Voter intimidation allegations continue in Berwyn

Allegations of voter intimidation dominated the public forum portion of the March 23 Berwyn City Council meeting, with Mayor Robert Lovero apologizing and stating that one of the complaints was under investigation by the county.

After allegations made by Berwyn residents Luz Chavez and Ruanda Mejia at the Feb. 24 and March 9 council meetings, two more residents spoke March 23 of voter intimidation they encountered by Democratic Citizens of Berwyn supporters while volunteering for the opposition, the Your Berwyn party. Lovero is the head of the Democratic Citizens of Berwyn.

The March 23 apology from Lovero came after Andrea Munday and Benjamin Henning described incidents of intimidation and profiling at Morton West High School on Election Day.

Mejia’s account – she recalled a dozen men exiting three SUVs and surrounding volunteers handing out palm cards at Havlicek Elementary School – prompted an official social media post from Lovero after a photo of him surfaced with Jose Roberto Maldonado, who both Chavez and Mejia said was one of the men at Havlicek and the man who displayed a taser and a gun while standing, unmasked, within inches of the volunteers.

Maldonado could not be reached for comment. Maldonado is running for village president of south suburban Midlothian.

“Someone invited him to Berwyn to help the DCOB. Who?” Mejia said March 23 after thanking Lovero for “taking some responsibility” for the incident.

Lovero repeatedly has said he didn’t know “that gentleman” when questioned about Maldonado or his role with the DCOB.

On March 24, Lovero’s social media post addressed a photo of Lover with his arm around Maldonado’s shoulders at what Lovero said was the DCOB’s election night campaign party. A second photo at the same event shows 1st Ward Alderman Scott Lennon posing the same way with Maldonado.

“I stand by my statement that I did not know this person,” Lovero wrote in a statement he posted on Berwyn’s Facebook page after the photos were circulated to the news media and council members.

“As a result of the election, many people requested to take pictures with me. I obliged, even though I was not acquainted with some of them,” Lovero wrote.

He concluded that he found the “constant attacks on my veracity and character … disheartening. I am, however, willing to endure the attacks but will not condone City Council members to objects of the discontentment shown by these individuals.”

New allegations came from Henning, who is Black. He said he was racially profiled while working as a volunteer handing out palm cards at Morton West High School on Election Day.

His account was backed up and amplified by Munday, who also alleged intimidation from police on voting day when she was volunteering for Your Berwyn at Morton West.

Henning said he volunteered starting at 6 a.m. at Morton West on Election Day.

“At 8 a.m., I went inside, stated that I was not there to vote and asked the [people at the] front tables if I could use the restroom. They said ‘yes’ and directed me to the location. As I was washing my hands and straightening my hat, two security guards came in,” Henning said.

Henning said he was “escorted out of the bathroom by both security officers.”

“What was an empty hallway two minutes prior was now filled with more than a dozen Election Day volunteers to see me brought out of the bathroom to find out what harm I was intending and what was going to happen to me with the security guards. And let’s be clear, the next thing that was going to happen was for me to be forced to provide ID and then to show the contents of my bag to an audience of onlookers,” he said.

That didn’t happen, Henning said, because someone he declined to name recognized him and vouched for him to security and the police.

Henning said he was shaken by the incident and frightened to imagine what might have happened if he hadn’t been vouched for by someone that security and the police respected.

As he was leaving, Henning said, one of the officers told him “everyone is on edge,” and that by going into the bathroom with a backpack, Henning had aroused concern that he might exit that restroom without the backpack.

“I wear my backpack as an honor to and to pay respect to John Lewis,” Henning said of the Civil Rights icon who famously wore a backpack to the March on Selma. “I wore my backpack at the Black Lives Matter rally in August, and on Election Day for this very specific reason. By the way, in my backpack, I only had hand warmers to share with other volunteers and my own personal supply of Diet Pepsi.”

Munday picked up the narrative. Henning was visibly upset and believed he needed to leave, even though he really wanted to help his candidate, she said. Munday said she took over for Henning and he left.

The polling place was quiet, but multiple police officers stopped by, often stopping to chat with DCOB supporters, Munday said.

“[Police] Chief [Michael] Cimaglia made a point to say hello to me in an enthusiastic voice out of his window as he went by. It’s no secret that Chief Cimaglia and the police department are not fans of mine. … Mayor Lovero, you told me this yourself,” Munday said.

“As a privileged white woman who has moved through this world with no fear of police, even I felt uncomfortable,” she said.

Munday then spoke about the Blue Lives Matter emblem worn by police officers who were at the polling place.

“The NAACP [National Association for the Advancement of Colored People] recognized [the emblem] as ‘racist imagery meant to intimidate’ saying ‘although the NAACP acknowledges it’s a symbol of the risk and sacrifice of peace officers, it’s also been taken up by white supremacists,’ ” she said. “Combine this with the fact that a poster with this flag also hangs in our police department with the words ‘Blue Lives Matter’ – words meant to be in antithesis to Black Lives Matter – it’s no wonder a Black man felt the need to leave the polling location at Morton.”