Decision to allow candidate T-shirts inside polling stations angers state GOP

HARRISBURG -- Officials from the state Republican Party Thursday morning criticized a decision from the Pennsylvania Department of State allowing voters to wear candidate T-shirts and buttons when they enter polling stations, saying the paraphernalia could sway voters and force polling officials to act as "fashion police."

"Pennsylvania voters should be allowed to cast their ballots without undue influence," said state GOP Chairman Bob Gleason during a press conference in the Capitol rotunda. He was joined by Sandra Newman, former Pennsylvania Supreme Court justice and current chairwoman of the state GOP Fair Election's Task Force.

Gleason called on the state Democratic Party to join his request in what he said should be a bipartisan effort to keep polling stations "sterile."

The party's anger stems from a Sept. 18 memo distributed to county election boards from Chet Harhut, commissioner of the Pennsylvania Bureau of Commissions, Elections, and Legislation. The letter advised counties to allow "passive electioneering" within polling stations, which it said includes "wearing tee shirts [sic], clothing or buttons with the candidate's or party's name, picture or emblem."

The memo was in part written after the American Civil Liberties Union and League of Women Voters of Pennsylvania, citing First Amendment rights, asked the department to narrow its definition of "electioneer."

Harhut wrote in the memo poll workers needed to make sure they didn't turn away eligible voters, although volunteers at polling stations should not be permitted to wear candidate paraphernalia.

"Again, care should be taken to allow individuals to vote," he wrote.

Newman argued the memo, in addition to contradicting Pennsylvania statute, has caused confusion among local election boards, who she said don't know how to define what "passive" electioneering.

"It turns election board workers into the fashion police," Newman said. "They might have to turn into Vogue editors."

Reporters pressed Gleason on the seriousness of the issue, who responded that it's not a "big story." But he said it's important to make sure voters, in particular senior citizens, aren't further assailed by campaigners who already form a gamut outside polling stations.

Gleason's call to make this issue bi-partisan doesn't seem likely to happen.

"While people are losing their jobs, their homes are being foreclosed at an alarming rate and the economy is literally collapsing all around us, Republicans are worried about buttons and T-shirts at polling place," said Abe Amoros, policy and communications director for the party. "It's further evidence of how out-of-touch they are and the need for real change in the White House."

Gleason said some county election board members filed a lawsuit Thursday morning about the DOS's decision, although he said he has not seen the lawsuit himself.