Anyone want to contriubute to a fund to get cousin Winnie out of jail??

Winnie says she is going down to the Polling Place with her Hillary sign. I had always understood it was against the law to campaign within a certain distance of a polling place, but then thought maybe Bush had changed that too, or at least made it so only Republican signs were allowed. Guess not. I found this online

http://www.senate.state.mo.us/05info/pdf-bill/intro/sb389.pdf

SENATE BILL NO. 389
93RD GENERAL ASSEMBLY

AN ACT
To repeal sections 115.635 and 115.637, RSMo, and to enact in lieu thereof two new sections
relating to election offenses of the third and fourth classes, with penalty provisions.
Be it enacted by the General Assembly of the State of Missouri, as follows:
Section A. Sections 115.635 and 115.637, RSMo, are repealed and two new sections
enacted in lieu thereof, to be known as sections 115.635 and 115.637, to read as follows:…

(18) Exit polling, surveying, sampling, electioneering, distributing election literature,
posting signs or placing vehicles bearing signs with respect to any candidate or question to
be voted on at an election on election day inside the building in which a polling place is
located or within twenty-five feet of the building's outer door closest to the polling place, or,
on the part of any person, refusing to remove or permit removal from property owned or
controlled by [him] the person, any such election sign or literature located within such
distance on such day after request for removal by any person;

I hope Winnie stayed the requested 25 feet from the poll doors. If not, Mike can give us a call and we will send our donations his way.

I guess, just to be safe, since Winnie might not know me as well as my sisters do, I better make it clear I am just joking here. Well, joking about her being in jail. There really are laws, I think in all states, prohibiting electioneering within a certain distance of a polling place. The distance differs from place to place, but the basics are the same.

It is my understanding that these laws were enacted to prevent intimation of the voter at the polls. In today's world it is unlikey a voter would be intimated by a politician at the polls, but, in earlier times, many local politicians carried considerable leverage if they wanted to try to make a voter cast their vote a certain way. In fact, it was not that long ago that the two front running Democartic candidates in this race would not even been allowed to vote in any election in the US.