Thursday, Regional One Health in Memphis confirmed the man in the photo is an employee at the hospital. They released this statement:
“Update: We’re actively investigating the allegation related to an employee to verify the truth & will have another update by 5:00 PM today. We understand the very intense feelings around this serious situation & know everyone wants updates. We will provide them as soon as we can.”
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OLIVE BRANCH, Miss. — A North Mississippi voter’s election day attire is getting a lot of attention online. The picture shows a man wearing a bold t-shirt with a clear message.
The voter who took the picture doesn’t want to show his face, because he’s not sure what the person wearing the shirt is capable of. But he doesn’t want to stay quiet about his experience.
“How could someone feel comfortable coming out in public, let alone to a polling station with a shirt like that,” he said. “I thought he was a worker because he was behind the counter. But come to find out, he was an express voter.”
Both voters filled out their ballots at the Pleasant Hill Road polling location in Olive Branch.
“My brother pointed out the shirt, and I’m like, ‘That’s a noose.”
The voter says he walked in with a sense of pride and ready to exercise his right to vote. But the noose and rebel flag took that away from him.
“They try to intimidate you to keep you away from the polls, and I think that’s the exact reason we need to go.”
He says the hateful message got to him, but he held it together. That is until he got home. That’s when he posted the photo on Facebook.
“What makes you feel that comfortable? He knew what he was doing,” the voter said.
He says after he posted the picture, everyone had something to say. But as he stood in line, “everyone was silent. No one said anything.”
Voting officials tells us they were really busy, so busy that poll workers say they didn’t even see the shirt. They say they realize it made people uncomfortable, but they had nothing to do with what a voter decides to wear to the polls.
According to the Secretary of State, the only election day clothing rules are you can’t wear clothing bearing a candidates name or picture into a polling place.
