A man in Kentucky was arrested on Tuesday for allegedly interfering with an election after he wielded a pole at a polling location in Louisville and made “threatening gestures” to voters, according to authorities.
The suspect has been identified as 40-year-old Jacen Cockerell. The Louisville Metro Police Department (LMPD) said that police responded to a report of a “disorderly person” at 9.17 a.m. on Nov. 7 at the Molly Leonard Portland Community Center in Louisville.
Upon arrival, officers learned that Mr. Cockerell had allegedly been “making threatening gestures” toward voters while “wielding a flag attached to a fishing pole.” His actions intimidated at least one person from voting, the LMPD said.
Mr. Cockerell was also accused of damaging a voting machine by “ripping off the printer attached to the machine,” according to police.
He was arrested and transported to the Louisville Metro Department of Corrections for booking.
Kentucky Election
The Kentucky governor’s race has been one of the nation’s most closely watched elections this year and could provide hints of what will happen in presidential and congressional campaigns in 2024.
“Tonight, Kentucky made a choice, a choice not to move to the right or to the left but to move forward for every single family,” Mr. Beshear told a crowd of supporters in Louisville.
Mr. Beshear rode his stewardship over record economic growth and his handling of multiple disasters, from tornadoes and floods to the COVID-19 pandemic, to victory over Mr. Cameron, the state’s attorney general who is backed by former President Donald Trump.
Leading to Nov. 7, only two Republicans had been elected governor of Kentucky in the past 50 years, but the state has gradually shifted to be more conservative. Republicans have won the state in nine of the past 11 presidential elections.
