Keep polling places neutral
SECRETARY of State Jennifer Brunner should prevent creeping commercialism and any sort of sloganeering within Ohio's voting places by rejecting a Dayton-area plan to permit poll workers to wear clothing bearing company and organizational logos. State law already prohibits political signs, literature, and speech within 100 feet of the outside of polling places on Election Day, and there is no valid reason to allow election workers to wear anything inside that could be construed as political or promotional for any business, group, or cause. In short, polling places should be neutral grounds, even as the issues we decide there may be polarizing in the extreme. Our concern stems from a "Day of Democracy" program begun by the Montgomery County Board of Elections, which is, like elections boards in many counties, facing a shortage of poll workers. The idea was to encourage companies and organizations to offer workers as volunteers, provided they could wear shirts with logos as a form of free advertising. "This was strictly a marketing tool," one county official said. "It was not put together to have any political agenda." But it didn't take long before the Dayton Right to Life organization decided to recruit workers who would help at the polls while wearing Right to Life T-shirts. The group's offer was accepted, but it shouldn't have been, and Ms. Brunner - as Ohio's chief election officer - should issue a directive forbidding such activity in any locale.
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