A "thin blue line" flag also doesn't fit any of the banned criteria. You guys are basically saying that supporting police and military is only done by republicans.
If it was a police officer wearing that or a poll worker, that's not acceptable. If it was a voter in act of voting it is fine.
In that case, yes. Unless the person is a voter in the act of voting.
(Other jurisdictions may have other rules, of course)
If I wear a shirt with MEDICARE FOR ALL, GREEN NEW DEAL (or SUPPORT ACA and REJOIN PARIS ACCORDS) on it, that's clear partisan support. That's illegal. Thin blue line flags and "support our troops" are out of place and it's two-faced to pretend it isn't just a signal of partisan support. These are some of the major party issues.
Bad taste has nothing to do with it. If someone wears a SUPPORT THE CURRENT PRESIDENT shirt, that's support of Trump, not endorsement of the concept of government or something nonpartisan.
If it is what he says, then it was simply a copy of text that all soldiers swear to when they enlist. The U.S. Army is not a political organization and contains people from all backgrounds.
What really seems to have happened here is that the author was able to reasonably infer this police officers political affiliation from his clothing and that is not what is prohibited in these laws.
It's called "letter of the law" vs "spirit of the law",
Purposely violating the principle of the law by abusing loopholes, and proceeding to claim that technically violating the spirit of the law is not illegal because you came up with a loophole that you believe is not incompatible with the letter of the law just goes to show the level of dedication that you have to break the law without being punished for your transgression.
I doubt the regulations around polling places consider that relevant. I'd guess one party wears cowboy hats more often than the other, but that doesn't make them a political statement.
As long as you'll admit that BLM falls under this same logic, and should similarly be banned, then you're being consistent.
If not, you're being hypocritical.
[1] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Blue_Lives_Matter
[2] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Thin_blue_line#Symbols_and_var...
Lots of folks with different backgrounds and beliefs "support police and military"; however, the bootlick flags are closely tied to just one party.
For similar reason wearing a red hat now became a political statement. In Poland for example now wearing something with a thunderbolt or 8 asterisks is sign that you support current protests. In France wearing yellow vests. Those things constantly change and at specific time it can be political. It's all about context and if you're voting you can't claim to be oblivious to it.
I think the message that police are all that keeps society from descending into violent chaos is inherently political.
https://www.themarshallproject.org/2020/06/08/the-short-frau...
It's not a good look when the best you can make is something isn't technically forbidden. Like it doesn't make you clever trying to argue that your "cry more snowflake" shirt isn't political -- you're just an asshole.
Being perceived as "an asshole (according to Spivak)" != a violation of the stated rules
Thanks for demonstrating my point so clearly ;]
What did happen was that a poll worker made up their own version of the election guidelines and injected their personal biases related to "specific ballot measures" and the "police organization" into their conduct.
Does that sound neutral?
Expecting that poll workers will read and adhere to The Rules as stated isn't some wild fantasy. It's literally what they signed up to do. It's foundational to the idea of an election having any legitimacy at all.
It does not require taking a position on "the ban on electioneering", just a position against poll worker vigilantism (virtue-lantism?).
No, it's pretty straight-forward. There's no healthy democracy that believes that a blatantly partial and biased individual counting the votes generates confidence in the elections being fair and democratic. The whole idea that you can violate such a fundamental principle in such a blatant way is something that goes totally against basic democratic principles.
Great! If it's so straight-forward, can you please quantify the intention behind the document entitled "Guide for Election Board Officials in Philadelphia County"[1] for me? ... I'll wait.
In the meantime, I'd love to hear more about how impossible it is for "blatantly partial and biased" poll workers to effect the perceived fairness of an election. Would you have confidence in an election where each poll worker made up their own version of the rules?
[1] https://files7.philadelphiavotes.com/election-workers/Primar...
The intention is important because not all rules can be quantified. Language is subjective and words are often ambiguous.
What an amazing coincidence it is that this poll worker just so happened to deviate from the guidelines in a way that aligns with their admitted personal opinions and biases!
If you believe (ab)using language to conflate "political party" with "political entity" is proper, does that belief extend to the other 51 cases of "political party" found in the guidelines? Or just the single case that aligns with your biases?
There are poll workers of both major parties; presumably if they interpreted the rules in a flagrantly partisan way, poll workers from the other party would have objected.
Oh wow that settles it, then! Case closed.
By the way, got any tips on how to learn mind-reading? You seem really good at it.
This is a particularly funny response given that your entire argument hinges on inferring someone’s motive for interpreting the rules in a particular way.
Where did that happen? Or do your psychic abilities allow you to bend time and space as well?
> So when a poll worker deviates from the stated rules, it necessitates investigating why that happened (and deciding if such a deviation was proper).
> What an amazing coincidence it is that this poll worker just so happened to deviate from the guidelines in a way that aligns with their admitted personal opinions and biases!
Please never sign up to be a poll worker.