As nearly one million Marylanders took to the polls for early voting, the state administrator of elections posted a vague message on social media, alluding to an elections worker being harassed.

Maryland elections official Jared DeMarinis wrote Thursday that he has “absolute ZERO tolerance” for harassment, adding that elections officials have “the highest level of integrity.”

“We understand that questioning processes and procedures are natural and encouraged for an informed electorate,” he said in a later statement. “However, when questioning turns to harassment or threatening behavior against election officials, a stand must occur.”

On the day before Halloween, Carroll County election director Erin Perrone filed for a peace order against Katherine Adelaide, a member of the county’s Republican Central Committee, according to court records. A Carroll County judge granted the order on a temporary basis, finding reasonable grounds to believe Adelaide had harassed the election official. A hearing on the matter is scheduled for Wednesday.

Adelaide did not immediately answer questions about the recent incident. Perrone directed questions to the State Board of Elections.

Adelaide, an anti-abortion activist who has run for county commissioner and the Taneytown City Council, was escorted from a polling place in 2022 after a conversation with election judges got heated, according to the Carroll County Times. She also received probation in 2018 for misdemeanor charges of trespassing in a public building or grounds and disorderly conduct, according to online court records.

Earlier this year, Gov. Wes Moore signed into law the Protecting Election Officials Act of 2024, making threatening and harming an election official a misdemeanor.

Court records and police reports indicate no direct contact between Adelaide and Perrone, but the election director felt harassed because she said Adelaide had followed and watched her.

According to an incident report from the Carroll County Sheriff’s Office, officials reported to the Westminster Senior Center early Wednesday morning, shortly after Perrone opened the polls for early voters. She picked up the ballot drop box and went to her car to drive back to the election office down the street.

In her application for the peace order, Perrone wrote that Adelaide was at the Westminster senior center every day during early voting, which began Oct. 24.

She reported to the police that Adelaide followed her to the election office’s parking lot and parked her car close to hers. Adelaide then waited until the election worker went into the building with the ballot box.

Perrone reported she watched video footage where she saw Adelaide pulling her car to the door to watch her walk down the hall.

The election worker was distraught when law enforcement officials arrived, the police report said. Perrone said in the peace order application that she is familiar with Adelaide and that her behavior started at a board meeting in mid-September, causing her emotional distress.

Adelaide told officers she wanted to check what political signs the election worker had placed in front of the election office and wanted to make sure the worker was going to take the ballots from the drop box “straight to the election office.”

Reporter Tim Prudente contributed to this article.