As early voting wraps up ahead of Election Day, candidates for Board of Education and their supporters found themselves wading through an increasingly negative campaign this week, both online and in real life.
However, few people would speak on the record to confirm details of what happened or who was involved outside the Ocean City convention center, where early voting was held Oct. 24-31.
A handful of hot-blooded interactions were reported in the parking lot of the convention center. One Facebook post in particular, shared to the group Worcester United, described “verbal harassment and physical intimidation tactics” among candidates and volunteers manning pop-up tents.
The post continued: “No matter your political affiliation we must let these people know that this is absolutely unacceptable … these people want to have a voice in deciding what is best for kids, yet they are acting like playground bullies. When election officials and two local lawyers came by to see the actions for themselves the behavior stopped until the officials and lawyers left, then it stated again.”
Dorothy Shelton-Leslie, a candidate for the District 5 seat on the Worcester County Board of Education, said any reports of confrontations are overblown if not patently false, and that opponents are just trying to disparage her campaign. She did say she’d parked her own truck in the parking lot, one that featured a large campaign sign. Eventually, someone else parked a bigger truck beside hers to block the sign. Tempers flared.
She said her husband Gary wanted to move their truck again, but “I said, ‘just leave it, I’m not playing the games.’ We’re not going there.”
“I think in a situation like this,” Shelton-Leslie told OC Today/Dispatch, “which is a very tight race, and there’s a lot of emotions – not only with President, but with all of them. Things do get emotional. But we didn’t have anything to do with that,” she added. “We kind of distanced ourselves from it. I’m running for school board, so I want to be an example for children. I’m not going to be unkind.”