Opinion ID: 431101
Heading Depth: 3
Heading Rank: 2

Heading: Disenfranchisement of a Voter

Text: 16 The Company alleges that the Board agent improperly forced employee Frank Carillo to wait before voting, causing Carillo to become upset and not vote. There was a dispute between a Union observer and another employee over Carillo's eligibility to vote. The Board agent asked the observer if the Union intended to challenge Carillo. The Union observer replied that he was uncertain and wished to wait until another Union observer returned. The Board agent asked Carillo to stand aside. After waiting more than ten minutes, Carillo left voluntarily without voting or telling the Board agent he was leaving. He did not return, although the polls were open a second time during his shift. 17 Our research has not disclosed a case with precisely the facts at issue here. A number of analogous situations, however, suggest that it may be within the discretion of a Board agent to impose reasonable delays on voters in order to ascertain their eligibility. The Board's Case Handling Manual, for example, expressly permits election agents to ask challenged voters to remain at the polling place awaiting a slack period to cast their ballots. The Board also encourages its agents to avoid unnecessary election delays because of groundless challenges. Fulton Bag & Products Co., 121 N.L.R.B. 268, 270 n. 5 (1958). On similar facts, the Fifth Circuit declined to set aside an election. NLRB v. W.R. Grace & Co., 571 F.2d 279, 282 (5th Cir.1978) (employee left when Board agent questioned his eligibility). An occasional inconvenience may be required of employees in order to vote. The Ninth Circuit has refused to set aside elections where employees voluntarily failed to vote, even though voting would have caused the employees personal hardships. See Beck Corp. v. NLRB, 590 F.2d 290, 293 (9th Cir.1978) (per curiam) (election held during employees' scheduled day off); ITT v. NLRB, 294 F.2d 393, 394-95 (9th Cir.1961) (possible loss of employees' daytime jobs). In the instant case, there was no indication that the Union observers used this technique as a delaying tactic to discourage certain voters. Nor was it apparent that the minor delay caused Carillo not to return to the poll later in the day. We find that the Board did not abuse its discretion by overruling this objection without an evidentiary hearing.