Death of the First Amendment

[scoutldr 739]

Sad to report this from my beloved Commonwealth of Virginia:

 

A new state policy prohibits material such as T-shirts, buttons and stickers that expressly advocate for a candidate or issue. They arent allowed within 40 feet of a polling place entrance.

 

Poll workers can ask voters to remove or conceal the material. Election officials will be advised to have material to cover up any political apparel.

 

[Merlyn_LeRoy 72]

That's pretty standard anti-electioneering legislation, and isn't anywhere near the death of the first amendment, because the restrictions are extremely narrow -- only political messages within a certain distance of polling places on days when people vote.

[Be_Prepared 10]

I agree - pretty standard stuff. I've been a poll worker before. We had to go out and measure 50 feet from the edge of the building in different directions, and put up a small flag. Signs couldn't be within the 50 foot range. Also - no cell phones in the polling area. If someone came in with a candidate shirt, they had to turn it inside out, cover it, or leave. Very narrow restrictions, nothing that I would see about 1st admendment violations.

[evmori 11]

America - Land of the free! Home of the politically correct!

[Gold Winger 9]

Back in the 50's my brother-in-law went to the polls with his mother, he was carrying a plaid stuffed elephant. The poll workers made them put it into their car. Evidently, plaid elephants carried by four year olds are electioneering.

[scoutldr 739]

I am not the least bit offended nor influenced by a fellow voter wearing a T-shirt or campaign button. What I do vehemently object to is having to fight my way to the polling place through the gantlet of campaign volunteers shoving leaflets in my face as soon as I park my car.

[SR540Beaver 116]

Yep, standard stuff that has been around for years and nothing new. The real crime is that no alcohol can be sold in Oklahoma on election day. We can't have drunk people voting and pullingthe wrong levers you know!!!

[Merlyn_LeRoy 72]

Scoutldr, if it weren't for electioneering laws, they could shove leaflets in your face while you're waiting in line to vote. What you're seeing out in the parking lot is the first amendment.

[Trevorum 24]

Does the policy prohibit ALL candidates, or just current ones?

Could someone wear a W shirt?

How about a David Duke button?

[Be_Prepared 10]

The majority of states have some law prohibiting campaign material. It differs by state. Sometimes this is interpreted to include hats or buttons ( passive electioneering ). Some states have laws that actually list things that you can't do ( stickers, labels, etc.)

 

The interpretation of the state laws has long been left up to each county, so it's usually not enforced the same within the state. Each locality can interprete it differently. So one polling station could allow a 'W' button and another could ask you to remove it.

[Lisabob 13]

Michigan law says that people cannot campaign for/against anything related to the ballot. So, this year, no T shirts with buds on them (there's a marijuana ballot proposal) and nothing that could be construed as stem cells, or probably petri dishes either (stem cell research ballot proposal). Could you wear a "W" T shirt? Well yes, I guess you could in MI since W is not on the ballot. No McCain or Obama or Barr or McKinney T shirts though.

[Nike 94]

My mother, in Virginia, took my then three year old to the polls for a local election. The child had on an American Flag T-shirt from Old Navy or something, and the poll workers wouldn't let her bring him into the church hall. Who knew?

[Gold Winger 9]

Yep, can't wave that American flag around at an election, it might inspire people to vote all of the incumbents out.

[Mr. Boyce 13]

I was once a pollwatcher and also an election judge. The chief thing to remember is that election judges are not given, as a rule, very much training in anything other than running the gear. . . meaning that they are suspicious of anything seeming to be political.

 

And also, frankly, many election judges are older people, retired, who dislike disruption of any kind. So anything unusual is more likely to set them off than it would younger people.

 

As a result, election judges sometimes commit egregious offenses against individual political rights. The Virginia thing sounds queer: why can not a voter, say a McCain supporter, come in to vote wearing a McCain t-shirt? This rule would, to me, seem a violation of the First Amendment. It would be an entirely different matter if the person was an election judge. I would hope we could remember the First Amendment in America. Given hyper-PCism, I'm afraid for it.

[Gold Winger 9]

It's pretty simple. Wearing the shirt is campaigning which cannot be done close to the polls. Enough states have similar laws that if there was a serious objection to that restriction, it would have gone to the Supreme Court by now.