At first I assumed this was bogus, but it turns out it’s terrifyingly true: http://www.snopes.com/poli
Please, please, please be advised that you absolutely cannot go to the polls wearing any Obama (or McCain, I guess) shirts, pins, hats, or any other paraphernalia. It is against the law in most states (sometime by county) and can be grounds for the polling officials to turn you away. In some places, depending on how all-out you are, you could even be arrested or detained. More…It’s considered campaigning and no one can campaign within X feet of the polls (distance depends on your state or county).
They are banking on us being excited and not being aware of this long-standing law that you can bet will be enforced this year.
Laws against campaigning or “electioneering” in and around polling places are pretty much universal, though each state boasts its own specific regulations and varying degrees of enforcement.
The majority of states use language prohibiting voters and poll workers from “distributing,” “circulating,” “posting,” or “exhibiting” campaign materials within 10 to 200 feet of polling places. This is sometimes interpreted as including buttons, t-shirts, hats, and other political garb (often called “passive electioneering”), but is more often restricted to signs, posters, fliers, pamphlets, and the like.
At least 10 states — Delaware, Kansas, Minnesota, Montana, New Jersey, New York, South Carolina, Tennessee, Texas, and Vermont — explicitly prohibit the wearing of pins, buttons, stickers, labels, or other “political insignia.” Each of the other forty states and the District of Columbia also regulate activities in and around its polling places on election day.
They are banking that if you are turned away you will not go home and change your clothes. Please just don’t wear political gear of any sorts to the polls (or bring a sweater/jacket/sweatshirt to cover up with). Please share this information, thank you.
For a breakdown of all electioneering laws in all 50 states, see “You Can’t Wear That to Vote”: The Constitutionality of State Laws Prohibiting the Wearing of Political Message Buttons, by Kimberly J. Tucker, American University Washington College of Law: http://law.bepress.com/exp
