Protocols at the polls: what to leave at home
MISSISSIPPI (WCBI) – It’s almost Election Day.
If you are planning to vote, you need to bring your driver’s license but leave the campaigning material outside.
In just a few days, voters will be lined up outside the polls ready to cast their vote for the 2024 Presidential Election, but depending on what you wear, you could be asked to leave.
“As far as clothing, you cannot wear any campaign for any particular candidate – earrings, caps, shirts, anything of that nature, jackets, anything like that,” said Lowndes County Circuit Clerk Teresa Barksdale.
Lowndes County Circuit Clerk Teresa Barksdale said in doing so, the bailiff will ask you to leave or find a way to cover up any campaign material you could be showing.
However, if you are a certain distance away from the precinct, you are allowed to campaign.
“You can campaign within 150 feet, but inside that 150-foot rule, they will ask you to leave or move further outside the proximity,” Barksdale said.
Barksdale said selfies and photos should not be taken inside the precinct or with your ballot.
“You can take your picture outside the voting precinct or in your car or something like that, we just don’t recommend you take a picture of yourself and your ballot,” Barksdale said. “You can take a picture of yourself with your ‘I voted’ sticker, we have a lot of people in Lowndes County who do that. We prefer that over the ballot, that way it doesn’t influence someone else if they have not voted and influence one way or the other.”
This goes for those voting absentee and those working the polls as well.
“They cannot wear any campaign material either,” Barksdale said. “They have to be neutral at all times because it is a party election. So, they remain neutral at all times as well.”
Voters will be able to cast their vote from 7 a.m. to 7 p.m. on Nov. 5.
Restrictions can be viewed on the Mississippi Secretary of State’s website. You can also call the circuit clerk’s office to make sure you are going to the correct precinct.
For our viewers in West Alabama, the Alabama Secretary of State’s website states campaigning must be at least 30 feet away from the polls, and voters may wear political buttons or shirts into the polls, but you should not loiter or leave any campaign materials.
Poll workers are not allowed to wear campaign material.
You can take a photo of yourself or with your ballot in Alabama, but you may not disclose the content of other voter’s ballots or disrupt the voting process.
