Planning on wearing your Barack Obama shirt or John McCain pin to the polls November fourth? You might want to pack a change of clothes.
"If someone's wearing a pin or a shirt with a candidate or an issue on it, we ask that person to either remove the pin or cover up their shirt with any campaign material on it", says Tom McCabe, Director of the Mahoning County Board of Elections.
The Pennsylvania Elections Commissioner was recently quoted as saying it's okay to wear shirts, hats, pins and other items promoting candidates and issues in polling places, as long as a voter doesn't try to campaign there. But the final decision is up to the counties, and Mercer County Commissioners say even though a state official says it's all good, they won't allow it. It won't fly in Ohio either.
"It is a gray area in some cases, and with over one hundred polling locations it's so hard to enforce that throughout the day, we do our best", says McCabe.
The gray area falls between campaigning and something called electioneering. Ohio law says no one can campaign within one hundred feet of a polling place, but is wearing a shirt for a specific candidate really campaigning? McCabe says,
"It's important that voters feel no pressure from any campaign, or poll worker, or other voters, and they're free to make their own choices within the polling location."
So the best way to support your candidate on election day is to vote for them, and the sticker you can proudly display at any polling location is the one that says, "I voted today."
"Fortunately with November, the weather will be a little colder so if they do have a t-shirt on, we'll ask them to cover it with their jacket.", says McCabe.
McCabe adds no one will be turned away or denied their right to vote because of their Election Day outfit. The worst case scenario would be a poll worker asking you to cover up, or turn your shirt inside out.
Posted By: Minister Celeste Kelley
Wednesday, September 24th 2008 at 2:06PM
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