Federal judge upholds campaign T-shirt ban at Michigan polls

Federal Judge Patrick Duggan of the Eastern District of Michigan has upheld a state law banning campaign T-shirts and buttons from being worn at polling places around the state.

The lawsuit, filed by the American Federation of State, County and Municipal Employees (AFSCME), was in response to a memo sent by Secretary of State Terri Lynn Land and state Director of Elections Christopher Thomas to county election clerks informing them that they “have the right to ask voters entering the polls to remove campaign buttons or cover up clothing bearing a campaign slogan or a candidate’s name.”

Duggan dismissed the case and upheld the constitutionality of a state law that says:

On election day, a person shall not post, display, or distribute in a polling place, in any hallway used by voters to enter or exit a polling place, or within 100 feet of an entrance to a building in which a polling place is located any material that directly or indirectly makes reference to an election, a candidate, or a ballot question.

The plaintiffs argued that this was a violation of their freedom of speech. The judge ruled that a polling place is a “nonpublic forum,” which means they are not places that “by long tradition or by government fiat have been devoted to assembly and debate.”

Supreme Court precedent says that in a nonpublic forum, restrictions on speech “are permissible so long as they are viewpoint neutral and reasonable in light of the purpose served by the forum.” Duggan ruled that the restriction is viewpoint neutral because it applies to all political T-shirts and buttons regardless of the party or the issue.

He further ruled that the stated purpose of the law — “to prevent campaigning from being brought into the actual room where voters are waiting to vote and voting,” and avoiding “debate and contention in the polling place between voters standing in line who support opposing candidates” — was reasonable in light of the purpose served by the forum.