WACH Fox 57 News

By Marsharia Adams

RICHLAND COUNTY, S.C. — Carolina For All held a press conference to emphasize the importance of fair and safe elections, along with State Representative Jermaine Johnson. Johnson has two proposed bills focusing on the protection of poll workers and elections."Don't look at the (D) don't look at the (R) understand this is something that represents all people," said Johnson

State representative Jermaine Johnson sounded off at the Carolina For All press conference Thursday afternoon.

One of those bills would give law enforcement the right to charge those who intentionally interfere with the election process or cause problems at polling locations. Since 2022, 16 states have passed legislation protecting election officials.

Officials say these bills have not received the needed attention during the current legislative session. Johnson says it's time people take this issue seriously.

"They were threatened and there was nothing that police officers or law enforcement could do to make sure they were going to be protected during this day. this bill will allow them to feel a little sense of security and allow them to do their job without fear of retribution and fear of individuals to come out against them," said Johnson

Lynn Teague with the South Carolina League of Women Voters says they lost five county election directors last year due to lack of protection.

"In many cases, all of the pressure and ugliness around elections these days is one of the reasons, we even had one county that had to shut down their election office for a week because they had nobody left," said Teague.

The other proposed bill would stop people from digitally altering messages from political figures it would also penalize those engaging in deceptive and fraudulent “deepfake” media before an upcoming election.It would also allow for damages for a candidate whose likeness is used fraudulently. 

Read the full article at the link above.