You are prohibited from displaying campaign "sinage" on your person in the following states...

[Clio the Leo]

(I had to do a lot of research to find out if my state was one that would prevent me wearing one of my Obama shirts to the polling place so I thought I'd share with everyone....)

"Delaware, Kansas, Minnesota, Montana, New Jersey, New York, South Carolina, Tennessee, Texas, and Vermont– that prohibit a voter from wearing a “badge, “lapel,” “button,” or “pin” in a “campaign free” zone. You can throw T-Shirts in the mix as well."

http://dallassouthblog.com/2008/09/23/no-campaign-t-shirts-or-buttons-inside-texas-new-york-new-jersey-and-other-polling-places/

I'm still gonna sneak mine in somehow, wear it under something so they cant see it. lol

[DCBob]

1. In Maryland, voters can wear whatever they want -- within reason.

I will be an election judge here in MD so it should be entertaining.

[Morning Dew]

22. beware of musical hats.

that's the sign that were on the steep slope to doom, don'tcha know.

[IsItJustMe]

2. Thank you for your research. I would wear an Obama shirt to the polls if I had one.

[MaineDem]

3. Here's an article in the Maine press this morning

In Chapter 8 of "Election Day Duties: Restrictions on Political Activities at the Polls," it says no one, including candidates or members of their families, can stand within 250 feet of the voting place on public property wearing T-shirts, name tags or other badges containing a candidate's name. This also includes campaign stickers and decals on parked vehicles.

People also can't display advertising material or distribute campaign literature within 250 feet.

The state even has rules about the size of buttons worn by voters in a polling place. The dimensions cannot exceed 3 inches.

Deputy Secretary of State Julie Flynn said Maine's laws allow voters political freedom of speech but draws the line when voters hang around the voting place and root for their candidate.

"They're able to come and vote, but if they want to stay around and watch, they have to go home and change the shirt, or, if it's a button, remove it," Flynn said.

The U.S. Supreme Court has ruled that restriction on the constitutional protection of speech acceptable because of what they called time, place and manner standards. The First Amendment Center puts it another way: "people have the right to march in protest, but not with noisy bullhorns at 4 a.m. in a residential neighborhood."

http://morningsentinel.mainetoday.com/news/local/5537684.html

[hobbit709]

4. The button I wear when I vote

Says "I AM AN ENEMY OF THE STATE"

[Honeycombe8]

5. Why would you want to? Once people are there to vote, they've made up their minds.

To be silently campaigning at that point is sort of insulting to any others there who disagree with you. There's no point in it, except to get others agitated.

I imagine that's why it's illegal in so many states.

I considered the sticker on my car enough, as I drove into the polling place today.

[blaze]

6. Not allowed in Denver

From their voter FAQ page ( http://www.denvergov.org/ForVoters/VoterFAQ/tabid/429422/Default.aspx#pol )

"I am a voter and wish to show my support for my candidate by wearing a campaign button / tee shirt / hat when I go to vote on Election Day. Is this allowed?
Electioneering is not permitted within one hundred feet of any polling place. This includes hats, tee shirts, buttons or any other item that promotes a candidate or cause on the ballot. Any person in violation of this provision commits a misdemeanor.

Voters will be allowed into the polling place only after removing campaign hats or buttons, or changing a campaign tee shirt or covering it with a jacket or sweater."

[RayOfHope]

7. Can't wear them in Missouri either n/t

[Brazenly Liberal]

8. Add Illinois to that list

Illinois doesn't allow any campaigning in the polling place and personal signage is considered campaigning (and rightly so).

I don't mean the following for you, personally. :-) It's just a general caution:

I normally advocate speaking up, but 11/4 is different. Don't take any chances. We can't afford self-indulgence of any kind. Given how hard the GOP has been working to disenfranchise as many Democrats as possible, my advice would be "Don't do anything to call attention to yourself unless and until you are prevented from voting." That means no visible or audible party/candidate/campaign shit. As much as it pains one to play the game, I'd be damned near obsequious if I thought that's what it would take to get my vote. Hell, I'll kiss every ass from here to the village hall if I have to.

Afterward, of course, I will gladly raise hell over any impropriety I find. But this election means too much to indulge ourselves in little ego trips before that ballot is cast. No, this time, as you go to vote, taking a stand on something like tee shirts is NOT what matters. Speaking up for any first amendment right you think is being violated is NOT the ethical, patriotic thing to do. We need to kick their asses in the vote count. Then we can kick their asses.

[sufrommich]

9. I'm pretty sure you can't in Michigan either. nt

[BlueIdaho]

10. I voted naked...

But then I had a mail-in ballot...

[Honeycombe8]

19. Me, too. Only I voted in person. I feel bad for the guy standing behind me. nt

[tokenlib]

11. Add Michigan as well...

In '92 I had my jacket zipped up over my Clinton shirt and the republican poll watcher complained because you could see a tiny bit of color from my shirt above my jacket zipper. The officials ignored him..

[Cresent City Kid]

12. I don't have a problem with t-shirts or buttons

However, I wouldn't take any chances. I say let the McCain t-shirts and buttons be the issue.

