Date: 12/3/2021
SPRINGFIELD – City Council candidate Jynai McDonald has released police body–cam footage that shows City Councilor Malo Brown within 150 feet of a polling place on Election Day and arguing with a police officer when asked to move.
McDonald has made numerous campaign law violation complaints against Brown to both the Secretary of the Commonwealth and the Attorney General. Brown had told Reminder Publishing he had run “a clean campaign.”
According to McDonald, the Office of the Secretary of the Commonwealth stepped in to request City Clerk and Election Commissioner Gladys Oyola provide the footage sooner than originally announced.
The video taken at the Rebecca Johnson School shows a police officer approaching all campaign workers reminding them how far away they must be from the polling place. The officer politely explained the law to everyone and told everyone that he was recording the encounters on his body camera.
McDonald wrote, “Please see the attached public record request that substantiates my original complaint and gives evidence as to why I am contesting the election.”
In the video, the officer approached one group of sign-holders and a woman asked him why Brown is allowed to be closer than 150 feet. The officer replied, “I told him [Brown] he has to leave. If that doesn’t happen I’m going to go to the next step.”
The officer added, “I told him to leave and he claimed he knew the law.”
Brown was standing in the center of the school’s parking lot, much closer to the school than anyone else. He was speaking with voters who were walking from their cars to the polls.
Brown said to the officer, “I’m going to make sure as far as the guidelines go state-wide, I’m not going to do any campaigning. You see there are no marked things (while he ran his hands over his suit coat).”
Brown was referring to campaign buttons or stickers.
The officer said, “You’re on the ballot sir, so within 150 feet away from the building – signs and personnel have to be 150 feet.”
Brown pushed back and said, “Yeah, yeah as long as you sitting there marked [unintelligible].
The officer replied, “I’m telling you right now, 150 feet. You can’t be right here. You have to be within 150 feet.”
Brown said, “Well we’re not here marked with anything. We’re not here lobbying … I’m only here just here to help people.”
When the officer once again told him he was not be within 150 feet, Brown replied, “I don’t believe that [unintelligible].”
Brown walked away at that point and the officer went inside the school.
In a written statement, McDonald said, “I was relieved that the Secretary of the Commonwealth’s office weighed in on this matter [the release of the body cam footage]. First of all, there is an obvious conflict of interest when you have the Election Commissioner overseeing Public Record Requests related to the contesting of the election that she was in charge of. I am confident there is no other city in the commonwealth where the election commissioner and the city clerk are one in the same.”
She added, “The idea that the Office of the Secretary of Commonwealth had to step in to yield the appropriate outcome on a simple request is problematic. This is part of the reason why I’m contesting the election. I can’t help but wonder what other missteps were taken.”