Scott Wartman

swartman@nky.com

It looks like political signs might get closer to polling locations in Kentucky on Nov. 4.

Federal District Judge William Bertelsman Tuesday ruled unconstitutional Kentucky's electioneering law that prohibited signs within 300 feet of a polling location.

By eliminating the electioneering rule, some have expressed fears it might lead to vote buying and intimidation on Election Day Nov. 4.

The case stems from an incident during the May 20 primary.

Campbell County Auto Body shop owner John Russell sued state and local government after sheriff's deputies took down signs on his shop's property in Cold Spring. Taking signs down on private property violated his fee speech rights, Russell's attorneys argued.

His shop is within 300 feet from a polling place across the street.

"I can't imagine anyone living in the United States believes you don't have the right to put political signs in your yard without fear of the government trespassing and taking down the signs," said Brandon Voelker, attorney for Russell.

The federal judge in Covington agreed.

Kentucky's law doesn't specify public or private property in the 300 foot ban of any political signs near a polling location.

Bertelsman's ruling mirrored a Kentucky Court of Appeals ruling in 2004 that struck down Kentucky then-500 foot electioneering ban—the law covers too broad an areaa.

He cited a U.S. Supreme Court ruling that found a 100 foot prohibition on campaign materials near a polling place—like Ohio's law—is an acceptable distance.A 300-foot zone, Bertelsman writes, isn't needed to protect against vote buying and voter intimidation.

"As in the present case, such a distance can run across busy streets and highways," Bertelsman wrote in his ruling. "It can cover areas, including private yards, not even visible from the polling place. It prohibits activities in private homes. Indeed, the court fails to see how the typical, stationary yard sign could ever intimidate a voter or abet election fraud, unless it was blocking the entrance to the polling place."

Following the ruling, the Kentucky Secretary of State Alison Lundergan Grimes office released a statement to allay fears. But how they'll proceed wasn't clear.

"Secretary Grimes is committed to ensuring the integrity of Kentucky's elections," Spokeswoman Lynn Sowards Zellen wrote in the statement. "She is conferring with the State Board of Elections and the Attorney general and considering how to proceed."

Jeff Mando, an attorney who represented the county in the lawsuit, said the Kentucky attorney general filed an emergency motion to the appeals court to stay Bertelsman's order so the law would still be in effect Nov. 4.

Mando said officials have concerns about protecting the ballot box.

"We're trying to encourage voter turnout and promote people exercising their right to vote," Mando said. "The last thing I want to do is have that tempered or inhibited by folks in the parking lots or outside polling places conjoling or electioneering to intimidate voters."