Police: Mentally ill man disrupted polling places

• State Justice Department says election integrity %22not affected%22 by outburst at Green Bay church
• GB police tried unsuccessfully to get him to go to crisis center for mental health evaluation

Police and state Department of Justice officials were called on Election Day after a man who police say is mentally ill caused disruptions at polling places in Green Bay and Ashwaubenon.

The man was serving as a poll worker at Grace Lutheran Church in Green Bay on Tuesday morning when he began "creating a ruckus, and telling people how to run the polls," Brown County Clerk Sandy Juno said Tuesday.

Local elections officials contacted the Justice Department to see whether "election integrity" had been affected by the man's outburst, DOJ spokeswoman Dana Brueck said in an email.

"A volunteer at Grace had alleged various issues at that location," Brueck said.

"DOJ's team visited, observed and spoke with the poll workers at that location. DOJ also spoke with the individual by phone who was alleging various problems. No issues affecting election integrity were identified at that location."

Later in the day, the man spent an hour on the telephone with an official from the state Government Accountability Board, GAB spokesman Reid Magney said. The GAB did not recommend that local clerks take any action as a result of that conversation, Magney said.

After upsetting the chief inspector at the church, the man then went to the city clerk's office and caused a disturbance there, according to City Clerk Kris Teske.

"He got the poll workers so worked up that they kicked him out," Green Bay City Attorney Jim Mueller said. "He was causing a disturbance at the polls."

The man also had contact with a Green Bay police officer who tried, unsuccessfully, to convince him to go to a local crisis center for evaluation, city police said. The man was not arrested and has not been charged with a crime.

The Green Bay officer sent a message to other officers that the man is apparently homeless and "appears to be suffering from some type of mental illness."

Later, the man showed up at the Ashwaubenon village hall and tried to register to vote, but became upset when he was turned away because he had no proof of residency, Village Clerk Patrick Moynihan said. Moynihan said the man had previously caused problems at the village hall, but said those had nothing to do with elections.

Mueller said the man had been barred from the fifth floor of City Hall because of confrontations that have occurred here.

— dschneid@greenbaypressgazette.com and follow him on Twitter @PGDougSchneider