Law About Campaigning Near Polling Places Expected to Have Minimal Impact

A Kentucky statute prohibiting campaigning and electioneering outside polling places was struck down by a federal judge last month, but the impact on Tuesday’s midterm elections will probably be minimal, local officials say.

 

Until recently, Kentucky law strictly prohibited campaigning within 300 feet of a polling station, but, in mid­October, a federal judge struck down that law as unconstitutional, as violating both the first and 14th amendments. Kentucky has been one of a number of states across the nation restricting campaign activity in close proximity to voting locations.

 

The ruling came as a result of a lawsuit filed by a Northern Kentucky business owner, who was asked to remove campaign signs he had placed on his business’s property, which sits within 300 feet of a nearby polling station.

 

The federal judge’s ruling has effectively reinstated his right to display the sign on his property.

 

Since the ruling, Kentucky’s county clerks, who oversee elections procedures in their counties, have been working out how best to implement the decision.

 

As far as campaign signage near polling stations goes, Kenton County Clerk Gabrielle Summe does not see the ruling as having an impact.

 

“My interpretation of that statute has been that it didn’t impact private property, anyhow,” Summe told RCN Monday morning. “Private property is private property. Nothing has changed there.”

 

Some officials elsewhere in the state, though, have expressed concern over the ruling’s potential impact on electioneering, in the form of last­minute campaigning, like carrying signs, handing out fliers, and approaching voters as they walk into voting stations on Election Day.

 

Jefferson County Clerk Bobbie Holsclaw told Louisville’s WDRB, “I don’t want to see our voters who are trying to get into vote being harassed in anyway. I don’t think there should be electioneering at that point in time. At that point it should be over.”

 

Ultimately, though, the ruling’s impact on Tuesday’s election will likely be minimal throughout the state, according to Summe. The ruling has been stayed until after this election cycle, pending an appeal filed by a number of county clerks across Kentucky.