Do Not Wear Your Obama Hoodie When You Go To Vote
My son, Pete, who is a DJ on Hot97, a New York hip hop radio station, called to tell me that lots of his listeners are calling to ask if they can be kept from voting if they shop up at the polls wearing Obama shirts, hats, bling, whatever.
I said that he can go on air and tell his listeners not to worry. You can vote even if you are "festooned" in Obamawear from head to toe. But I said that I'd better check.
Good thing I did. In some states you can vote even if you are wearing partisan materials. In others, you can't. A whole lot of discretion is left to the officials at the polls.
Bottom line: do not wear your Obama stuff to vote. You can be stopped by some local Republican hack looking for any excuse to keep people from voting, especially young kids and minorities. Exercise your Constitutional right to display your affinity for Obama before and after election day. But not at the polls.
Take no chances. They can't win this one fair and square. So you can count on the kind of voter suppression once associated with, say, Selma, Alabama.
Better safe than sorry.
I think you are correct to suggest the stance be safe rather than sorry.
I know there are a large number of counties in the fifty U.S. states. The number of ">http://abcnews.go.com/Politics/wireStory?id=5953600"> potential different rules for registration and voting is astounding.
October 9, 2008 2:45 PM | Reply | Permalink
I keep trying to get this info to the front so all TPM readers will see it. Here goes again:
The National Campaign for Fair Elections is a non-partisan program of the Lawyer's Committee for Civil Rights under Law supported by a number of other organizations, and it has run nationwide voter protection programs in past elections.
Anyone can get answers to questions about voting rights by calling the NCFE hot line at 1-866-OUR-VOTE or going to their web site at www.nationalcommitteeforfairelections.org. If you had your son publicize the hot line number on his show, M.J., that would be great.
Any of the rest of you can help fight voter suppression by (1)spreading word of the NCFE hot line; and/or (2)reporting voter intimidation efforts to NCFE; and/or (3) volunteering to work with NCFE; and/or (4) encouraging others -- particularly lawyers, law students, & paralegals -- to volunteer too.
If you want to volunteer to help NCFE, you can do so at their web site. www.nationalcampaignforfairelections.org/
You do not have to be a lawyer, law student, or paralegal to volunteer; "activists" are also welcome. Of course if you do have legal training you can be particularly helpful.
Please do get out there to help stop voter suppression. After all the great work Josh and his team have done on the US Attorneys scandal, his loyal readers should be getting out to protect voting rights in the field.
October 9, 2008 3:02 PM | Reply | Permalink
Thanks, Peter will broadcast the number.
October 9, 2008 3:43 PM | Reply | Permalink
Tell your son to tell as many voters as possible to vote early. In that way, any bogus challenges can be addressed before the polls close.
October 9, 2008 5:30 PM | Reply | Permalink
There is really something wrong with a country where a voter can be refused access to the polls based on what he or she is wearing, while an official can simultaneously act as a state's chief elections official and co-chair of a presidential re-election committee. Just saying.
October 9, 2008 3:35 PM | Reply | Permalink
Minnesota has a no campaign material within X feet of a polling place law. It seems to work fine.
October 10, 2008 4:05 PM | Reply | Permalink
Plus you don't want the County Clerk or Poll Worker to "accidentally" "misplace" your ballot b/c you tipped your hand with a massive CHANGE! bumper sticker stuck to the back of your Levi's. (This happened to me. The lady was nice enough to tell me to hide my sticker before voting...)
October 9, 2008 3:53 PM | Reply | Permalink
Sorter: Better safe than stupid. We get to vote once an election. Treat that vote with care.
October 9, 2008 6:30 PM | Reply | Permalink
Georgia does not allow campaign signs or workers within a certain distance of the polls. I think it is 100 feet. That has been law for as long as I can remember. It might seem a stretch to include personal T-shirts, etc. but you don't really want partisan fights breaking out in voter lines, do you?
October 9, 2008 4:32 PM | Reply | Permalink
I actually dimed out a Republican (well, really a crazy person running on a no-chance Republican ticket) for wearing her own campaign signs as a sandwich board on the sidewalk in front of a polling place. Didn't stick around to see what happened, though, as I didn't really care all that much.
