A man in Texas who wore a MAGA hat to a 2024 presidential election early voting location was arrested after he punched an election worker who asked him to remove the hat.
Jesse Lutzenberger, 63, was arrested Thursday and has been charged with injury to an elderly person, according to an incident report from the Bexar County Sheriff’s Office.
According to Bexar County Sheriff Javier Salazar, Lutzenberger initially complied with a request made by the 69-year-old early voting worker. The worker advised him that wearing political apparel to a voting location is illegal under Texas law, ABC News reports.
Once he had finished voting, Lutzenberger put his hat back on, but was allegedly lingering inside the voting building. The worker again let him know that it was “unacceptable” and tried to escort him from the building.
Once the pair were near the doors of the voting location, Lutzenberger allegedly threw “an arm back toward the victim,” according to Salazar. The sheriff said the incident was captured on a surveillance video.
“The victim seemed to push off of the suspect. At that point, the suspect then turned and threw several punches right at the face of the victim.” the sheriff said.
Salazar said the election worker had “marks on his face” but was otherwise unharmed.
Lutzenberger was arrested and has been charged with a third-degree felony. He is being held in jail on $30,000 bond.
Salazar said an investigation will determine if Lutzenberger can be charged with assaulting an election worker.
Twenty-one states prohibit the wearing of political or campaign apparel in or immediately around voting locations, according to the National Conference of State Legislatures.
Salazar noted that there had been other minor incidents at polling locations since early voting began, and warned voters not to let their emotions and political views land them in prison.
“Look, nothing here is worth getting hurt for going to jail for. This election is going to happen one way or another. One side is going to win, one side is going to lose. That’s just the nature of things,” he said. “But there’s no sense picking up a criminal case, picking up a criminal history — or injuring or even killing somebody in the name of politics. It just doesn’t make any sense.”
