For context, the region I'm in is Sangamon County, Illinois.
I ordered an ACLU pin from their shop. I expect it to arrive before November 3rd and I am excited to wear it at the polling place. I am, however, not certain if this is permitted under the law. I checked on the Electoral Judge's manual for clarification and I found this:
Electioneering is defined as working for,
against, or in the interest of a candidate, party, or proposition.
Electioneering is not allowed in the polling place or within the
campaign free zone (a distance of within 100 horizontal feet of the
room). No one is permitted to wear a campaign button, display
political literature, or engage in any political discussion within the
restricted area.
So I interpret this as putting me in the clear. The pin is unrelated to a candidate, party, or any proposition on my region's ballots. I wanted a concrete illustration of the law so I did a search and found within the Illinois Compiled Statutes: 10 ILCS 5/7-41 (c)
No person shall do any electioneering or soliciting of votes on
primary day within any polling place or within one hundred feet of any
polling place, or, at the option of a church or private school, on any
of the property of that church or private school that is a polling
place. Election officers shall place 2 or more cones, small United
States national flags, or some other marker a distance of 100
horizontal feet from each entrance to the room used by voters to
engage in voting, which shall be known as the polling room. If the
polling room is located within a building that is a private business,
a public or private school, or a church or other organization founded
for the purpose of religious worship and the distance of 100
horizontal feet ends within the interior of the building, then the
markers shall be placed outside of the building at each entrance used
by voters to enter that building on the grounds adjacent to the
thoroughfare or walkway. If the polling room is located within a
public or private building with 2 or more floors and the polling room
is located on the ground floor, then the markers shall be placed 100
horizontal feet from each entrance to the polling room used by voters
to engage in voting. If the polling room is located in a public or
private building with 2 or more floors and the polling room is located
on a floor above or below the ground floor, then the markers shall be
placed a distance of 100 feet from the nearest elevator or staircase
used by voters on the ground floor to access the floor where the
polling room is located. The area within where the markers are placed
shall be known as a campaign free zone, and electioneering is
prohibited pursuant to this subsection. Notwithstanding any other
provision of this Section, a church or private school may choose to
apply the campaign free zone to its entire property, and, if so, the
markers shall be placed near the boundaries on the grounds adjacent to
the thoroughfares or walkways leading to the entrances used by the
voters. At or near the door of each polling place, the election judges
shall place signage indicating the proper entrance to the polling
place. In addition, the election judges shall ensure that a sign
identifying the location of the polling place is placed on a nearby
public roadway. The State Board of Elections shall establish
guidelines for the placement of polling place signage.
The area on polling place property beyond the campaign free
zone, whether publicly or privately owned, is a public forum for the time
that the polls are open on an election day. At the request of election
officers any publicly owned building must be made available for use as
a polling place. A person shall have the right to congregate and
engage in electioneering on any polling place property while the polls
are open beyond the campaign free zone, including but not limited to,
the placement of temporary signs. This subsection shall be construed
liberally in favor of persons engaging in electioneering on all
polling place property beyond the campaign free zone for the time that
the polls are open on an election day.
It's striking that electioneering isn't defined within the section, so I reviewed 10 ILCS 5/0.01 et seq. and found section 5/7-4. Definitions does not provide clarification about "electioneering." Okay, maybe it's a common sense term. I checked Black's Law Dictionary 5th ed. and also found no definition of "electioneering."
Well maybe there's relevant case law? I reviewed West's Smith-Hurd ILCS Annotated and found there were no reported cases related to 10 ILCS 5/0.01 et seq.
Last I checked West's IL Digest and found no relevant case law. There were surprisingly only 5 cases related to elections, none of which had anything to do with electioneering.
So I imagine if a judge were to make a determination about whether displaying this pin within a polling place is "electioneering," they would have to refer to a dictionary definition. From Webster's:
electioneer verb
elec·tion·eer | \ i-ˌlek-shə-ˈnir \
electioneered; electioneering; electioneers
Definition of electioneer
intransitive verb
: to take an active part in an election
specifically : to work for the election of a candidate or party
Well this is incredibly unhelpful! While this pin is not working for the election of a candidate or party, my very presence in the polling place is taking an active part in an election.
So in summary, would displaying this pin in a polling place be considered unlawful electioneering?
