I received the following e-mail from a fellow student at the University of Missouri in St. Louis and thought I should pass it on (I got the person's permission).
Please, please, please advise everyone you know that they absolutely cannot go to the polls wearing any Obama shirts, pins or hats -- it is against the law and will be grounds to have the polling officials turn you away. That is considered campaigning and no one can campaign within X number of feet of the polls. They are banking on us being excited and not being aware of this long standing law that you can bet will be enforced this year!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
They are banking that if you are turned away you will not go home, change your clothes, and then come back to vote. Please just don't wear Obama gear of any sort to the
Polls!! Please share this information -- oh and for those of you who were already aware this was not meant to insult your intelligence. Just trying to cover all grounds.
I'm sure there are dozens of little nit-picky laws like this that might be used to suppress the vote. Maybe others can chime in with other laws they're aware of like this that could be used to turn away voters. If everyone thinks it would be helpful, I will re-post this diary Monday afternoon (Nov. 3) and add to it any other laws/rules that are brought up in the comments section and that everyone should know about as they make their way to the polls.
UPDATE: According to some of the comments, this law does not apply everywhere. For example, it does not apply in Florida or Oregan; but it DOES apply in Missouri, Georgia, and Louisiana. Does anyone know which ones it applies to...or can you point everyone to an appropriate website? (Just for the record, I didn't mean that it was a big conspiracy to suppress the vote, only that it MIGHT be used in that way by some.)