No Tipping Your (Campaign) Cap Come Tuesday

“No buttons. No posters. No leaflets. No. None.” That's the friendly reminder New Yorkers are getting from the city's Board of Elections in regards to showing your colors when you head to the polls this Tuesday. This doesn't just apply for your "I Support Joe the Plumber" contemporary shwag. A NY Times reader was asked to remove her four-decade-old “Lindsay for Mayor” button on a previous Election Day. And despite a brouhaha earlier this week over concern about the preparedness of the BOE, Mayor Bloomberg tells us he expects all systems to be a go come Tuesday.

Contact the author of this article or email tips@gothamist.com with further questions, comments or tips.

By Billy Parker in News on November 1, 2008 2:08 PM

Comments [rss]

JacqueMehoff

I see people wearing the T-shirt of their candidate waiting on those long lines for early voting on CNN.

is this really a law on the books? or are they stretching a law to include this.

so if it's not a law why are they doing this?

I blame bloomberg.

cucarachita

There's nothing in the law that specifically says anything about apparel (like Obama or McCain t-shirts). That said, if you want to be an a-hole and show up wearing one only to be told you can't wear it, and argue that there's nothing in the law against it, the only harm you'll be doing it to your fellow voters, who will be held up for as long as you argue.

I've been asking around. I called the BOE. There's no actual wording about apparel, only buttons, placards, leaflets, and signs. That won't stop poll workers from interpreting things as they see fit.

EastRiver

"accidentally forget to set the machine."

This happened to me a few years ago. I don't know why people automatically assume mechanical machines only slightly younger than the octogenarian volunteers running them are foolproof.

graybanks

Duh. What's to say the people who work the machines won't translate your Obama/McCain button into "accidentally forget to set the machine."