First, it was Bill. This time, it’s the candidate herself.
Hillary Clinton campaigned outside a polling place in Raleigh, North Carolina on Tuesday, in potential violation of state election laws.
The Democratic front runner posed for photos and campaigned just yards from the building.
Several videos show the candidate exiting her vehicle and approaching the crowds of voters.
YouTube user #FilmTheCaucus posted cell phone video he says was shot at the Southeast Raleigh High School polling place.
Bloomberg correspondent Jennifer Epstein posted additional video of Clinton greeting children and shaking hands. The school building can be seen in the background.
According to a document published by the National Association of Secretaries of State, it is against North Carolina law to campaign within 50 feet of the polling location’s door.
No person or group of persons shall hinder access, harass others, distribute campaign literature, place political advertising, solicit votes, or otherwise engage in election related activity in the voting place or in a buffer zone which shall be prescribed by the county board of elections around the voting place.
In determining the dimensions of that buffer zone for each voting place, the county board of elections shall, where practical, set the limit at 50 feet from the door of entrance to the voting place, measured when that door is closed, but in no event shall it set the limit at more than 50 feet or at less than 25 feet.
Except as provided in subsection (b) of this section, the county board of elections shall also provide an area adjacent to the buffer zone for each voting place in which persons or groups of persons may distribute campaign literature, place political advertising, solicit votes, or otherwise engage in election-related activity (N.C. Gen. Stat. § 163‐166.4).
Bill Clinton was even more daring in February when he greeted voters actually inside a voting location.
He posed for photos, purchased coffee and glad handed with citizens as they cast their ballots.
At a New Bedford location, Angela Grace posted cell phone video showing orange barrels and yellow police line tape blocking the entrance.
“I haven’t seen one person be able to come in and be able to vote in here. Everything is blocked off. No person can park here.
“They are affecting the voting at this poll. It’s ridiculous. It’s fraud and illegal,” she declared while panning the camera across the scene showing the media and police milling about while dozens of observers are cordoned off.
“From one side of the street to the other, there’s no way anybody can get down here to vote.”
She laid the blame at the feet of the New Bedford mayor, Jon F. Mitchell.
“Mayor of New Bedford, MA campaigning for Hillary and blocking this voting poll!!! No one has come here to vote in the 2 hours I’ve been here by the door!!” she wrote in the video description.
Another video, posted by WFHN, shows Mitchell speaking into a bull horn after Bill Clinton addressed the crowd for several minutes.
Mitchell proceeded to campaign for Hillary Clinton outside the polling location, telling the crowd she spent some of her “formative years just a few blocks from here.”
“Let’s do our part to get her over the hump now,” he said.
Clinton was roundly criticized for trampling Massachusetts election laws banning campaign activities within 150 feet of a polling location.
Leave a Comment
COMMENTS POLICY: We have no tolerance for messages of violence, racism, vulgarity, obscenity or other such discourteous behavior. Thank you for contributing to a respectful and useful online dialogue.