Lila Guzman, election supervisor and judge who yelled at a Black woman
Williamson County, TX — Lila Guzman, an election supervisor and judge who is white, has resigned from her job after a video that has gone viral shows her yelling at a Black woman who reportedly needed help to find where she should vote. But Guzman claims she lost her temper because of lack of sleep and support.
Another voter took a video of the incident. She said she began to record when she realized things were “getting out of hand.” She recounted the incident and told KVUE, “She did tell her she couldn’t vote there, but she didn’t say where in Travis. The lady did have an accent. She could’ve been new to the country. I don’t know, but she needed some help.”
Moreover, Guzman can also be heard in the video threatening to call the police on the Black woman, who left before the police came.
“Our supervisor loses her composure in the middle of this, and that’s not something that we ever train our poll workers, supervisors, election judges and clerks to do,” Williamson County Elections Administrator Chris Davis said in a statement. “We always train them and advise them to maintain control of the situation politely and answer voters’ questions and give voters options so situations like these don’t escalate.”
Davis confirmed that the woman was registered to vote in Williamson County but resided in Travis County. He said she should have been directed to the Travis County Elections Division, instead of being lashed out.
Guzman admitted that she hadn’t been able to handle the situation properly but she didn’t apologize. She claims she was working 12-hour days for about two weeks and that’s the reason for her sudden outburst. She also said she resigned not because of the video, but because she felt the office did not support her when she asked to call the police to have the woman removed from the building.
Watch the live footage below: