Thousands are demanding that the Massachusetts attorney general arrest and prosecute Bill Clinton following reports that he may have violated state election laws.
An online petition on Change.org, which has accumulated more than 88,000 signatures, calls for the "immediate arrest of President Bill Clinton for clear, knowing, and egregious violation of the campaign laws to swing an election in a significant way." The petition is directed to Massachusetts Attorney General Maura Healey, a Democrat.
The petition was created after video emerged of Clinton shaking hands with election clerks inside a Massachusetts polling station on Super Tuesday. Critics have argued that the video is evidence of Clinton campaigning for his wife, Democratic presidential candidate Hillary Clinton, inside a polling location, which is forbidden.
Fmr President Bill Clinton and @marty_walsh Meeting election workers in West Roxbury #wcvb #SuperTuesday pic.twitter.com/BiHK3eGSoc
— Sera Congi (@seracongi) March 1, 2016
Clinton was also seen holding a rally close to the entrance of a polling site, thanking people for voting for his wife.
"Thank you all for participating. I especially thank those of you who are supporting Hillary," Clinton said through a megaphone outside a polling location in New Bedford, according to the Boston Globe.
The website for William Gavin, the secretary of the Commonwealth of Massachusetts, indicates that the "solicitation of votes for or against, or any other form of promotion or opposition of, any person or political party or position on a ballot question" is forbidden inside or within 150 feet of polling places on Election Day.
Galvin’s office reached out to Clinton’s campaign to remind them of the Election Day rules.
"He had the right to go into the polling locations, and say ‘Hello’ to workers who were there. The issue is, you can’t go inside and say, ‘Vote for my wife,’ or ‘Vote for Hillary,’" Galvin told the Globe in an interview Wednesday.
"Photos and video show him clearly greeting and talking up election workers inside," the petition alleges. "After being told to refrain from this activity, which is a 3rd degree Voter Violation Felony, for which Clinton indeed must have known the law and chose to violate it, Bill Clinton does not vote in Massachusetts, and would have no other business in a polling station on election day besides campaigning for his wife."
Galvin also said that is office was "annoyed" by Clinton’s speech outside the New Bedford polling place but that he did not interrupt voting.
Clinton narrowly beat Sen. Bernie Sanders (I., Vt.) in Massachusetts on Tuesday, winning 50 percent of the vote to his 49 percent.