I tend to think it's unconstitutional because of the imposition of a burden on the constitutionally protected right to vote, and the imposition on the general right to liberty and pursuit of happiness that all citizens enjoy, without a concomitant compelling government interest.

The prohibition on active politicking near the polling place is one thing; prohibition on t-shirts, etc., is just silly.

So, people will have to be given coats or scarves to cover up their 'naughty' t-shirts when they approach the polling place.

Dumb, dumb, dumb.  

What, are people going to be stripping down before they go in to vote?  How idiotic.

before the election?  Brilliant, let's see how many people we can confuse, maybe turn away voters (of both parties) who haven't gotten the word about this?

at our ADC meeting last Monday, the representatives from the city Elections Board basically told us to bring some extra pieces of clothing to give to people to 'cover up'. It is what it is, so we'll be trying to bring extra coats and blankets to give to people. Sigh.

They did also say that very few people are impacted by this on a normal election day, and that almost all of them just have to take off their buttons/hats to vote and can then replace them, and most people don't mind.

Still stupid.  

It's f***ing stupid.

n/t

At the Fairfax Fair I was working at the FCDC table wearing an Obama shirt.  I went to the trailer the registrar had set up for in-person absentee voting in the June Democratic primary.  I was told I could not come in wearing a partisan shirt (which Obama was not even a candidate in that election).  I had to take off my shirt and vote in my A-shirt, also known as a wife-beater.  Thankfully I had an undershirt on!

I also went to vote in-person absentee at the government center on September 19 for the Nov 4 general election and was told I had to take off my Veterans for Obama pin or I would not be allowed into the registrar's office.  I hope these ridiculous rules are struck down before the election.

Dan

. . . if one of the campaign volunteers in the allowable electioneering area hands me a brochure for his or her candidate as I walk toward the voting booths, am I in violation of the State Board's reg if I don't immediately toss it or hide it on my person before proceeding any further?

sheesh. Idiocy with a capital I.

only had to do with pins/buttons/stickers/hats/shirts. You can wave your pamphlet in the air like you just don't care!

The other thing we were told is that this policy was implemented because some Republican in a precinct in Arlington felt discriminated against because someone (in either '06 or '07) was wearing Democratic swag, and complained.

So, the rest of the state has to suffer through this literally sophomoric policy to protect us all from ... democracy, I guess.

This is political correctness run amok, and it is mind-numbingly stupid. The good people at your local elections' boards don't have anything to do with this, they just do what the state board says. So, don't blame the locals, they are good people in a bad situation.

You can wave your campaign lit (or sign) in the air, but you can't wear a button?  WTF?!?!?!?!?!?

You can have pamphlets and sample ballots and whatever you want to help you vote, but you can't be actively politicking inside the polling place. Hence, the regulation banning attire sporting logos and advertisements.

It really is stupid, but hopefully all the Democratic pollworkers will be able to supply those that need shawls or what have you with them.

A solution in search of a problem, as it were.  

Size 2XL, with a button front, so anybody can put them on over their clothes.  Give two or three of them to the Democrats at the 40 foot line for each precinct so that they can spot anybody coming in and offer them a shirt.  Have the voter bring them back, and do it over and over again.

I vote for the loudest, screamingest royal blue to be found.  And shirts so big they'll come to the knees for some people.  Let's see how fast this "rule" gets changed next time.

Of course, I live in Virginia Beach.  What about tattoos?

"The American Civil Liberties Union argued that the ban violates the First Amendment's right to free speech.

The board, however, said it has to weigh that against the right to vote free of undue influence or the tension that candidate advocacy might create."

Y'know, I've seen people in head to toe red and with a hat and t-shirt with the candidate's name on it voting at our local precinct.  One particularly pushy group of Republican "ladies" in the Woodstock precinct even has a nasty habit of setting up a gauntlet at the 40 foot line so that no Democrat (or independent) can get through or pass out literature without risking an assault charge.  This inevitably results in a lecture on First Amendment rights, the freedoms that make us Americans, and the difference between America and a country with one-party, totalitarian rule (like Virginia Beach until recently).  Inevitably, the lecture does not work, and the election workers must be summoned out to bust up the Republican gauntlet once again.

These thugs in Republican-lady clothing do not make me feel like a victim of "undue influence" or "tension;" instead, they make me all the more determined to vote for the candidate that I have already chosen, and emphasize the importance of standing my ground.

This is just an attempt to dissuade people from voting.  Where the heck is Tim Kaine and why is his SBE creating a problem where none exists?

Also, my car has an Obama bumper sticker on it.  Does that mean I can't park it in the spot closest to the entrance, since it's within the 40 foot line?  What about people with a handicapped permit? Must they choose between their right to a closer parking space and their right to vote?  Won't that make them intimidated?

This "rule" can be easily tested by sending someone to vote "in person absentee" in an Obama t-shirt.  Make sure someone is with them with a video camera, and poof, you've got your ACLU plaintiff.

