Even civil rights violations are bigger in Texas!
A Texas woman was denied the right to vote on Monday because she was wearing a button bearing a Gadsden flag — the rattlesnake under the words “Don’t Tread on Me†that has become the unofficial image of the Tea Party.
Katrina Pierson, who sits on the steering committee of the Dallas Tea Party and is also involved with the Garland Tea Party, told The Daily Caller that “around 11 o’clock yesterday,†a Garland Tea Party member, reported that she was told by an election official that she could not vote unless she removed her button. A second election official, Pierson said, did not recognize the button and did not understand why the other official was not permitting the woman to vote.
According to Pierson, the woman refused to remove her button, saying it was a violation of her first amendment rights, and called the sheriff’s office. The sheriff passed the matter on to the Dallas County Election Department, which failed to act.
The Tea Party IS a party, but not a political party.
This probably refers to the usual “no electioneering at the polls” rules. As violations of the 1A, those rules are obvious, but they are tolerated in the name of an orderly exercise of the franchise, which the Supreme rightly thinks is paramount.
IF the woman had bother to register herself as a “poll watcher”, she might have gotten away with her button. BTW, if a voter is turned away from the polls for ANY reason, but that voter can produce a precinct voter’s card, the Elections Division is REQUIRED to allow them to cast a vote at the Elections Division.
Bottom line, the woman was wearing a congressionally-authorized version of an American Flag, and should have not been turned away.
This is historical ignorance. I heard someone calling the Gadsden a “Tea Party flag” the other day. When I explained to them how long it had been around they admitted to never having seen it or heard of it before. Sad.