I was thinking about putting up a sign in support of my favored candidate. Living in New York City, I don’t have a lawn, but I thought I could hang it in my window.
Then I realized that my window is about 100 feet away from the entrance to the school located next door to my apartment building, and I believe it is a polling location.
In New York, the law prohibits campaigning within 100 feet of the building. Would that law be applicable to a sign in my window?
Of course, this could be easily resolved if I hung the sign in another window, but still, in theory, would someone come knocking at my door on election day? What if I wasn’t home?
Wouldn’t laws about what you can do near polling places only apply when the place is open for polling? If that’s so, then you could put up your sign, and only take it down on election day. But I knw nothing of New York State or NYC election laws.
Yep, you’re right – I’m certain in NYC it means only during the actual election. But I could see myself forgetting to take it down and going to work that day … would I come home to some sort of Incident?
Anything’s possible, but as far as I’m aware this sort of thing is really only enforced to stop people from bringing signs and campaign material into the polling place, or from harassing people waiting on line outside.
I can’t say about New York City because I left before I was able to vote, but in Missouri you’re not allowed to pass out literature within 25 feet of the entrance to a polling place. But folks who take the literature are certainly allowed to take it inside with them.
Does that mean if I’m wearing a T-shirt with my favorite candidate’s name on it, I can’t wear it in the polling place to vote? Or even a button? That doesn’t seem right. As long as the OP’s sign is inside his dwelling, not obscene and not threatening, how can it be improper?
Yes. Here in Minnesota, last election I went to the polling place wearing a button, and the workers there quietly asked me to remove it or cover it.
And here, there used to be a law prohibiting campaigning & signs within 100 feet of a polling place, but recently the courts declared that was an unconstitutional restriction (news media sued – it was used to prevent their exit polling).
But ordinary people still approve of that law, and object strongly to any campaigning near the polls. If your candidate has a lawn sign in a house next to the polling place on election day, voters will call the campaign headquarters and complain loudly about that. It causes bad feeling, so here campaigns make sure that any lawn signs near the polling place are covered with a blanket or something on election day.
Same with campaign advertising. Though it’s now legal on election day, nobody does it. We have special ads for election day, not on issues or anything, just the candidate encouraging people to get out and vote.
Each state is different. Here in Louisiana the distance is 1000ft. But there are exceptions for the owner of private property near the polling place. The house across the street from my polling place has a very popular resident every election! And yes, if you show up with an article of clothing with a campaign slogan/picture/etc. you will be asked to leave and not loiter within 1000 ft of the polling place. At a minimum, people are allowed to cover up the shirt, but usually they have to go home and change.
Yes. Decades ago, I wore a t-shirt for one side of a local issue to the polls to vote. I can’t remember, but I think that they asked me to turn it inside out.
I think it hurts to campaign. I have actually voted AGAINST candidates because the people outside the polling place were loud mouthed and yelling why I should vote for their candidate