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Primary day
By adamg on Tue, 09/19/2006 - 9:52am
Massachusetts has this quaint law that allegedly requires political workers to stay at least 150 feet from the entrance to a polling station, such as the one at Holy Name School in West Roxbury. You'd think that somebody like Maura Doyle (left), who is running for re-election as clerk of the Supreme Judicial Court and Matt O'Malley (the redhead on the right), who has run for city council twice and ran Sheriff Andrea Cabral's successful campaign, might know that. The Goldberg lady? Well, she gave me a happy wave when she noticed I was taking pictures.
I didn't notice any of those federal observers, but then, there aren't many minorities needing election protection in West Roxbury.
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Below: When the precinct's token Dunkelbarger and Patrick supporters noticed a Fox 25 reporter doing a live report, they quickly moved into position to make sure their signs would show up on TV.
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Comments
Sticker shock in the voting booth
Had I not stopped to collect stickers from the campaign volunteers hovering outside my voting place in Jamaica Plain I wouldn't have had a clue as to how to vote for certain candidates. I guess I should have been reading all the write-in candidate stories in the press...
150 Feet
There is, indeed, a law concerning campaigning within a certain distance of a voting venue. I had it spelled out to me (and I, in turn, spelled it out to Tommy Finneran's supporters, who thought it was just the third-party guy who would have to move) in 1992.
The thing is, not only are you not supposed to hold a sign or distribute literature, you are also not allowed to wear a campaign button within the polling place or wear any clothing that could be considered advertising for a campaign or candidate. It depends upon how much the local constabulary or polling place workers know, and how much they want to enforce, of course. I've actually seen people told that they will not be allowed to enter and vote until they remove buttons and that is the law.
Define "entrance"
I was in and out of my polling place in 5 minutes this morning. There were a couple older gentlemen holding ginormous Reilly signs at the fenced-off entrance to the _parking lot_ of the polling place, but they were well away from the actual _door_ of the building.
Doesn't matter anyway, though, 'cause I didn't vote for him.
For once, the law is clear
It says the 150-foot limit starts at "the building entrance door to such polling place."
So, at least at Holy Name School, either nobody (including the police officer who periodically came out of the building, looked around, smiled, then went back inside) knows what the law is or cares what the law is or some combination.
Now, at least while I was there, it's not like the campaign workers were throwing themselves at the few voters who were showing up (although one guy did have to maneuver around the Goldberg backer), but still.
more from that law
The law also says that you can't distribute leaflets, display signs, etc. "on the premises on which the building stands". So if the walkway leading up to the building entrance is 250 feet long, you still can't stand anywhere on it except at the sidewalk.
hehe thanks. I'm too hyper
hehe thanks. I'm too hyper today to sit still long enough to actually read the law. :-P