“Their actions were not in accordance with our procedures and out of an abundance of caution they will no longer be doing this work moving forward,” said David Bergstein, DSCC spokesperson.
Montana election officials caught a Democratic operative allegedly tampering with a ballot box Sunday, after viewing surveillance video of the incident. Crystal Cole, the Glacier County election administrator, reported her concerns to the Montana secretary of state's election unit about the potential "tampering,” according to an email shared with Fox News Digital.
Cole told the Montana secretary of state’s office that she called the Democrat who told her he was just testing the box "to see how secure the box was." But Cole said the "MT Dem Party did not notify the Elections office … they would be sending someone to the Ballot Box to check how secure it was, so on camera it looks like he was tamering [sic] with the box."
The secretary's office said the man in the video is Laszlo Gendler, an employee of the Democratic Senatorial Campaign Committee (DSCC) this cycle, according to documents from the Federal Election Commission.
"Poll observers are instructed not to touch ballot boxes. This individual was attempting to ensure a new ballot box was secured to the wall, neither the ballot box nor ballots were affected," David Bergstein, DSCC spokesperson, told Fox News Digital. "Their actions were not in accordance with our procedures and out of an abundance of caution they will no longer be doing this work moving forward."
The secretary of state’s office told Fox News Digital that the matter has been referred to the Glacier County Sheriff. Video obtained by Fox News Digital, documents the individual, apparently Gendler, moving towards the ballot box in Glacier County, Montana. Gendler grabbed the box with both hands, relinquished his grip, walked back a few steps before touching the box again. The incident is troubling because it occurred in a state that is seeing one of the tightest Senate races in the country, with Republican Navy SEAL Tim Sheehy challenging Sen. Jon Tester (D-MN).
The Glacier County ballot box can be found in Montana's First Congressional District, the home of Republican Rep. Ryan Zinke, who is running for reelection against Democrat Monica Tranel. The Montana Democratic Party offered “no comment” to Fox News.
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