SPRINGFIELD, Mo. — Springfield police were alerted to a heated confrontation at a polling location this afternoon when voters became upset that an election judge wore a hat with Donald Trump’s campaign slogan on it.

The Greene County Clerk intervened and the poll worker changed his hat. But at least one voter who cast a ballot at Glenstone Baptist Church felt the county’s actions to fix the situation fell short.

“No one came here to be provoked and it was very provocative,” said voter Ray Martin. “It was unnecessarily disruptive and shows a lack of respect to the process. “

Martin said he voted at the church between 2 and 3 p.m. on Tuesday. Martin told the election judge that the hat was inappropriate and told him to remove it. The poll worker defended the clothing choice until the Greene County Clerk caught word of the disruption and asked him to change.

“I came here personally and spoke to the election judge,” said Republican Clerk Shane Schoeller, who’s announced a bid for Missouri Secretary of State next year.

The election judge put a different hat on and was allowed to remain at the polls for the rest of his shift. Schoeller said voters are allowed to wear political attire as long as it’s unrelated to any ballot issues in that specific election. However, he said election judges should refrain from wearing anything political in nature that could disrupt the voting process, including MAGA clothing.

“Why is he still here? What level of misbehavior gets you removed from the situation?” Martin said.

But polling locations are staffed with an equal number of Republican and Democratic workers. Schoeller said removing the judge would have been further problematic for that reason.

“We cannot remove an election judge because then you remove the bipartisanship,” said Schoeller.

Election judges are trained to refrain from having political conversations at the polls on election day, but they aren’t trained on attire. Schoeller said clothing choice will be discussed in future training sessions.