Virginia Bans Voters from Wearing Campaign Paraphernalia at the Polls

Photo courtesy of Jae C. Hong (Associated Press, 2008)


by Sarah Casey

According to firstamendmentcenter.org, Virginia legislators have passed a law banning any and all political clothing or paraphernalia at polling locations. This law is following an already existing law banning electioneering within 40 feet of the entrance to a polling precinct.

Though the ban is “inviting litigation” as American Civil Liberties Union (ACLU) attorney Rebecca Glenberg put it, Virgina’s State Board of Elections said the prohibition “strikes a balance between the First Amendment right to free speech and the right of people to cast secret ballots in a safe, orderly way free of undue influence or harassment.”

According to firstamendmentcenter.org, Virginia now joins several states that have banned campaign materials at polling stations. According to the site, “A 2006 article in the Thurgood Marshall Law Review said that eight states prohibited the display or exhibit of campaign materials inside a polling place, and 10 barred buttons, badges or lapel stickers inside voting places.”

The new legislation bars all political advertising for or against either candidate that could be considered “clear, unambiguous expressions of support for or opposition of a candidate or ballot issue.”

Local (county) boards can make their limitations at the polls even more stringent by prohibiting implied political messages as well. An example of implied political messages, according to firstamendmentcenter.org, would be “a T-shirt that mocks or affirms support for a well-known position of one candidate without explicitly identifying the candidate.”

“Some localities that have prohibited campaign clothing or paraphernalia in polling places keep cloaks on hand to help people conceal political messages while they vote. They range from modified trash bags to vests and ponchos,” Virginia Board of Elections’ chairwoman Jean Cunningham said.

According to Kent Willis, the Virginia ACLU executive director, “While the state has a right to keep polling places free of electioneering, the state lacks sufficient grounds to ban politically inspired fashion statements.”

“The state needs to establish that allowing campaign garb inside election precincts would create a high probability of a problem that would impair people’s right to vote, not just the prospect of tension or disruption,” Willis said.

According to firstamendmentcenter.org, Glenberg and Willis said the ACLU would have to continue researching the implications of election paraphernalia before deciding whether to challenge the issue in court.