A Kansas City, Missouri, voter said he was asked to take off his Make America Great Again hat before voting in the special election this past week, according to The Kansas City Star.
An election worker told the man to remove his MAGA hat at the voting booth. But the Missouri Secretary of States Office said he could wear the hat because the hat didn't represent a candidate in the primary election.
In Missouri, its a misdemeanor to wear any political apparel within 25 feet of a polling location when that attire mentions a specific candidate or voting issue.
Tiffany Ellison, a director with the Clay County Election Board, said the man became upset and combative when a worker asked him to remove the hat.
One witness said he refused to remove his hat and started (to) film the voters. When told to stop, he argued with the officials.
The man called the Missouri Secretary of States Office, which said the man didnt break any laws.
(The Clay County Election Board) called him to let him know he could go back up there. He thanked us and apologized for his behavior, Ellison said.
The question about wearing political attire while voting has been raised throughout the country. Several states, including Texas and Minnesota, have laws prohibiting people from wearing political attire while filling out their ballots.
Utah has some prohibited activities, including disallowing people to "engage in any practice that interferes with the freedom of voters to vote or disrupts the administration of the polling place." No mentions of clothing or attire exist on the Utah State Legislature page.
Back in June, the Supreme Court ruled that overly broad state laws that ban wearing political messages inside polling places are unconstitutional, according to USA Today.
The Supreme Court struck down a century-old Minnesota law, which was challenged by a voter who was turned away for wearing a Tea Party shirt and a Please I.D. Me button, USA Today reported.
The Supreme Court said Minnesota doesnt identify what is and what isnt allowed at its polling station, creating a vague law and giving election officials too much power to decide whats allowed and whats not.
Voting polls werent always so private, though. In fact, Richard Bensel, a professor of American politics at Cornell University, told Smithsonian magazine that voting polls were like festivals back in the mid-19th century.
Often there were hundreds of people standing around the voting window, often jostling and making catcalls and comments at the person voting the jostling was quite vigorous and sometimes violent, says Bensel. Parties would bring barrels of whiskey and supply their voters with them they were almost like festivals, in which the major event was this voting.
Privacy at the polls became more mainstream in the 20th century after states began adopting secret ballots.
Public opinion was so done with corruption, drinking at the polls, all these disreputable practices, Bensel said. They would give you this ballot, and you would go and mark it in private and then turn it back in.
An election worker told the man to remove his MAGA hat at the voting booth. But the Missouri Secretary of States Office said he could wear the hat because the hat didn't represent a candidate in the primary election.
In Missouri, its a misdemeanor to wear any political apparel within 25 feet of a polling location when that attire mentions a specific candidate or voting issue.
Tiffany Ellison, a director with the Clay County Election Board, said the man became upset and combative when a worker asked him to remove the hat.
One witness said he refused to remove his hat and started (to) film the voters. When told to stop, he argued with the officials.
The man called the Missouri Secretary of States Office, which said the man didnt break any laws.
(The Clay County Election Board) called him to let him know he could go back up there. He thanked us and apologized for his behavior, Ellison said.
The question about wearing political attire while voting has been raised throughout the country. Several states, including Texas and Minnesota, have laws prohibiting people from wearing political attire while filling out their ballots.
Utah has some prohibited activities, including disallowing people to "engage in any practice that interferes with the freedom of voters to vote or disrupts the administration of the polling place." No mentions of clothing or attire exist on the Utah State Legislature page.
Back in June, the Supreme Court ruled that overly broad state laws that ban wearing political messages inside polling places are unconstitutional, according to USA Today.
The Supreme Court struck down a century-old Minnesota law, which was challenged by a voter who was turned away for wearing a Tea Party shirt and a Please I.D. Me button, USA Today reported.
The Supreme Court said Minnesota doesnt identify what is and what isnt allowed at its polling station, creating a vague law and giving election officials too much power to decide whats allowed and whats not.
Voting polls werent always so private, though. In fact, Richard Bensel, a professor of American politics at Cornell University, told Smithsonian magazine that voting polls were like festivals back in the mid-19th century.
Often there were hundreds of people standing around the voting window, often jostling and making catcalls and comments at the person voting the jostling was quite vigorous and sometimes violent, says Bensel. Parties would bring barrels of whiskey and supply their voters with them they were almost like festivals, in which the major event was this voting.
Privacy at the polls became more mainstream in the 20th century after states began adopting secret ballots.
Public opinion was so done with corruption, drinking at the polls, all these disreputable practices, Bensel said. They would give you this ballot, and you would go and mark it in private and then turn it back in.
