can't vote if wearing partisan clothing

[Aaron RS Lorenz]

I think so.  Burson argued about politicking and soliciting but made it clear that if a car drove by with a campaign bumper sticker (within the 100 ft) it would "not constitute 'display' of campaign material."  The problem is that Burson stated that any individual prosecuted for the above conduct would have to challenge the statute.  The Virginia State Board of Elections certainly seemed aware of Blackmun's language in Burson.

Aaron


Aaron R.S. Lorenz
Assistant Professor
Law & Society Program
Ramapo College
201.684.7732 (office)  201.684.7257 (fax)
alorenz at ramapo.edu
  ----- Original Message ----- 
  From: marty.lederman at comcast.net 
  To: Steven Jamar ; CONLAWPROFS professors 
  Sent: Wednesday, October 15, 2008 8:15 PM
  Subject: Re: can't vote if wearing partisan clothing


  Is this substantially different from Burson v. Freeman?

   -------------- Original message ----------------------
  From: "Steven Jamar" <stevenjamar at gmail.com>
  > Is this constitutional?  Seems to be some free speech problem to me.  Or can
  > the long-standing ban on candidates not politicking within some perimeter be
  > extended to all voters?
  > 
  > Steve
  > 
  > 
  >  *Poll Garb Must Be Nonpartisan, Board Says*
  > 
  > If you plan to vote Nov. 4, be careful what you wear to the polls.
  > Virginia's State Board of
  > Elections<http://www.washingtonpost.com/ac2/related/topic/Virginia+State+Board+o
  > f+Elections?tid=informline>yesterday
  > adopted a ban on clothing, hats, buttons or other paraphernalia
  > that directly advocates the election or defeat of a specific candidate or
  > proposal.
  > 
  > The ban is effective inside polling places and a long-held perimeter of 40
  > feet from polling place entrances.
  > 
  > The American Civil Liberties
  > Union<http://www.washingtonpost.com/ac2/related/topic/American+Civil+Liberties+U
  > nion?tid=informline>said
  > the ban violates the First Amendment right to free speech. The board
  > said it has to weigh that concern against the right to vote free of undue
  > influence or the tension that candidate advocacy might create.
  > 
  > -- 
  > Prof. Steven Jamar
  > Howard University School of Law
  > Associate Director, Institute of Intellectual Property and Social Justice
  > (IIPSJ) Inc.





------------------------------------------------------------------------------


  _______________________________________________
  To post, send message to Conlawprof at lists.ucla.edu
  To subscribe, unsubscribe, change options, or get password, see http://lists.ucla.edu/cgi-bin/mailman/listinfo/conlawprof

  Please note that messages sent to this large list cannot be viewed as private.  Anyone can subscribe to the list and read messages that are posted; people can read the Web archives; and list members can (rightly or wrongly) forward the messages to others.
-------------- next part --------------
An HTML attachment was scrubbed...
URL: http://lists.ucla.edu/pipermail/conlawprof/attachments/20081015/aa2034ee/attachment.htm