Bartlett, cops outside polling station.
State Senate candidate Jason Bartlett encountered police who tried to shoo him away from voters — and stood his ground.
That occurred Tuesday afternoon outside the St. Paul’s Church polling place on First Avenue in West Haven.
New Havener Bartlett, a petitioning candidate challenging incumbent Democrat Gary Winfield for the 10th State Senate District seat representing parts of New Haven and West Haven, was greeting voters in the parking lot.
Two officers told him he wasn’t allowed to stay there and talk to voters.
Well more than 75 feet from the voting entrance, Bartlett — a veteran of decades of campaigns — refused to budge.
His argument: “You can’t intimidate people. It’s a public election.”
He suggested the officers contact the voting moderator. They contacted their supervisor instead to come to the scene. (The officers refused to speak with the Independent.)
At that point Bartlett remained speaking with voters, and turned on Facebook Live.
You can watch what happened in the video, as Bartlett continued trying to win votes while waiting for the supervisor to arrive.
“I’m just going to hang and see what happens,” Bartlett said as the supervisor arrived and consulted with the officers.
“They have the police intimidating me a little bit. And I’m a little nervous about it. But I know what the law is.”
You can see the supervisor, Sgt. Patrick Buturla, approach Bartlett at the 7:30 point in the video.
Bartlett: Phew.
“Everything’s all set,” he informed Bartlett.
“We’re all good?” Bartlett asked.
“Of course.”
“I thought so.”
“You’re beyond the 75-foot point. …”
Buturla departed, and Bartlett resumed campaigning.
After a final message to his Facebook Live viewers.
“I guess I won. That’s what we call a little bit of voter suppression or candidate suppression. They’re not gonna arrest me, which is a good thing. We’ll be able to talk to voters now.”
"Voter suppression" is a bit fanciful, the cops were obviously just told no campaigning at the poll without being told details about how close was permissable.
But regardless, good on him for knowing the actual law unlike so many street lawyers who rarely know what they are talking about.