(Molly Bruns, Headline USA) A poll worker in Fulton County, Georgia was fired from her position after she posted a tweet saying she wanted to ensure a “free and fair election process.”
Laura Kronen arrived at the voting station with her son to work the polls on Tuesday morning, but was forced to leave almost immediately without any explanation as to why, the National File reported.
A tweet Kronen posted earlier that day appeared to be the cause of the problem.
Good morning! My son and I have arrived at our polling location in Fulton County to help make sure there is a free and fair election!
— Laura K (@LauraKronen) November 8, 2022
“Good morning!” the tweet read. “My son and I have arrived at our polling location in Fulton County to help make sure there is a free and fair election!”
Kronen also was accused of posting previous messages concerning election fraud on part of Democrats.
Polling places do not allow partisan speech on premises, but the personal social media of poll workers has not been a determining factor in their hiring.
Initially, Kronen refused to leave and polling officials called the police to escort her from the building or face arrest.
She later revealed to the American Tribune that one police officer told her she was being “clearly targeted for [her] political beliefs.”
Kronen said she followed every rule Georgia officials had put in place for polling officials, and there was not anything about her appearance that indicated that she was a Republican.
“We never even brought up anything regarding a political affiliation, or a person running. We never even mentioned a name. Nothing,” she said.
“We were wearing black clothing. We were wearing their voter shirts. Like there’s not there’s nothing that can possibly indicate what our political party is what our affiliation is. Nothing.”
Kronen’s 17-year-old son applied to be a paid poll worker. Polling officials also forced him to leave without explanation.
“He’s not even a voter yet. He’s 17. But they’re thinking probably that he has the same political beliefs as me. That’s their assumption,” Kronen explained. “He has nothing to do with any of these other pieces.”
“He should not have been removed,” she added. “He had nothing to do with me posting [the] good morning message or anything else.”
Kronen said she pushed back against the election officials, asking “So what did he do? Tell me what he did?”
In response, she alleges the officials said “[i]t doesn’t matter. He has to leave.”
