a subpoena to Sorice to come to the next board meeting to address it.

akukulka@post-tribune.com