A white election judge in Williamson County, Texas, was caught on camera screaming at a Black woman who was confused about voting. After the footage surfaced, the judge, Lila Guzman, reportedly resigned from her position, The Hill reports. The video was recorded by another voter.
“I was like, 'This is getting out of hand.' So I began to record," the voter who filmed the video told local ABC News KVUE. "She did tell her she couldn't vote there, but she didn't say where in Travis. The lady did have an accent. She could've been new to the country. I don't know, but she needed some help."
In the footage, Guzman yelled at the voter and told her to leave. "Get out. Get out. Get out. You are rude. You are not following the law. Go. Go," the judge screamed. In another part of the video, the irate judge threatened to call law enforcement on the unidentified woman.
A @WilcoElections supervisor and judge has resigned following an incident in which she was caught on camera screaming at a confused voter. A woman who recorded the video was shocked at the judge's behavior — and so was her boss. https://t.co/fKYKHHkaTC
@KVUE
pic.twitter.com/j3v25VooFe— Pattrik Perez (@PattrikPerez) November 6, 2018
KVUE spoke with Guzman on Monday. The former judge said she handled the situation poorly but claimed it was due to the stress of having worked 12-hour days for two weeks straight.
Still, Williamson County Elections Administrator Chris Davis said nothing excuses Guzman's behavior.
"Our supervisor loses her composure in the middle of this, and that's not something that we ever train our poll workers, supervisors, election judges and clerks to do,” Davis said. "We always train them and advise them to maintain control of the situation politely and answer voters' questions and give voters options, so situations like these don't escalate."
According to Davis, the voter may have gone to the Williamson County voting station despite living in Travis County after being turned away by that polling site. He said the poll workers in Travis County should have referred her to the Travis County Elections Divisions to vote on a limited ballot instead of sending her to Williamson County.
The incident happened last Friday, so Guzman did not participate in Tuesday's Election Day proceedings. Guzman reportedly said she did not resign because of the footage but because of the lack of support she received during the incident.
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