[frazzled]

13. In Massachusetts, the police made us move our car from the school parking lot

... because it had a campaign bumper sticker on it .... it is illegal to display campaign paraphernalia within so-and-so many feet of a polling place. We had honestly forgotten we had this bumper sticker on our car. Of course, we complied immediately, moving our car out to the street and walking a bit further to the school entrance.

So I think your list is incomplete. Most states have rules about campaign materials within a certain distance from a polling place: mostly this is to keep campaign workers at a safe distance from influencing voters. I would never think to wear a button or t-shirt into a polling place. The secret ballot is there for a reason: to prevent intimidation.

Read last week's New Yorker for a fascinating report on how the secret ballot came to be.

[Native]

14. NO way in hell I'd wear anything to my polling place! I want my vote to count.

[dansolo]

15. As long as you just go an vote, it shouldn't matter

If a person is loitering around or is disruptive, then by all means, they should be asked to leave. But I think it is a real stretch to consider wearing a shirt or a button as electioneering. I think that Republicans are afraid that if someone in a Republican district shows up wearing Obama stuff, other Republican voters may not feel as bad voting for him.

[treestar]

16. Delaware - so well not needed

Delaware goes to Obama/Biden regardless of clothing at the poll!

:woohoo:

[Bad Thoughts]

17. Does a backwards "B" on my cheeck count?

I'd love to appropriate that symbol.

[DeadManInc]

18. LMAO!!

[RC]

27. Most people would have no clue as to what that meant.

[doodadem]

20. Kind of blows that whole warm and fuzzy story

About the little old Jewish ladies in Cincinnati not being allowed to vote with their Obama gear, doesn't it?

I didn't quite buy that one anyway.......having lived in Cincy for 10 years.

[Jersey Devil]

21. I'm wearing my Obama/Biden shirt in NJ and screw them if they don't like it

The most that can happen is someone (a Repub poll worker) complains and I have to zip my jacket before I vote. I've been involved in politics for a long time and seen some real silliness over this rule. Once I had someone complain about the Democratic bumper sticker on my car that was parked in the school (our polling place) parking lot less than 100 feet from the front door. I told them to go f**k themselves.

[JerseygirlCT]

23. I've had to take buttons off here in CT nt

[L0oniX]

24. They will have to strip search me to see my Obama underware. n/t

[GalleryGod]

25. That's True! I'll be wearing a "New Labour Party" Rose pin,myself!

Shove that UP your Collective ARSES!

[Princess Buttercup]

26. I voted this morning in Texas

There was a woman behind us in line with an Obama/Biden T-shirt and she went in and the poll workers gave her a little paper jacket (like you'd wear at a doctor's office, only realy short). Anyway, it covered the logo. I asked her if my son's shirt was ok. He has a T-shirt that just says "Yes We Can" and she said it was ok since it didn't say Obama. I don't think the poll workers look at his shirt at all.

[RC]

28. Someone around here came up with the idea of wearing Blue when you go vote.

I think that is a good idea. I plan to.

[ellacott]

29. Add Ohio

[cherokeeprogressive]

30. Add California to that list. No electioneering within 100 feet of the entrance to the polling place

That includes all signage, protests, rallies, and clothing. I, for one, agree with the Elections Code on that matter.

As a former employee of the Orange County Registrar in CA, I've been witness to neighbors forced to move yard signs because they were too close to the garage where voting was taking place next door. Police came and forced the removal. In 04 someone parked a van in the middle of the night with Bush painted on the sides in the parking lot of a church where voting was to take place, . At 7 a.m. voting wasn't allowed to take place until the van was towed. Someone suggested merely covering the sign, but a voter who knew the code nixed that and demanded that voting be delayed. The irony was that the van was towed to a spot on the street just BARELY past the 100 foot electioneering limit. Talk about some pissed off voters. Some of them showed up to get in line at 6:30 to vote when the polls opened at 7. Poll workers had to put up with abuse over that for as long as it took the original line to subside.

In a county as large as Orange County, the logistics of putting on an election are ginormous. Finding 8,000 poll workers who'll work 15 hours for 100 bucks is a nearly insurmountable task. ESPECIALLY when they have to deal with voters who have no other intent than challenging the system. I lost more competent Polling Place Inspectors than I can count because they finally got tired of being abused while doing what they thought was their civic duty. They are given a specific set of procedures and rules on how those procedures should be carried out. Then a voter shows up at the table and makes a demand that is outside that set of rules. The result is an instant stalemate that is usually only resolved by the Inspector having to call the county's poll worker help line. This takes the Inspector away from his/her duties of operating a polling place. Add one more voter whose demands don't fit the framework, and now you have to delay processing voters until the Inspector makes another call to the help desk. I ran that help desk a number of times and let me tell you: 16,000 calls per election day and over 80% of them pertained to angry voters rather than problems with equipment, supplies, etc.

Wear it under a jacket or something. Wear blue. Poll workers will be under the gun enough on election day. They don't need voters causing scenes over something that is outlined in the Election Code that they have no control over.