I think that depends the election. In a contest like Obama/McCain, the vast majority of people will have made up their minds months before the election. Recent opinion polls suggest that no more than 5-8% of the electorate remains undecided.

In a low-profile school board election, though, 14% might be an understatement. Same with judicial elections (in states that have them), where probably 80% of voters know nothing about the candidates and often can’t rely on party labels to help them out.

Ay de mi.

It is true that (a) that jurisdictions can constitutionally ban the wearing of campaign stickers/buttons/t-shirts in and around polling places, and (b) many jurisdictions do so. On (a), the legal eagles among us can review this 2001 DC Circuit opinion, which maintained that such viewpoint-neutral restrictions are constitutional means of protecting the orderly conduct of elections, creating “a neutral zone within the polling place, preventing altercations over hot-button issues, intimidation of voters, eleventh hour smear campaigns and the like,” and safeguarding citizens’ ability to “vote freely for the candidates of their choice … in an election conducted with integrity and reliability.”

If you have a problem with it, take it up with the SBE.

Outside of the 40 ft limit, I asked people if they wanted a sticker for our candidate before they entered the building.

There was a very riled up Repub. volunteer worker beside me who had the election official come out and tell me to stop giving the folks a sticker to wear because it is illegal.

I told the election official that he was flat wrong in denying the voters’ first amendment rights and that i wanted to hear that from someone above him.

He later came out and apologized- that the complainers were wrong and that it was fine to give the voters a sticker for their lapel before they entered the voting area.

Sonya – welcome! And I’m glad you found the information you were looking for.

Brian – the issue is campaigning within the 40 feet. And it seems every election, the topic of the effectiveness of poll workers comes up. Last numbers I saw was that somewhere around 14% of voters make their minds up at the polls!

MB – it *did* sound like you didn’t think this was a big deal, which is why I responded that way.

linda b – the emails are coming faster than I can respond to them. I have forwarded the message from the DPVA to every single person who has sent me one of those emails. Whether or not you’ve ever seen anyone turned away isn’t the problem; the problem is that people think that they will be.

(I’m so embarrassed.)

-edited vjp

(Yes, on the emails. Had a number of people ask me directly about it. Frustrated that there isn’t any short and clear answer about it.)

My version: I’ll happily be a test case for my protected right to wear an Obama button to the polls. There is a world’s worth of difference between actively soliciting votes inside a polling place and simply wearing a button/shirt. Add this to the list of simple issues that the VA legislature could easily clear up if they had any sense of responsibility toward the franchise.