- Debbie Rauers, a former Republican member of the Chatham County Board of Elections, is accused of running over a poll organizer and then identifying herself as her Black colleague on Tuesday, according to Black Enterprise and Yahoo News.
- “She finally turns on her car and she starts to go forward. I take two steps back, and she yells, ‘Get your butt out of the way. Do you want me to run you over? And she then hit me with her car,” activist Christina Magaña said, the Savannah Business Journal reported.
- According to the Savannah Business Journal, Rauers identified herself as a colleague on the board of elections, and the coworker was notified about the incident.
- WSAV-TV reported Rauers stepped down from her job in an email on Thursday and local police are investigating the incident.
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A member of a county board of elections in Georgia is accused of hitting a woman with her car and claiming to be her Black colleague on Tuesday, according to multiple reports.
The accused woman, Debbie Rauers, a Republican member of the Chatham County Board of Elections stepped down from her position in an email on Thursday and a police investigation is underway, as WSAV-TV reported.
The resignation comes after Rauers reportedly said she was Malinda Hodges, a Black woman who also serves as a board of elections member, and hit a Latina woman with her vehicle then fled the scene at the Savannah Civic Center earlier this week, Yahoo News reported.
The Savannah Business Journal reported that the victim- activist Christina Magaña who was organizing a ‘Party at the Polls’ event along with Black Lives Matter -received approval to reserve a parking space for a food truck.
According to the report, as the food truck arrived to park, Rauers drove her vehicle into space.”I asked her if she would you mind if we trade spots … there was one next to her. Her response was, ‘Who are you, and do you have permits?'” Magaña said while confirming that the manager of the facility was notified about the reserved space, according to the Savannah Business Journal.
According to Magaña, Rauers who identified herself as Linda had "a big issue" with the event, the Savannah Business Journal reported.
Magaña said she was standing in front of Rauers' vehicle in the parking space, then the situation escalated, according to the publication.
"So then she finally turns on her car and she starts to go forward. I take two steps back, and she yells, 'Get your butt out of the way. Do you want me to run you over? And she then hit me with her car," Magaña said, according to the Savannah Business Journal.
Magaña said that when she told the woman that she hit her with the vehicle, she continued to drive away, according to the report.
As the Savannah Business Journal reported, Malinda Hodges, the woman Rauers identified herself as during the incident, is aware of what happened.
According to the outlet in an additional report, Rauers said disagreed with Magaña's claims and said that she did not strike her with her car.
"These young people are creating problems that don't exist. I was cordial. They had a band, and a food truck, and I asked her if she had permits," Rauers told the Savannah Business Journal, adding that the parking spot was "not blocked off."
Chatham County Board of Elections did not yet respond to Insider's request for comment.
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