HOUSTON -- A voter who went to the polls Thursday at an early-voting location south of the Texas Medical Center served as this mid-term election’s reminder to keep your politically-themed clothing at home.
"This is ridiculous,” Tamika Francis told 11 News as she stood outside the Fiesta grocery store at Main and Kirby where she had just been denied the right to vote.
“That’s not going to roll with me. Is it going to roll with you?” she asked her mom who had travelled to the polling location with her.
The problem is that Francis was wearing a 2008 Obama election shirt. It has photos of the first family during the campaign accompanied by the phrase “Our President Obama.” The presiding elections judge told her she could not vote, nor could she help her disabled mother vote, until she either turned the shirt inside out or covered it up to hide the message and photos.
"He is not a candidate in the Texas election,” Francis said. “So why are you denying me the right to vote?"
Her mother agreed.
"And to say a person cannot vote because they have a T-shirt with the President of the United States on that T-shirt, that is not right,” Sandra Lucas Francis said.
"I said let me see in writing where it says I cannot wear this shirt,” Tamika Francis added.
"It's titled Electioneering Prohibited,” said Hector de Leon, spokesman for the Harris County Clerk as he read Texas Election code 85.036. The code, dating back to 1985, stipulates that “during the time of an early voting polling place is open for the conduct of early voting, a person may not electioneer for or against any candidate, measure, or political party in or within 100 feet of an outside door through which a voter may enter the building or structure in which the early voting polling place is located.”
Likenesses of President Obama fall within those prohibitions given that he is the most visible leader of, and one of the most active campaigners for, the Democratic Party.
"When you are actually going into a poll that has his picture on it you're essentially promoting a party,” said de Leon.
And this week there have been similar reports from Dallas and Waco, where voters wearing Tea Party shirts or buttons are also being turned away until they remove their party paraphernalia.
Tamika Francis, meanwhile, doesn't yet fully accept the explanation, but said she is sure of one thing.
“I'm not going to give up. I'm going to vote,” she said.
Elections organizers said her experience should serve as a reminder to everyone, whichever political party, candidate, or cause they support that any and all political clothing, buttons, or other elections-themed clothing must be left at home.
12 comments:
I can see how this would be a problem, but Obama is the president and I don't think that he should be considered a political party at the polls. Yeah, yeah, yeah I know that he is the democrat but now he isn't just a democrat he is the guy who is leading our nation so I think that Obama shirts at the times of non-presidental elections should not be banned form the perimeter.
This is ridiculous! I can't believe they thought it was okay to deny him the right to vote, just for wearing an Obama shirt. I highly doubt that anyone at the voting location would be swayed thier decision simply by seeing an Obama shirt.
This has to be one of the stupidest things i have ever heard. so besides the fact that this election has NOTHING to do with Obama, she has a right to her beliefs and to support whoever she wishes. Im not a democrat and that wouldnt bother me. it would be one thing if she were shoving her beliefs on voters but she wasnt. i think that that code needs to be done away with. let her vote.
I understand that the law does state that you cannot wear clothing or anything that promotes political parties or a person running for office, however, I personally don't see what harm will come from wearing something that expresses your political views. To those who have been denied there right to vote because they are breaking that law, I guess you now know the "dress code" you must follow in order to vote. :P
At first it seems ridiculous that a person is being denied their immediate right to vote, but it actually makes sense because promoting Obama does promote the Democratic party. Even though Obama wasn't running in this campaign it is simpler to just ban all political paraphenalia opposed to creating difficult laws where it becomes messy as to what is and isn't acceptable. All she had to do was turn her shirt inside out afterall.
I agree with the woman that it was silly that she was turned away because she was wearing the Obama shirt because even though you may be promoting someone it wouldn't affect the other people's decision because they took the time to go vote early so they were already pretty sure who they wanted to vote for. but it was kind of silly that she didn't turn her shirt inside out so she could vote.
I think that there is definitely an argument on both sides. The voter has a constitutional right to vote that can not be infringed upon. Yet it is a violation of state law to endorse a candidate or party in the polling area. I agree with the voter on this one. Even though she is promoting a political party, her right to vote trumps the law established by our legislature here in Texas. I went to student election clerk training two saturdays ago, and they said explicitly that you CANNOT tell any one that they may not vote. They said nothing about politically based shirts.
That's interesting. You can definitely see both sides in this. It has a bit of a 'freedom of speech' issuse to it. That people should be able to express their opinions without being told no. But also, it could create a distraction on voting day. Potential voters may feel pressured into voting for paticular parties or candidates is there is someone there promoting one over the other. As much as I believe people should be able to wear whatever shirts they want to, I think places for voting should be a neutral environment. Just to keep things fair and keep anyone from having an unfair advantage.
What?! That's wrong. They can't deny someone the right to vote because they have a t-shirt with Obama on it. I honestly don't think that seeing a party's representative-or anything that has to do with the party-is going to change your mind in a split second, because if that's so then that would mean that we would be changing our minds every time we saw a campaign sign...I mean really...I think they should change the code.
I think it makes total sense that she wouldn't be allowed to vote. While it probably wouldn't actually affect anyone elses vote, I can understand the logic behind it.
I think that this code is completely ridiculous. When you are going to vote I think you should be allowed to wear clothing "supporting" any party, candidate, etc. that you want. I don't think that wearing this type of clothing makes any real type of impact on other voters and if nothing else shows people's enthusiasm for politics and voting. Denying people the right to vote because of what they are wearing is pointless and could possibly deter voters or future voters.
I think that this code is completely ridiculous. When you are going to vote I think you should be allowed to wear clothing "supporting" any party, candidate, etc. that you want. I don't think that wearing this type of clothing makes any real type of impact on other voters and if nothing else shows people's enthusiasm for politics and voting. Denying people the right to vote because of what they are wearing is pointless and could possibly deter voters or future voters.
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