The Hendersonville Police Department is investigating a possible case of voter intimidation that occurred Tuesday morning at a voting site at Gene Brown Elementary School.

A third party called police to report that there had been an incident around 10:30 a.m. at the Sumner County polling location, near Imperial Boulevard and Stadium Drive, but didn’t provide specifics, said Sgt. Neal Harris.

“We’re trying to get to the bottom of this to see if there is anything to investigate,” Harris said in a phone interview with The Tennessean.

According to Jacob Murrell, a spokesman for Sumner County Democratic Party, a woman was exiting the school after voting, when a group of five to six men harassed her.

The men, Murrell said, asked the woman if she had voted, and when she replied yes, they said she “should not be allowed to.”

"They said she should be deported and that it was basically her fault the country was falling apart," Murrell said.

The woman is from Hawaii, he said.

Murrell said his party got a call about the alleged encounter and that it appeared the men were targeting other voters while waiting in the parking lot that is within 100 feet of the school.

Harris said voting intimidation is something his department has never dealt with. They’ve never received a complaint in past elections.

What is voter intimidation?

Voter intimidation is incident where someone interferes or attempts to interfere with an individual’s right to vote. It’s a violation of federal law.

It is not common, but can be take different shapes, according to the American Civil Liberties Union.

A few examples:

Aggressively questioning voters about their citizenship, criminal record, or other qualifications to vote , in a manner intended to interfere with the voters’ rights;

Falsely representing oneself as an elections official;

Spreading false information about voter requirements, such as an ability to speak English, or the need to present certain types of photo identification (in states with no such requirement);

Displaying false or misleading signs about voter fraud and the criminal penalties related thereto; and

Other forms of harassment, particularly harassment targeted towards non-English speakers and voters of color.

To report voter intimidation, call the Election Protection Hotline: 1-866-OUR-VOTE or 1-888-VE-Y-VOTA (en Español) or the U.S. Department of Justice Voting Rights Hotline: 800-253-3931; TTY line 877-267-8971.

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