Ex-GOP lawmaker charged with assaulting North Carolina poll worker

A Republican ex-lawmaker was charged with assaulting a North Carolina poll worker who stopped him from entering an early voting center.

Gary Pendleton, a former state representative and former Wake County commissioner, told the Washington Post that he became angry the election worker would not allow him to enter the polling location Friday before it opened at 8 a.m.

“I really got upset about it," Pendleton told the newspaper, "and I said, ‘Well, what are you doing up in there that you don’t want us to see?’”

The 73-year-old Pendleton said he had been allowed in another polling location Thursday at 7 a.m., and he said the poll worker violated social distancing by stepping in front of him.

“He was three feet from me,” Pendleton said. “I don’t like people up in my face with this stuff going around.”

Pendleton said he suspects the poll worker prevented him from entering because precinct chief judges are chosen by Gov. Roy Cooper, who's a Democrat.

“I think that contributed a lot to it,” he said. “There’s no doubt in my mind this is a partisan thing.”

Pendleton was charged with a Class 3 misdemeanor, and he said the incident made him ineligible to serve as a poll watcher for the rest of the year.