When Signs Are Outlawed, Only Outlaws Will Have Signs

Last week, the County Clerk and a candidate for re-election in my county, Ellis County, Kansas, stopped me to tell me that my yard sign for her opponent in the primary, Dottie Staab, at my office west of the courthouse, would have to be taken down, because it "is too close to the courthouse". Having had a lifelong interest in the law, I knew that there must be a law somewhere that she might be relying on, so I looked it up...

Indeed, there's a state statute in my state that says there can't be any "electioneering" within 250 feet of the entrance to a polling place.

Of course, there is a brief time that the County Clerk’s office at the courthouse is used as an advance polling site, starting Wednesday, July 23. Research revealed that the reason for this law is to keep people from being bothered by campaigners as they go to the polls.

Now, the sign I have up is the same size as the signs I have put up for various candidates over the years, in the same place, but none of them were running against the incumbent County Clerk, so it must not have seemed as important to her to get those down.

I really realized the seriousness of the problem when I learned that the County Clerk’s Deputy called Dottie Staab’s house yesterday and told her that the sign her supporter (that’s me) had up west of the Courthouse needed to come down, and that in the past, they have gone out and removed signs “they” (I think she meant the County Clerk) decided were too close.

I paced off the distance from the sign to the Courthouse, and sure enough, it was only about 240 feet to the Courthouse door from the Dottie Staab sign. The actual starting place for measurement is the “polling site”, which would be the County Clerk’s office, about 50 feet down the hall of the second floor, so the sign is actually okay where it is.

I had already told the County Clerk that I not only was not going to take the sign down, but I might put more up, and that I thought maybe the First Amendment might trump her ordinary statute, but upon further reflection, I decided that I would help her police up the area, so I am planning on moving the one sign back a few more feet and the other three or four I will put up will be back a ways, too. I will have to get bigger ones, though, so people will still be able to read them as they drive by.

I invite the driving public who may be in my town of Hays, Kansas, to drive by the courthouse. Take a look at the Dottie Staab signs at 13th and Fort. They are at least 251 feet from the advance polling site. If anyone has any trouble seeing them, please pull into our parking lot, and there will be a good view from there, too.

In the meantime, I realized that if it's illegal for me to have the sign within 250 feet of the polling site, it is also illegal for any of the cars in the Courthouse parking lot to have any political bumper stickers on them, so please help me report any of those to the Clerk, and, if any of the offices in the Courthouse get the newspaper, they will need to cancel their subscriptions, since there are political ads in there, and, I see a lot of political things on the Internet, so I hope all the computers in the Courthouse get shut off until the election is over.

Maybe after the election, we can go back to worrying about how to get more people registered to vote and out to vote for the elections. I hope Dottie Staab gets that County Clerk job in my county, because I think she will worry more about encouraging voting than discouraging it.

"When signs are outlawed, only outlaws will have signs."

Comments (2)

Jerry Jacobs

Great story. Even though I don't live near you - I smile thinking about the contact sport of politics and how it is alive and well in America. Good to see you in there.

Posted by Jerry Jacobs | August 1, 2008 6:47 PM

Posted on August 1, 2008 18:47

Matthew Musgrove

The campaign season is officially in full swing, bringing one thing that I detest more than anything: candidate slogans. Recently, while driving in Hays I happened upon one phrase that I found to be exponentially more ridiculous than the rest, "vote for experience."

You're probably saying, "Surely experience is good, right?" It is apparent (to me at least) that there is one major problem with planting your flag by the experience mantra: How precisely would you define experience? If you define it by the standard of having held the job, then the incumbent county clerk does indeed meet that standard (most of the time).

I'll go ahead and admit it, this isn't so bad. If given the choice, I would much rather have someone who shows up to work than doesn't. Still, that's not nearly enough to consider a job well done. For example, the utter lack of initiative to come out of the county clerk's office in the past two terms to make voting more accessible to all portions of the community comes to mind. Now, I know, I know, we're now considering the college as a polling place (advance only), and believe me, I'm not an ingrate. I and the other 25 percent of Hays' population is appreciative for this happy "coincidence."

I know the stuck-in-the-mud mentality is a long repeated argument, so think of it in these terms. Of the many industries that employ people in Hays, medical, education and small business are three of the primary employers. These three share many things in common, but perhaps one of the most important things they share is a constant need for innovation. Why shouldn't we demand the same level of performance from our county clerk?

Let us put all this aside though, and just accept the experience argument. Given that the incumbent is now the candidate of experience, another word goes hand in hand with that, professionalism. Unfortunately, as many of you have read, there's a whole fiasco with Signgate '08. Now don't misunderstand me, I'm as much of a fan of the law as the next guy.

However, it occurs to me that such a fuss wasn't entirely necessary, and that a candidate with her "experience" could have handled the ordeal more professionally and less like, well, her.

Normally disclaimers come at the start of a letter like this I know, but I'm not one to be much of a traditionalist so I'll make my disclaimer now: I've not only had a Dottie Staab sign in my yard since the start of this primary, but I've supported her long before that. You see, I've supported Dottie from the start not only because she's quite possibly the nicest person I've ever met, but also because she's dedicated and brimming with ideas on how to take the vote to the people, rather than the opposite.

However, the Signgate debacle gave me a bang-up revelation and another reason to vote for Dottie. For my part, I'd much rather vote for a candidate who is more concerned with the well-being of the people served and the professionalism of the office than one who is concerned with her job security.

Posted by Matthew Musgrove | August 3, 2008 2:32 PM

Posted on August 3, 2008 14:32

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