October 9, 2008 6:28 PM | Reply | Permalink
What does dimed out mean?
October 10, 2008 11:40 PM | Reply | Permalink
yes. in most states (if not every state) there are laws against campaigning at or near polling places. for good reason.
flying your colors by wearing partisan buttons, hats, stickers, shirts, etc can often count as campaigning just as chanting or handing out flyers or conducting an impromptu rally would.
October 9, 2008 4:57 PM | Reply | Permalink
Well what about f^
;-)
October 9, 2008 6:01 PM | Reply | Permalink
hey... after the "f" was " ^>king Armani suits?"
October 9, 2008 6:02 PM | Reply | Permalink
Also: fuck
October 9, 2008 9:53 PM | Reply | Permalink
It would probably be considered "electioneering" (the technical term for displaying campaign materials) and the upthread responders are correct.
In November 2004, I was told - very politely, of course, since few other Minnesotans are lying scumbag weasels like Slimy Norman Quimby Coleman - that I'd have to remove my Kerry button in the polling place.
I pocketed the button, voted, and put it back on as I left.
October 9, 2008 6:25 PM | Reply | Permalink
I live in Massachusetts. In 2004 I wore a "John Kerry for President" T-shirt under my winter coat when I went to vote. I was handed a ballot. As I was filling it out I was approcahed by an offical and asked to leave. It is against the law to wear campaign apparel within x number of feet of the voting place. Who knew? Trouble is, I already had my ballot in hand. They would not let me leave the room with the ballot to change. And you can only get one. there in the elementary school cafetorium I took off my shirt, turned it inside out, put it back on and marked my ballot. And yes, everyone was shocked to see a pregnant woman with a toddler in tow, strip down to her bra in order to vote! So Massachusetts voters beware! Don't wear your favorite candidate's name on anything when you go to vote!
October 9, 2008 6:39 PM | Reply | Permalink
,,,wAnna a really good laugh,
check out "Say It IS So, Joe" :
http://abcnews.go.com/Video/playerIndex?id=5997064
October 9, 2008 9:32 PM | Reply | Permalink
I will vote wearing the disguise I always wear: that of a white, not-so-young-anymore, upwardly mobile protestant.
October 9, 2008 9:55 PM | Reply | Permalink
Wow. MJ Rosenberg's son is a a Hot97 DJ? MJ has the coolest family. Seriously, where else do you get former AIPAC, current policy wonk dad and hip hop DJ son?
October 9, 2008 10:23 PM | Reply | Permalink
I'm just going to wear blue on Election Day. Can the Republican Voter Suppression Corps stop a primary color?
October 10, 2008 8:11 AM | Reply | Permalink
Wearing blue is a GREAT idea! I wish I'd thought of that years ago. Thanks.
October 10, 2008 8:31 AM | Reply | Permalink
I don't know what the law says where I live (Iowa) but I've volunteered as a poll watcher in the last 3 elections. People rarely show up wearing campaign paraphernalia but when they do, they're asked to go out, remove it or cover it up, then come back and they'll be allowed to vote.
Fortunately, it's rare that anyone has to wait in line longer than 15 minutes around here so it's not much of a hindrance.
I'll have to check into this when I go for my training session in the next couple of weeks. Every precinct I've ever worked or voted in, all of the poll workers went out of their way to be fair and helpful to voters. They're mostly older women in my county and they're more dedicated to Democracy than to party.
October 11, 2008 10:14 AM | Reply | Permalink
Well on account of your son, you just gained a lot of cred with me. I'm the world's biggest hip hop fan.
I just wanted to say for anyone who was wondering about Texas - you cannot do it. They will not let you in to vote if you are wearing anything supporting a candidate because you cannot electioneer in the polling place - you have to be something like 100 feet from the polling place to electioneer.
IF you are voting in Texas - do not wear anything with a candidate's name on it.
October 11, 2008 11:20 AM | Reply | Permalink