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New details emerge on incident where church blocked voting machines from entering polling location
LouisianaGDELTGDELT event14% biasedWed, May 20, 2026, 12:00 AM
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New Orleans church blocked voting machines from entering polling location, police say New details have emerged surrounding an incident at an Orleans Parish polling location over the weekend.Police said law enforcement intervened at Pentecost Baptist Church in New Orleans in Gentilly Friday night after church leadership blocked access to the building, preventing voting machines from being delivered ahead of Election Day.Carroll Turner, who lives across the street from the church, said the situation was alarming."Something was going on over there.It was concerning," Turner said.Turner said she was disappointed about the incident happening at a place of worship."For me, things of that nature should not occur at church.That's not the place.That is my thinking on it," Turner said.The New Orleans Police Department and the sheriff's office responded to the scene, and a sheriff's deputy remained at the site until the voting machines were removed.Clerk of Court Chelsey Napoleon described the situation as a "hiccup." "The location was Pentecost Baptist Church.My goal was to support the voters of Orleans Parish," Napoleon said.City Council President JP Morrell criticized the use of law enforcement resources in the incident."It's a waste of resources for law enforcement to babysit polling machines in a polling location at a church," Morrell said."It's important that if this was an issue, the clerk check with all the polling locations before the next cycle.It would be really unfortunate for this to occur again." The incident comes amid ongoing legal disputes involving Napoleon, Mayor Helena Moreno, and Morrell.Napoleon is suing the city leaders after they voted to hold a special election and appoint an interim clerk of court.The Louisiana Supreme Court has ruled in favor of Napoleon for now, with city attorneys saying a decision could come by the end of the week.Regardless of the outcome of the ongoing legal dispute, Turner hopes the church will work with leaders in the future to prevent something like this from happening again."That was my church for years.It hurts me to see the church going through all of that because that is not what should occur within the house of God," Turner said.