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Man in deplorables shirt arrested at the polls

Crovax

Crovax

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https://www.washingtonpost.com/news...rt-to-vote-texas-police-arrested-him/?ref=yfp

On his head he wore a hat supporting GOP presidential nominee Donald Trump, Mauthe told KSAT 12 News. His T-shirt read “basket of deplorables,” a reference to a comment Democratic nominee Hillary Clinton made about Trump’s supporters.

Mauthe was stopped before he could cast his ballot.

According to the election code, not just in Texas but in many other jurisdictions across the country, campaigning for or promoting a political candidate within a designated space around a polling place is prohibited. In Comal County, that’s 100 feet. The crime is electioneering, reported the New Braunfels Herald-Zeitung, a class C misdemeanor.

Mauthe was asked by poll workers to remove the Trump hat, and he complied, the man told KSAT 12 News. But when they asked him to turn his “deplorables” T-shirt inside out, he refused.

“He wanted to take a stand,” Bulverde Police Chief Gary Haecker told the Herald-Zeitung. “Unfortunately, he was arrested.”
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I wonder how the deplorables shirt counted as "electioneering", I wonder how the law itself would hold up under the SCOTUS.
 
haymarket said:
The man was making an obvious political statement in support of a candidate on the ballot. It was right to ask him to reverse it.
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The phrase "basket of deplorables" assuming that was the only thing on the shirt does not directly show support for a candidate nor is it an official slogan for either campaign. And I think the law itself is probably unconstitutional.
 
meanwhile, Timberlake can post a picture of himself inside a polling place.
 
Crovax said:
The phrase "basket of deplorables" assuming that was the only thing on the shirt does not directly show support for a candidate nor is it an official slogan for either campaign. And I think the law itself is probably unconstitutional.
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I believe the law itself to be unconstitutional so long as applied to normal citizens and not actual operatives.
 
countryboy said:
He also had a Trump hat on. This is strictly verboten.
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From the article which I quoted in the OP: "Mauthe was asked by poll workers to remove the Trump hat, and he complied, the man told KSAT 12 News. But when they asked him to turn his “deplorables” T-shirt inside out, he refused."
 
Fishking said:
I believe the law itself to be unconstitutional so long as applied to normal citizens and not actual operatives.
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Those laws have around awhile. I guess nobody has taken it all the way to SCOTUS yet.
 
BrewerBob said:
Those laws have around awhile. I guess nobody has taken it all the way to SCOTUS yet.
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I honestly don't know. It's amazing what makes it there and what doesn't. Hell, we had a SCOTUS decision on whether tomatoes were a vegetable or a fruit and, can you believe it?...they even got that wrong.
 
haymarket said:
The man was making an obvious political statement in support of a candidate on the ballot. It was right to ask him to reverse it.
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Only if those with pro-Hillary shirts and hats are demanded to do the same.
 
Crovax said:
The phrase "basket of deplorables" assuming that was the only thing on the shirt does not directly show support for a candidate nor is it an official slogan for either campaign. And I think the law itself is probably unconstitutional.
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It is an obvious political statement and anyone following the campaign knows that it is.
 
Fishking said:
I honestly don't know. It's amazing what makes it there and what doesn't. Hell, we had a SCOTUS decision on whether tomatoes were a vegetable or a fruit and, can you believe it?...they even got that wrong.
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The reason for the buffer is to eliminate voter intimidation. it is bad enough I have to walk through 10-20 people holding signs when I get there.
if I had to do that and put up with that nonsense while I am trying to vote or enter a polling location yea someone would get in trouble.
 
haymarket said:
It is an obvious political statement and anyone following the campaign knows that it is.
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yet a famous celebratory taking picture of his vote is just for a bunch of fun.
 
Crovax said:
The phrase "basket of deplorables" assuming that was the only thing on the shirt does not directly show support for a candidate nor is it an official slogan for either campaign. And I think the law itself is probably unconstitutional.
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I think you're wrong, in that.

"In a ruling with implications for all 50 states and the District, the court voted 5 to 3 to uphold a Tennessee law prohibiting activists from distributing campaign brochures or soliciting votes within 100 feet of polling places on Election Day."

WaPo: JUSTICES ALLOW ELECTIONEERING BAN AT POLLING PLACES
 
ludin said:
The reason for the buffer is to eliminate voter intimidation. it is bad enough I have to walk through 10-20 people holding signs when I get there.
if I had to do that and put up with that nonsense while I am trying to vote or enter a polling location yea someone would get in trouble.
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Someone wearing clothes is nonsense?
 
He took his Trump cap off when asked but refused to remove his shirt.
He was not distributing campaign brochures or soliciting votes. He wanted to vote.
Seems like his 1st amendment right's were violated. Just my opinion.
Maybe a federal lawsuit is in the future?
 
Chomsky said:
I think you're wrong, in that.

"In a ruling with implications for all 50 states and the District, the court voted 5 to 3 to uphold a Tennessee law prohibiting activists from distributing campaign brochures or soliciting votes within 100 feet of polling places on Election Day."

WaPo: JUSTICES ALLOW ELECTIONEERING BAN AT POLLING PLACES
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Wearing a hat and a shirt is not distributing brochures or soliciting votes.
 
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