Jesus and America Aren't Allowed at Williamson County Voting Centers w/Emma Holmes :: Try That In a Small Town Special Episode
11:18 Share

I won't do anything. I'll let you shine. I'll just sit here and be beautiful. He didn't sing in the rehearsal. We haven't had rehearsals. Alright guys, let's go. She's a good girl. Loves her mom. Loves Jesus. And America too. And they wouldn't let her vote. Cause she was wearing that on her shirt. And they asked her to leave.

Can you believe that's happening in Tennessee? The Try That in a Small Town podcast begins now. I got a text from a good buddy of mine, Danny Briggs. He told me, I'm going to read the text. He says, you will love this. In Franklin, Tennessee, my daughter went to vote yesterday wearing this shirt.

And was told Jesus in America was too political and she needed to change her shirt in order to vote. Can you believe that? Right here in Winston-Campaign. I can't believe that. I don't believe it either, actually. And we have her here. We have her here. I love it.

Thanks for being here. Thank you for being here on a special episode of Try That in a Small Town podcast. We're just glad to have you. We can't believe what we just heard. We just got the text yesterday. And just thank you for being here so quickly and just to tell us about your experience. Yes, thank you for having me to share my experience, what happened at voting. I feel like it's very important to share so that it doesn't happen again, and especially here in Tennessee.

We're going to put it out there when you tell it to. So when were you there? When did this happen? So Thursday, August 1st, I went around 11 o'clock. Went to the Williamson County Voting Center at an elementary school. Had my two little girls in the car. I ran in, thought I'd go quickly to vote.

And I was the first one kind of waiting in line behind a table. And when I get there, I see a man, a voter, walk into a hallway. And so I thought that was kind of strange. And then I get called up to someone. When I get called up to hand over my ID, I see the man coming back. And he's very bothered. He had to turn his shirt inside out that had Bush Reagan on it. Okay.

And so I hear him complaining, saying, this is insane. Like, this person's not running. Why am I having to do this? He did, but he's bothered by it and confronting the supervisor. So I go up, wait, pulling out my ID, and the supervisor comes over to me and says, oh, your shirt. You can't wear that here to vote. I looked down and said, me?

This shirt? Why? Why not? And she said, it's political campaigning. I said, for who? It says, Jesus in America. Who am I campaigning for? Yeah, Tom Petty's not on the ticket, right? Yeah. I wish he was. And can you tell, for the listeners, can you tell them what your shirt says? Just a little note. It says, loves Jesus in America too. Which is a lyric from... A Tom Petty song. I mean, it's...

Did you tell them that? I said I got it for Fourth of July, not anything political. And it's Olympic time. I'm going to vote. I thought I'd be patriotic and wear it. And I got called out on it and couldn't wear it.

so she said that's political campaigning you can't wear that here and i said i got it for fourth of july it's not and then the man next to me in the best shirt couldn't believe it he started going for battle for me and said are you serious you're telling her she can't wear this that it's insane and we were both in disbelief looking at each other shocked and she said i'll call out the official election committee and i said okay and

We were both just in shock, couldn't believe this. The man holding my ID, he started to feel uncomfortable of the supervisor kind of going over the table, telling us that we could not vote in our attire. And he said, I'll give you my shirt so you can vote here. I said, what? I'm still in disbelief here. He was going to take it off right there. Yes. I said, what? As a germaphobe, that's kind of disgusting. I said, no, that's okay. How long have you had that shirt on, sir? And he said, no.

I'll sit here shirtless so you could vote because at this point I'm kind of tearing up. I'm uncomfortable. I don't know what the rules are. What can I do? I feel like I'm in the right, but I don't know the rules. And he's starting to see that on me where I'm, you know, uncomfortable. And he's like, I'll sit here, you know, trying. He's starting to want to diffuse the situation. I'll sit here. You can vote. You're here. I'll sit here shirtless.

Which is that a violation? Yes. I said, that's okay. I'll be right back. And so I go starting to back away. And the other man next to me, his name is Randy, he said, wait, can I take your picture? And so I said, sure, because we're just both in shock. So he goes to take my picture. All seven, six, seven volunteers or people that are there, they jump up and say, no pictures, no cameras.

And now looking back on that, no one stood up to the supervisor saying my shirt was okay. They all have had training. They all knew no cameras allowed, but no one knew that my shirt was okay.

