Voter bares arms, and more, after anti-Trump shirt is nixed

EXETER, N.H. — A voter who was told she couldn’t wear an anti-Trump shirt at a polling place because it violated electioneering rules simply whipped it off and did her civic duty topless.

The woman walked into a polling place in Exeter, New Hampshire, on Tuesday’s primary election wearing a “McCain Hero, Trump Zero” T-shirt. Town moderator Paul Scafidi told her she couldn’t wear a shirt featuring a political candidate while she voted, Seacoastonline.com reported in a story that did not identify the woman.

No person “shall distribute, wear, or post at a polling place any campaign material,” according to state law. People who are convicted can be fined as much as $1,000.

Neither Trump nor McCain, who died in 2018, were on Tuesday’s ballot, which featured races for governor and Congress.

The woman pointed out that another woman nearby was wearing a T-shirt in support of the American flag, Scafidi said. He answered that an American flag was not electioneering and that the “Trump Zero” shirt would have to be covered.

So the woman asked if he wanted her to take her shirt off. She wasn’t wearing anything underneath.

“I said I’d rather she not,” Scafidi said. “But she took it off so fast, no one had time to react. So the whole place just went, ‘whoa,’ and she walked away, and I let her vote.”

He noted that she could have just gone into the hallway and turned it inside out.

After voting, Scafidi said, the woman put her shirt back on and left.

There were about 15 other voters around, Scafidi said, and he didn’t notice any children present.

Scafidi could have had her removed for violating the state indecency law, he said, but he didn’t want to inflame the situation further, and “we had more important things to worry about; we had to get 2,000 people to vote safely, and check-in and count 2,000 absentee ballots.”

The Associated Press