The Harris County Clerk’s office instructed poll workers to not allow individuals wearing shirts depicting the names of three progressive groups inside early voting locations to cast ballots this week.

The instruction, included in an email to election judges, came to light after members of the Texas Organizing Project, a nonprofit supporting Democratic candidates for office, showed up to vote at Houston Community College, Eastside campus on Monday.

Mary Moreno, communications director for the Texas Organizing Project, and other staff members were part of the Eastside campus group. Each wore a turquoise shirt, emblazoned with the organization’s initials, with an outline of Texas inside the O, and the name of the group. A poll worker stopped them as they tried to enter.

“We were told we couldn’t vote,” Moreno said. Their shirts were considered political.

Early voting numbers Harris County residents continued their brisk pace at the polls on the third day of early voting Wednesday. According to the Harris County Clerk’s office, 62,476 voters cast ballots in person. The office received another 1,559 mail-in ballots. The first three days of early voting have been on a record pace for a mid-term election, with 245,951 ballots tallied. Early voting continues through Nov. 2 To find early voting locations in Harris County or to see a sample ballot, visit harrisvotes.org.

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Undeterred, she slipped on a jacket, covering up her shirt. Some staffers turned their shirts inside out. It was only then that poll workers let them cast ballots.

The Texas Election Code prohibits anyone wearing material related to a candidate, measure, or political party on the ballot from being within 100 feet of a polling place. While TOP was not on the ballot, it was one of three groups specified in instructions sent by the Harris County Clerk’s office to poll workers.

The instructions said “the following organizations are affiliated with a Party. TOP- Texas Organizing Project Political Action Committee, Workers Defense in Action PAC, CWA- Communications Workers of America-COPE PCC.”

The memo went on to tell poll workers to be aware of anyone wearing T-shirts, buttons and other items promoting the above organizations within the 100 foot area around a polling location.

The three organizations support progressive policies and candidates, work out of the same offices during election season and share election materials encouraging voters to cast a straight ticket for Democratic candidates. They also each endorsed Harris County Clerk Stan Stanart’s Democratic opponent in the election. Stanart, a Republican, is the county’s chief election official.

Stanart rejected the idea that his office was targeting supporters of his opponent, Harris County Department of Education Trustee Diane Trautman.

“I was not even in the loop on making a decision to send this out,” Stanart said Wednesday. “What I was told is, these were the organizations we were having issues with at the polls.”

Stanart could not specify what those issues were, other than wearing “particular” shirts and endorsing candidates. Regardless, he said the instructions should not have been sent out in the first place.

County reverses course

After questions about the issue from the Houston Chronicle on Wednesday, Stanart’s office sent out a new memo telling poll workers to disregard the message singling out the three groups and to just follow the election code as written. He told poll workers to ask people to turn offending shirts inside out or cover them up.

“We’re just trying to prevent electioneering,” Stanart said. “That’s the whole goal. We’re just upholding the law.”

Moreno said she does not think her organization is well-known by the public. During election season, about 100 people work for the group, with most focused on voter education and getting people to the polls. The other two groups are not particularly large or well-known, either.

“For a lot of members, our organization is how they got involved in politics, in their communities,” Moreno said. “For Stan Stanart to tell them they can’t wear it, it’s just wrong.”

Bob Stein, a political science professor and polling expert at Rice University, said he had never heard of a county looking for electioneering from specific organizations. He added that it was odd that only those three groups were mentioned in the memo, saying it has the appearance of being partisan.

“I don’t think Stan Stanart is running a partisan operation,” Stein said. “But this is not the way to enforce the law.”

The Texas Secretary of State’s office advised Harris County against that kind of specific prohibition, spokesman Sam Taylor said.

“We have emphasized to Harris County that enforcement of the electioneering prohibition within the 100-foot mark is within the discretion of the presiding judge at the polling location, rather than being subject to a directive from the county,” Taylor said.

That gives poll workers and election judges a lot of latitude to decide what counts as electioneering. The rule is more commonly enforced when people show up to vote wearing clothing supporting a specific candidate or ballot issue. A red ‘Make America Great Again’ hat or a shirt with a Democratic logo on it are easy enough to spot, but it is not always so simple.

Jillian Ostrewich, the wife of a Houston firefighter, went to vote Wednesday morning while wearing a yellow t-shirt saying “Houston Fire Fighters.” She was told by a poll worker that she could not cast a ballot unless her t-shirt was turned inside out.

Ballots within the city of Houston include a proposition asking voters to give city firefighters “pay parity” with police officers.

Ostrewich took to Facebook to complain. The post had hundreds of shares and comments as of Wednesday evening.

Voters push back

Stein said people are paying close attention to anything that may seem like voter suppression. Any time elected officials do something that looks like it is designed to prevent people from voting, it can have a backlash effect, he said.

There was outrage in Florida when officials tried to move polling places from predominately black churches there. Voters in Waller County last week convinced officials to allow Prairie View A&M students to vote without filling out a change of address form after confusion arose over a voter registration issue.

“When you engage in this type of activity versus just enforcing the law benignly, you mobilize voters against you,” Stein said. “It just doesn’t build voter confidence from either side.”

The Houston Chronicle is participating in Electionland, a ProPublica project that will cover access to the ballot and problems that prevent people from exercising their right to vote during the 2018 election. This story is part of that project.

You can help us by signing up now.Text VOTE to 81380. You can also WhatsApp at us at +1 850 909-8683 or reach us through Facebook Messenger here: http://m.me/electionland

matt.dempsey@chron.com

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Correction: The original version of this story listed the wrong polling place where TOP members were told to cover up their shirts. It was the Houston Community College Eastside campus on Rustic St.