Leave candidate buttons, stickers at home before voting

MAT-SU -- Before heading to the polling place to cast a ballot for a chosen candidate next month, it might be a good idea to check clothing, vehicles and purses for campaign propaganda -- or be asked to remove it from the area.

Mat-Su Borough code, backed up by state statutes, prohibits electioneering or political persuasion within 200 feet of entrances to polling places.

"During the hours the polls are open, no person who is in the polling place or 200 feet of any entrance of the polling place may attempt to persuade a person to vote for or against a candidate, proposition or question, nor may any person conduct other political activities that may pertain to any future election or potential ballot proposition," borough code states.

Mat-Su Borough Clerk Michelle McGehee said the borough's code, listed in Chapter 25.30, is actually more encompassing than the state statutes pertaining to electioneering in that it applies to future elections or ballot propositions.

State statute 15.15.170 states that while the polls are open, people in the polling place or within 200 feet of any polling place entrances may not "attempt to persuade a person to vote for or against a candidate, proposition or question."

Often, McGehee said, people simply aren't aware of the statute or maybe have forgotten about the bumper sticker they placed on their car. If that's the case, they may be approached by an election official or member of the borough clerk's office, and be asked to remove the candidate information or stop talking about an election issue. If the sign is on a vehicle, it'll be covered with an "Electioneering Prohibited" sign.

"Everybody's been very gracious about it," McGehee said.

Although staff from the borough clerk's office field calls on election day about vehicles spotted in the parking lot with campaign-related signs attached, sometimes the rules must be checked.

McGehee said the office has a 200-foot tape measure that has been used numerous times to measure the distance from polling-place entrances to vehicles or signs. There's a drawing on file, McGehee said, showing the 200-foot radius around the borough building.

There are a few parking spaces and pieces of property between the borough building and the Palmer Depot -- also a polling place -- that are prime, legal political real estate, McGehee said.

One spot is on the street beside the Alaska Rural Rehabilitation Corp. building on Dahlia Avenue, where a pickup bearing a sign promoting Assembly District 2 candidate Bill Allen was parked early Tuesday evening.

"People love that spot," McGehee said. "Usually every year, somebody's parked right there -- they did during the primary, too."

While savvy politicos may know the best place to put political signs, those who unwittingly advertise for their candidate too close to polling places -- or those who discuss the campaign with their neighbors as they wait in line to vote -- are more common offenders, McGehee said.

Contact Rindi White at rindi.white@frontiersman.com.