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Community leader Brother John Muhammad today called a press conference outside the Monmouth County Prosecutor’s Office to talk about voter suppression and intimidation in the city.

The Monmouth County Prosecutor’s Office [MCPO] is currently investigating the city council election voting process after Stephania Warren, the campaign manager for the AP Out Front election ticket, wrote two letters to the Monmouth County Board of Elections alleging that campaign workers representing the A-Team have mishandled the ballots or intimidated voters. The city council election is scheduled for Tuesday, May 14.

But Muhammad alleges that in the process of the investigation, MCPO officers themselves have engaged in voter intimidation.

Last Saturday, May 2, Muhammad was contacted by several city residents who “expressed their shock and anger at being visited by the Monmouth County Prosecutor’s Office,” he said. “These residents expressed to me that these officers were basically rude, unprofessional and proceeded to ask them if they were voting for The A-Team, and if they were …. why?”

The A-Team city council slate consists of Duanne Small, Jim Keady, Nora Hyland, Remond Palmer and Daniel Harris. The group has been linked to many of the 42 designated messengers in the election.

Such questioning is inappropriate, Muhammad said, because according to state statutes, voters are supposed to be afforded secrecy in the casting of their ballots.

Muhammad [pictured above] was joined by about a dozen community supporters. None of those present were victims of intimidation, Muhammad said, but they knew people who were.

Some voters are scared to cast their ballots next Tuesday, Muhammad said, adding that he has gotten several calls from residents stating they’re afraid to vote because of the investigation.

“We as a community need to be advised as to the legality of” the practice of asking voters for whom they voted and why, Muhammad said. “We believe that the MCPO’s reckless attempts to investigate voter bullying by the A-Team, have led to the very thing they accuse the A-Team of doing, which is voter intimidation and voter suppression. This we cannot tolerate.”

The MCPO historically has not been received well in the black community, Muhammad said, and “voter suppression in this community leading up to an important election is nothing new.”

Muhammad has heard from seven residents who took issue with the MCPO’s treatment of them during the investigation, he said. He instructs residents who feel intimidated to call him so that he can be present while the Prosecutor’s Office questions the residents, he said.

Acting Monmouth County Prosecutor Christopher Gramiccioni “has expressed to me today that of course his agents are above board,” Muhammad said. “I expressed to him that that’s his side, and there’s the community’s side. Perception is everything.”

The Sun is currently awaiting a statement from the Monmouth County Prosecutor’s Office.

Muhammad is urging all residents to vote on Tuesday, he said.

“Our ancestors fought, bled and died to give us that right,” he said. “We don’t want the Prosecutor’s Office to tamper that right.”

Louis DiLieto was also present at the press conference. He is acting as a ballot messenger on behalf of the A-Team, he said. The Prosecutor’s Office contacted one of the voters for whom he is acting as messenger at 9 p.m. on a Saturday to ask if she knew him, he said. The agents asked if she had been persuaded to vote a certain way, and she said no, he said.

“It’s embarrassing, what they made me look like,” he said. “I try to earn [voters’] trust and my credibility is shot as a messenger and a person.”

Diteko Hammary, another resident who is acting as a messenger in the election, said agents from the Prosecutor’s Office on Saturday approached a group of young people playing basketball to ask them who they were voting for and why.

“That’s illegal,” he said. “That’s immoral.”

Another resident, Felicia Simmons, said she has had trouble voting in past elections, with election workers illegally asking to see identification, or not having her name on their list of voters.

“People don’t realize it,” she said. “I think for a town that’s a square mile to have so many different districts is ridiculous.”

Rev. Bernard Oates, president of the Asbury Neptune Ministerial Alliance, said the investigation was bringing the city back to the 1950s.

“This is the 21st century and for the African-American community, racism is alive and well,” Oates said. “To go into the community and ask who you voted for — all of us know that’s a secret ballot. We don’t have to tell people who we vote for.”

Oates believes the MCPO investigators should use more tact, he said.

“It seems like when it comes to our people, they come across rude,” he said. “They come across like we’re nobody. No respect. It’s an attitudinal problem. It’s a certain attitude when they approach our people versus when they approach people on the other side of town.”

A-Team candidate Duanne Small was present at the conference, and expressed hope that the city will have a “free and fair election.”

“As a candidate in this election, it’s my duty to make sure everybody’s voice is heard and to get the vote out, whether they vote for me or not, as long as they participate in the process,” Small said.

Small has gotten calls from about 10 residents who were unhappy with treatment they received as part of the investigation, he said.

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