A dress code for Election Day?

Despite a mandate from the State Board of Elections banning voters from wearing political pins, stickers or clothing inside polling locations, Culpeper County’s commonwealth’s attorney said he’s not clamping down on those who disobey.

“There is no way I am going to prosecute someone for wearing pins or stickers or shirts or hats to go vote,” said Gary Close, who also serves as local organizer of the John McCain for President campaign. “This is a regulation looking for a problem.”

If his office receives any “incident reports” from voting officials of voters refusing to remove campaign garb while casting their ballot, Close has got a place for those.

“I am going to put it in my circular file underneath my desk, and that file gets emptied every day,” he said, adding that this might be the only time he agrees with the American Civil Liberties Union, one of three civil rights groups challenging the political clothing ban.

The Thomas Jefferson Center for the Protection of Free Expression and the Rutherford Institute, both of Charlottesville, will join the Virginia ACLU in court after the election to try to overturn the ban on the grounds of free speech.

John Whitehead, president of Charlottesville-based Rutherford Institute, called the state board’s decision “a dress code policy.”

And yet Culpeper County poll workers, along with election officials statewide, plan to enforce the ban on the display of such political paraphernalia within 40 feet of the polls Nov. 4.

Whereas the ban formerly was understood to apply to materials displayed by political campaigns outside of the polling locations, this year the state is taking it inside as well.

The Board of Elections referenced state code 24.2-604 in prohibiting political clothing inside voting booths.

Section A of this code makes it “unlawful for any person … to give, tender, or exhibit any ballot, ticket, or any other campaign material” within 40 feet of the entrance to any voting location.
The SBE says it’s just doing its best to comply with the code.

“It has sparked days of debate and strong emotions on every side of this issue,” the SBE wrote in a release provided by the Culpeper County voters registrar. “We have received threats, been ridiculed and yes — even praised.”

The policy is not intended to keep qualified voters from voting, the SBE said, and it does “not want to elevate emotions on Election Day or put our valued election officials in harm’s way.”

What will happen?
Election officials, including those in Culpeper, are being instructed to take the following steps in response to voters wearing campaign garb:

* In a courteous manner, an officer of the election approaches the voter and asks for them to remove the item or cover it up.
* Should the voter question the authority or the restriction, please call to the attention of the voter to “The Prohibited Area” sign/poster.
* Should the person refuse to remove or cover up the item, allow them to vote, then please complete an incident report and place it in (an envelope). The envelope will be processed along with the rest of the election materials at the end of the day.
* The completed incident reports should be forwarded to the locality’s commonwealth’s attorney by the local electoral board and general registrar.

Everyone can still vote
Culpeper County Registrar Michele White said no eligible voter would be prevented from voting, regardless of what they’re wearing Election Day.

However, those who choose not to abide by the clothing ban will have their name submitted to Close in an incident report, she said.

But it doesn’t seem like that will go very far.

“It’s a bunch of bureaucrats in Richmond having nothing better to do than bother us,” Close said. “That’s the beauty of having a locally elected commonwealth’s attorney.”

According to Section E of the aforementioned state code, any person violating the political clothing ban or other prohibited activities at the polls “shall be guilty of a Class 1 misdemeanor.”

Asked why this issue arose this election year, White said, “I think it’s just an enthusiastic support this time. People are just a lot more passionate than they have been in the past.

“I just say you’re exercising your right to vote — that’s the best way to express it.”