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Charlotte’s polling places are getting extra police attention after threats were made by an armed man against a black GOP campaign volunteer in the Steele Creek area.
“The department is conducting scheduled zone checks at all polling locations through the election on November 6,” according to a statement issued at 4 a.m. Thursday.
Charlotte-Mecklenburg Police identified the suspect in the Wednesday incident as Jason Donald Wayne, 28, of Charlotte.
He is charged with going armed to the terror of people, communicating threats, disorderly conduct and ethnic intimidation, according to Mecklenburg County jail records.
It’s the fourth time Wayne has been arrested in the past two years in Mecklenburg County, including twice for parole violations, jail records show.
“CMPD is communicating with the FBI to determine whether federal charges may be appropriate,” said a police statement.
The campaign volunteer was identified by a Charlotte Observer story as Derek Partee, and he posted photos on Facebook of the suspect and the two men accompanying him.
Derek Partee was volunteering for a Republican candidate at a Charlotte polling place in the Steele Creek neighborhood when he said a man threatened him and appeared to be armed. Charlotte-Mecklenburg Police later arrested Jason Donald Wayne, 28, and said he had a BB gun in his possession.
Derek Partee
The incident occurred around 2:30 p.m. Wednesday at 11130 S. Tryon Street, when a campaign volunteer with the Republican party said he saw someone in the parking lot with a camera “photographing or recording the polling location,” according to a police statement.
“The victim approached the suspect, at which time the suspect began directing racial slurs towards the victim. The victim stated that the suspect threatened to assault him before lifting his shirt and displaying a handgun which was in a holster on the suspect’s belt,” said the release.
The suspect didn’t touch the campaign volunteer or take the weapon from its holster, police said.
Investigators said they arrested Wayne at 9:15 p.m. and he was in possession of a BB gun in a holster.
Jason Donald Wayne, 28, is charged with communicating threats and ethnic intimidation after he allegedly threatened an African-American poll worker, according to Mecklenburg County jail records.
Mecklenburg County Jail
Wayne was accompanied by two people at the time of the altercation and they have been identified, police said. “Officers determined that they did not violate any laws,” police wrote in a statement.
Partee was volunteering to support Mecklenburg state senator Jeff Tarte, according to a statement from Tarte released Thursday morning.
Partee and Tarte will campaign together at the Steele Creek location again Thursday, according to the statement.
Partee is a former police detective from Long Island, New York, the release states, and the state senator complimented his quick thinking in taking photos of the incident.
“We live in a brazen and bizarre time, when we find campaign volunteers and staff experiencing harassment and abuse working polling locations,” Tarte wrote. “No one of any political party should ever have to be subjected to these types of intimidation and threats at a polling place.”
Mark Price: 704-358-5245, @markprice_obs
Jane Wester: 704-358-5128, @janewester
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