PINELLAS COUNTY, Fla. (WFLA) – The Pinellas County Sheriff’s Office will station deputies at all of the county’s early voting locations starting Thursday, Sheriff Bob Gualtieri announced.
The move comes after two people dressed as armed guards showed up at an early voting site in St. Petersburg on Wednesday.
Pinellas County Supervisor of Elections Julie Marcus told 8 On Your Side that an armed man and an armed woman who identified themselves as security guards hired by the Trump campaign had set up a tent outside the polling location in downtown St. Petersburg on Wednesday. A Trump campaign spokeswoman denied the campaign’s involvement.
At a press conference Thursday, Gualtieri said the two were licensed security guards employed by a security company in Crestview, Florida. 8 On Your Side has been in touch with that company.
“If they are hired to provide protection for somebody, that’s completely legal, it’s lawful, that’s not a problem,” Gualtieri said.
Gualtieri said the two individuals have Class G and Class D licenses allowing them to carry firearms and that they weren’t violating any laws, given that they were outside the polling location. In Florida, it’s a third-degree felony to have a gun inside a polling place.
“Their mere presence does not constitute voter coercion or intimidation,” Gualtieri said.
Gualtieri said the pair left the site Wednesday due to rainy weather and promised to return Thursday morning but never arrived.
The sheriff’s office had initially decided not to place deputies at polling locations but Gualtieri said that would be changing in light of recent events. Starting Thursday, deputies will be stationed at all early voting sites until the last day of early voting.
“Deputies will be there as a resource and to be a calming presence so people know they do have unfettered, unrestricted, unintimidated access to those early voting sites,” Gualtieri said. “I hope what it does is make people feel comfortable.”