So that, now looking back, really upsets me that everyone jumped up right away and said no cameras. So he takes my picture. I walk out, leave, go to the car, check on my kids, make sure they're okay. And then I flip my shirt inside out. I go back in. I'm like, I'm here. I'm voting. I'm definitely now motivated to vote. And so I go in there, wait in line to vote. I'm doing my ID again. And the supervisor comes up to me and says, thank you for doing that. I said, this is insane. I hate it.

I have two babies in the car waiting for me. This was uncalled for and wrong. Can't even look at her, you know, hand her my ID, and then I'm able to vote with my shirt inside out. So when they first told you this, they said it was campaigning? Political campaigning. Loving Jesus in America. That's two of the most hated words. Absolutely. We've talked about it. Jesus in America, that's the two words that trigger them the most. That's right. ♪

That's just unbelievable. You're going to have to move, I'm afraid, it looks like. Well, I mean, this is not that shirt, but this is law, I guess, in a handful of states. Not every state, they don't want you electioneering, which is basically campaigning, but that would mean wearing a Trump shirt or who you're voting for. That's what they want to get away from, but...

I still don't understand that, though. Well, because people could circumvent the system and then they could plant people there to try to get you to vote for somebody. And they don't want influencing happening in line or at the voting, which...

whatever to that that's not even where we're at i mean this is you know it's funny because like that makes me think it's like when people see a flag they think oh you're maga like when did that happen you know it's true though extremist extremist nope because you have a flag we can have two dudes fighting we can have two dudes fighting each other in the olympics but we can't wear that shirt oh my gosh there's where we're at

It's a really sad state. If you're looking at her shirt, too, loves Jesus and America. So there was a guy there that was trying to stand up for you? You must leave. Is that what he was saying, too? Like, what the heck is going on? Right, yes. Well, I want to get your mama to get us four of those shirts in white, not pink. Large leaves. Remember that? But it makes me wonder, to your point, right, too, it's going to be, I know you're going with this, so like...

I wonder, where's the line? And then who is the one making the call, too? It's like a bouncer at a club or something. Oh, no, you can't get in there with tennis shoes or something. But who's making the call? And then what's the line? Can you wear... What is it? What's the... I don't know. It sounds to me like the call is anything that says Jesus or America on it because there's no candidate on that show, past or present. Yeah, obviously Jesus is related to the conservative side.

They automatically relate. And so would America. You might as well say, I'm a Republican. Might as well. That's what they were saying, pretty much. Your shirt was saying. Yeah. It has to be.

Did they, because one of the guys said, I assume it was a guy, said, I'll show you where this is. Did they show you the code, the ordinance? Did they bring out a little handbook, anything like that? No. Okay, did you look it up later? Yes. And then what did you find? I looked it up later and talked to legal counsel, and it was totally a violation of religion and freedom of speech in the number one amendment. And so was the Bush Reagan shirt. Right.

Both were completely fine to wear. So you did talk to legal counsel, and that's what they said? Yes. Oh. And so once I left, I did post on social media what had happened, just in shock and disbelief, and I have had support questions on it. The Secretary of State has reached out to me, apologizing for the event, said what actions he will be taking to try to prevent this in Williamson County and in Tennessee here in the future, additional trainings and certain actions that he can try to help prevent this.

So he agreed that what they did to you wasn't right. Correct. And that part's good. And then Kurt was saying, you know, who has the power? Who is the one doing that? And it's really, it's just the people who are probably volunteering to be there. So that's, you know, that person's power in the moment. It's kind of like when we sometimes carry, you know, guitars on a flight. Federally, we're supposed to be able to do that. Right. But they say, hey, you can't. You're going to have to get checked. They said, well, actually, the federal law is that we're allowed to bring...

instruments on there say yes sir sorry and so even though you're right you want to get on the plane and so you just stick it down there even though the law is on your side in the moment it doesn't matter does it no well we're going to take your story and run with it yeah yeah we

We appreciate you coming and sharing that. Yes, thank you for sharing this. It's an amazing shirt, and Tom Petty would be proud. Yes. He would have to be. Thank you for coming. Yes, thank you for having me and sharing this. I can't wait for all four of us to wear that shirt in and go vote at the same time. That's going to be great. Because we're all from Williamson County. Right. Everybody at this table. I wonder if they'll let us set up a remote podcast and voting.

Well, we could hand out their shirts. Hey, get us about 200. I don't want to trigger anybody. Oh, Lord. Don't trigger anybody. Well, thank you once again. Thank you, Emma. Yes, thank you. Make sure to follow along, subscribe, share, rate the show, and check out our merch at trythatinasmalltown.com.