I agree with Senator Obama that voting is a right. We do, however, have to have rules and regulations in any endeavor, including voting. I am a liberal Democrat and just posted at a blog in favor of Freedom of Speech, so what I am going to say may strike some of you as odd. I disagree about wearing clothing and hats and buttons. I am an election official, but even before I was, I always considered voting a thrilling, but serious, thoughtful event. I want to vote without having arguments, loud talking, etc. because it is one of the most important things we ever do. It affects our lives and the lives of others. I have lived a lot of places in VA and out of state, so I have had a lot of different voting experiences. I have encountered problems with Republicans (always Republicans) trying to electioneer. They have put up huge hanging signs within 10 feet; they have made the tunnel effect so that Democrats cannot give out materials; they have worn shirts with slogans that were considered inappropriate by the people standing around them. All this takes away from the dignity of the voting experience.
Now, for election officials--VA does a great job in most places--always a few problems, but not many. In other states, I have trained poll watchers and been a poll watcher who sat at the table or stood close by to make sure the procedure was carried out correctly and that there was not voter suppression. I have had to call our lawyer on more than one occasion. Where I work in Blacksburg, we bend over backward to make sure everyone who is supposed to vote gets to vote. We are very busy all day, and will be this year, too. I do not want to be in the position of having to make decisions on clothing-- i.e., think about advocacy--when does it cross the line into electioneering? Do I have a scale to help me make choices? I have several Obama T-shirts and I'm trying to think of which ones might be considered advocating the vote for Obama by Republicans. If I walked into the polling place, one person might think my "Barack the Vote" is advocating voting for Obama. Another person might not. If we do not have rules, it is going to be very time consuming for election officicals to send people to the head official in the polling place who then probably will have to call the registrar's office that is already overloaded. I don't want people saying, "Oh, she got to vote with her T-shirt on, but you are ruling against me and making me cover up."
Is this going to lead to more people being angry at the moment and causing a disturbance? Is it going to waste the time of a person wearing a T-shirt who has to wait for a ruling? Is it going to slow down the work at the registrar's office? Are there going to be challenges that day or after the election?
Especially for this election, we do not need to fool around with something that is not that important. I want to get Obama elected with as little problem as possible. You may disagree with my reasoning, saying that we should always fight for the principal of freedom of speech. There are all kinds of situations in which we don't have freedom of speech that does not interfere with the real right. We're not allowed to joke around about bombs or knives or guns while in line to get on a plane or we're likely to be pulled out of line and miss the flight at best and maybe be arrested at worst. Most of us just follow the rules because we don't want to scare others or we are pragmatic and don't want to cause ourselves trouble.

That is your opinion, well thought out and well put.  But the bottom line is, these are not just YOUR First Amendment rights.  These are also the rights of the individual who believes in wearing that t-shirt or putting on that pin.

There are some things the government just can't do.  It doesn't have the power.    The First Amendment is the single most important delineation of the LIMITS on the power of federal, state, and local governments.  Political speech, along with religious freedom, have always been considered the core values protected by the First Amendment.

Long ago, the authors of the First Amendment struck the balance as to what's important and pragmatic by delineating the boundaries of government authority.  The Commonwealth of Virginia does not have the power to change that, or to usurp a fundamental right reserved to each individual citizen.  Period.

Election officials won't have to make any decisions at all about what's "appropriate" clothing if they stay within the law and Constitution and stop trying to unlawfully regulate what people wear.  No disruption, no decisions, no voter intimidation or suppression, no problems.

The example you gave about airport security is clearly distinguishable, in that there is a safety concern that is a compelling governmental interest.  There is NO governmental interest, none whatsoever, in usurping the right to determine what citizens wear to vote and in the process suppressing political speech.

We have a Governor who is a Harvard Law School graduate, for crying out loud.  What did he learn there?  He should send the SBE back to school to study George Mason and Thomas Jefferson, and submit a 10 page essay, due on November 5th, telling us all what they learned about Virginia's unique role in establishing individual liberties.

But that's just my opinion.

People go home to change and get caught up in family matters and don't come back.

They know young people are the ones who buy and wear tees.  Pasty old guys voting for McCain will probably not be impacted. This issue is to Virginia and Pennsylvania what the shortage of voting machines was to FLA and Ohio. It is voter supression.

If you volunteer at the polls (please do!) please bring tees or windbreakers to voters to put over their Obama shirts.

in Alexandria -- 10 precinct teams.

The plan is to have LOTS of oversized shirts, blankets, coats, whathaveyou, to give to voters that are wearing 'offending' clothes to borrow whilst they vote.

The Obama campaign and volunteers and Democratic committees all know about this, and planning is going on to ensure that the effect will be minimal to zero.

Instead of a shawl or a shirt, how about wrapping people, literally, in the American flag, the size they use in schools?

Or is that too partisan for the SBE?