The Lubbock County Elections Office is reminding voters about the legality of wearing campaign apparel into the voting area.
“This election we’ve seen more people…doing what we call electioneering… where they’re actually coming in to the polling place with a T-shirt or a baseball cap, or both, for one candidate of another candidate,” said elections administrator Dorothy Kennedy.
“[Voters] won’t be able to vote until they remove the article or cover up the article of clothing. When they do become compliant they can come back and vote,” she said.
“We know a lot of people don’t know this rule, and so we want to inform people, that any electioneering, whether it be lapel pins, whether it’s a donkey or an elephant, or the fact that it says Trump or Clinton on their shirt, those are actually violations of state law,” Kennedy added.
Texas State Election Code states that electioneering includes “distribution of political signs of literature,” and that is interpreted to include apparel and merchandise. Offenders could be charged with a Class C misdemeanor.
“If the person decides not to comply, they’ll be asked to leave the polling area, and security or LPD will be called at that point to help them,” Kennedy explained.
Kennedy said workers have experienced multiple cases of voters wearing campaign material, whether intentionally, or accidentally.
“We’ve had several incidents happening. Here in our office were able to step out of line and we talked to them discreetly and let them know,” she said. “One here at the office, she absolutely had no clue that she was violating state law.”
“The one out at [a polling place at] 4th and Slide, I believe that one did know what was going on because it took him a while to agree to remove his hat. He’s like ‘I’ll take the T-shirt off but I’ll leave the hat on.’ And we were like ‘No, you can’t do that sir… it’s non-negotiable.'”
“A lot of people don’t also realize that having their cell phone on in line at the polling place is also against state election code, it is a violation,” said Kennedy.
Kennedy added that she hoped voters would remain respectful of the voting process.
“What we’re talking about is voting, which is a pretty sacred thing,” Kennedy stated.
“If the person decides not to comply, they’ll be asked to leave the polling area, and security or LPD will be called at that point to help them,” she said.
