On September 20, a federal lawsuit was filed by a voter who was told she could not wear a T-shirt that said “Flagstaff Tea Party – Reclaiming Our Constitution Now” while she was in a polling place at the Arizona primary in August. See this story. The case is Wickberg v Owens, cv10-8177-PHX-JAT.
This issue was raised in North Carolina in 2008. I asked Don Wright, general counsel for the North Carolina State Board of Elections what NC’s law on this was, he advised that:
“A voter that has a political cap, T-shirt, or button and does not electioneer within the polling place will be allowed to vote in a normal matter. A voter wearing a political item does not violate GS 163-166.4 “
Statutes for election day prohibitions are different in every state. In Minnesota, for example, “A political badge, political button, or other political insignia may not be worn at or about the polling place on primary or election day.” (https://www.revisor.mn.gov/statutes/?id=211b.11)
The subtlety here is that laws about electioneering need to be applied in the context of each election. If the Tea Party was actually an official political party and had a candidate, it would clearly be electioneering according to a number of states. And in many states, even without being an actual party, they have openly supported specific candidates in advertising.
The rub is that the onus falls on the pollworkers to have to make decisions, which puts them in a very difficult position. And now we’ve got a law firm suing the poor county recorder just for telling the person she’d have to cover up the t-shirt while in the polling place.
It’s worth nothing that in both instances, she was actually allowed to vote.
Any T-Shirt saying –
Vote ONLY for Donkeys/Elephants or DIE (or at least be harassed) ???