CHARLOTTE, N.C. — A volunteer was back working at a polling site Thursday, vowing to not be intimidated, only one day after someone hurled racial slurs at him and threatened him with a weapon.
Derek Partee says he was standing in the parking lot of an early voting site on South Tryon Street on Wednesday when he and several other employees noticed a group of people near the back of the lot, taking pictures of the polling site.
Partee, a retired police detective, said the behavior looked suspicious, so he decided to investigate.
"He just looked out of place," Partee said. "To me, he looked kind of skeevy."
As Partee was walking up to the group, he says things got hostile fast.
"A male, white, jumps out of the vehicle driver's side and said [expletive] 'what you doing here?' and started calling me the n-word," Partee said. "And he said, 'you black piece of [expletive] what do you want?'"
Partee said he started explaining he was a retired police officer and a Republican. Partee says the man lifted his shirt to show him a weapon on his waistband that police say turned out to be a BB gun.
"I was concerned for myself when I saw the weapon on his hip," he said.
Other workers at the polls who witnessed the exchange were worried that it was about to escalate to gunfire.
"This guy was emboldened," campaign volunteer Carlton Whidby said. "He wasn't afraid. He was ready, he was ready."
Partee said he took several pictures of the two men and the woman at the scene and called 911. The group took off, but police caught them a short time later.
Officers charged 28-year-old Jason Wayne with communicating threats and ethnic intimidation. The FBI is currently investigating to determine whether federal charges will be filed.
Other campaign volunteers say, despite the situation Wednesday, they did not think twice about coming back to the polling site Thursday.
"After I saw the gun I was concerned for the safety of everybody that was out here, but it didn't intimidate me," volunteer Virginia Keogh said. "It didn't keep me from being out here."
Partee hopes this situation helps unify the community.
"We cannot let terrorists or anybody intimidate us from exercising our right," Partee said. "Voter suppression will never, never be part of this American society because it's our God given right to vote and elect our candidates."
