Election-day shocker: City enforces 150-foot rule at Holy Name School

City worker (r) explains law to Brown backer, with clipped sign ties in hand.

Around 12:30 p.m., a worker from the Boston Elections Department showed up at Holy Name School in West Roxbury to begin removing all of the Coakley and Brown signs festooning the wall and fence along West Roxbury Parkway and Centre Street.

The school, which sits on a rise, is traditionally a place where candidates position giant signs - and candidates themselves routinely position themselves right in front of the entrance to the polling station. Mayor Menino himself is a frequent voter accoster on those steps, despite a state law that bans politicking within 150 feet of the entrance to a polling place.

But not today. Even a Brown supporter expressed surprise - he said he figured some Brown person "from the suburbs" dropped a dime and filed a complaint. Even more upset was a Coakley supporter - to whom the election worker was busy handing over signs, one far larger than the supporter herself. The worker said she would either have to do something with the signs or he would just cart them away for disposal.