Legal battle over what voters can wear to the polls

Published on Saturday 4 October 2008 20:01

SUE Nace thought election volunteers were joking when they told her she would have to remove her T-shirt to vote in the US presidential primary last spring.

But it was no laughing matter to the poll workers-turned-fashion police, who said Nace's Barack Obama shirt was inappropriate electioneering – and made her cover the writing.

Now, a political fight over what voters can wear to the polls is headed to court in Pennsylvania – the Republican Party favouring a dress code, the Democrats opposed.

Fears have been raised that the lack of rules could open the door to all kinds of questionable displays – even, one Republican leader suggested, something as outlandish as a musical hat.

To the Democrats, voters should be free to express themselves. They fear a dress code could scare away some new voters.

The political showdown was triggered by a Pennsylvania Department of State memo advising counties last month that voters' attire doesn't matter as long as the "voter takes no additional action to attempt to influence other voters".

Because the memo is not legally binding, some counties have kept past restrictions on clothing and political buttons.

But two Pittsburgh elections officials brought a court action to have the memo rescinded. Their lawsuit warned that if the memo stands, "nothing would prevent a partisan group from synchronising a battalion of like-minded individuals... to descend on a polling place, presenting a domineering, united front, certain to dissuade the average citizen who may privately hold different beliefs."

This fight over the interpretation of a state law designed to shield the polls from partisan electioneering could determine which candidate's supporters might be turned away from the polls in the battleground state of Pennsylvania, where Democrats have benefited from a surge in voter registration this year, with young adults (18-24) making up the largest group of new registrants.

A poll released last week, by Quinnipiac University, showed Democratic presidential candidate, Barack Obama, pulling percentage points ahead of Republican John McCain in the state, and Democratic Party Chairman TJ Rooney said Republican support for the dress code is a partisan effort to scare away new voters.

"To go (to the polls] and engage in an expression of democracy, then be accosted by the fashion police is a form of voter intimidation," he said.

The state Republican Party says Democratic Governor Ed Rendell's administration crafted a partisan memo that would open the door to abuses.

"The first thing would be a button or a shirt, and maybe the next thing would be a musical hat," said Republican chairman Robert Gleason, who called a news conference in support of dress codes.