A staffer for the national Democratic Senate campaign operation has been fired after a Montana election official raised alarms over potential tampering with a ballot drop box.
According to Fox News, the incident occurred in Glacier County, Montana, when election administrator Crystal Cole saw surveillance video of an individual putting his hands on a ballot drop box and apparently tugging on it.
The video footage was recorded on Sunday, according to the New York Post.
According to Fox, the individual was identified as Laszlo Gendler, an employee of the Washington, D.C.-based Democratic Senatorial Campaign Committee.
The DSCC is an organization dedicated to electing Democrats to the Senate, which is now under the control of Democratic Majority Leader Chuck Schumer.
In Montana’s Senate race, three-term Democrat Jon Tester is trailing Republican challenger Tim Sheehy, according to a polling average published by The Hill Thursday. Its winner will be key to which party wields power in the upper chamber in the next Congress.
According to Fox, Cole said she contacted Gendler about his appearance at the ballot box and was told he was just checking to make sure it was adequately secured.
In a complaint to the Montana secretary of state’s office, Cole pointed out that “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.”
Social media users were crying foul, too.
NEW: Democrat operative caught allegedly trying to rip a ballot drop box off a wall in Montana.
Operative Laszlo Gendler is accused of tampering with a ballot drop box.
Gendler is paid by the Democratic Senatorial Campaign Committee (DSCC) who are currently helping Democrat… pic.twitter.com/hfdkymWZx3
— Collin Rugg (@CollinRugg) October 23, 2024
!!!BREAKING NEWS!!! A Democrat operative in Montana- where there is a critical Senate race- is CAUGHT ON CAMERA tampering with a ballot drop box!!!
The individual in the footage as Laszlo Gendler, who has been employed by the Democratic Senatorial Campaign Committee (DSCC) this… pic.twitter.com/GodYLDLdbF
— Steve Gruber (@stevegrubershow) October 23, 2024
Dems at it again! https://t.co/6WP1wY7srF
— Rusty Shacklinferd (@LINFER) October 23, 2024
Gendler was no over-eager campaign volunteer. He was a paid staffer of the DSCC, earning $42,909.20 between Sept. 15, 2023, and Aug. 30 of this year, according to the Post.
A spokesman for the Democratic Senatorial Campaign Committee said Gendler was “attempting to ensure a new ballot box was secured to the wall,” according to Fox.
However, “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.”
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National Republican Senatorial Committee spokeswoman Maggie Abboud wasn’t buying it.
Considering the state of the race, in an election year where Montana voters overwhelmingly back former President Donald Trump at the top of the GOP ticket, Democrats are getting desperate, she said.
“This video is incredibly damning,” she said in a statement, according to the Post.
“Jon Tester and Senate Democrats know they are losing to Tim Sheehy, so it appears they are trying to cheat in the election.”
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