So I just went to my polling location to vote...and as I got out of my car, those "crazy election people" (who are there to sway any last minute decision making voters) descended upon me.

I felt rather harassed by them as I tried to make my way to the building, and I said clearly "I've already made up my mind on all of the issues, thank you."

At least in Michigan, crazy election people are required to be at least 100 feet from the entrance to the polling location. Is that really enough?

I'm pre-law; I know they have a Constitutional right to assemble...but what about when that Constitutional right interferes with the right to vote?

Question:
So here's where you get to cast YOUR vote (without having to deal with the crazy election people!).

Is the current 100 foot limitation sufficient, or should a larger buffer zone be put in place at polling locations?

Choices:
The 100 foot limitation is sufficient.
Voters should have a larger harassment-free area.
The limitation is sufficient, but more regulations should be put on the crazy election people within a certain distance from the polling location.
What is a crazy election person?
I like cheese.

 

You can always just get a mail in ballot and avoid all that in the first place (just sent in my mail-in ballot paper work)

quote:

Originally posted by Meagan87:
I'm getting to my point, I promise:
If I were going to the mall, or I was walking towards a street corner and saw 30 people milling about with paraphernalia in hand...I would cross the street, head in the opposite direction. Probably the last thing I would do is walk through that crowd of people.
Yet I'm expected to do so if I want to exercise my Constitutional right to vote?

Here's the thing.

They're not stopping you from shopping in the mall. You are stopping yourself.

All you have to do is say, "I'm not interested", walk by, and then you can go shopping. You deciding that you don't want to shop at the shopping mall because of this is your choice, not the fault of whoever is outside of the store. The responsibility here isn't in their hands, it's in yours.

It's the same with a polling station. You have the constitutional right to vote, and no one is interfering with that. Since they are not actively blocking you from going to the polling station, you are more then welcome to walk by them. If they are actively blocking you, then you have an entirely different problem then you would if someone was simply handing out fliers, or trying to talk to you.

quote:

I don't see how having them 100 feet from a polling place is any different from running into them on street corners, outside shopping malls, in parks, etc.

Politics have become pretty big in my city. Yesterday, we were voting on whether or not to annex a piece of property and it was a pretty big issue. My polling location hosts multiple precincts; it would not be an exaggeration to say that 7,000+ people are registered to vote at this location.

There were probably 30+ people in the parking lot representing various interest groups and candidates...enough to make parking a nightmare.

I'm getting to my point, I promise:
If I were going to the mall, or I was walking towards a street corner and saw 30 people milling about with paraphernalia in hand...I would cross the street, head in the opposite direction. Probably the last thing I would do is walk through that crowd of people.
Yet I'm expected to do so if I want to exercise my Constitutional right to vote?

I know that this is nitpicking, but I noticed that you didn't give the option to say they should be closer.

You can put them 100 feet away from a voting poll, you can put them 50 feet away from a voting poll, you can put them 200 feet away from a voting poll, and they'll still assemble.

Either in the parking lots, or the streets surrounding the polling station, or around the shops.

Unless they're actively barricading your ability to get in to the polling station, then I say let them be.

2 and they should have the right to brandish firearms in the general direction of said annoyances