Senate committee pulls bill on electioneering outside 100-foot polling zone after property-rights concerns

Senator Kim Hamer, state senator for District 16, introduced legislation that would require a volunteer polling site to permit people to be physically present, engage in audible campaigning and hold or have an attendee for portable signs outside the 100-foot electioneering exclusion zone. Hamer said the change clarifies an ambiguity counties faced in the last election and aims to ensure equal access for candidates and issue advocates.

"It must allow that as an election site that you would allow physical presence, audible campaigning, and a sign that can either be held or attended," Hamer said while explaining the amendment on page 2, line 6. He said the proposal would allow property owners who host polling places to prohibit affixed signs, tents or other permanent structures but would require equal access within the negotiated area outside the 100-foot zone.

Members pressed the sponsor and Daniel Schultz, director of the State Election Commission, on how far beyond the 100-foot line the bill would reach and whether adjacent property owners — particularly churches or businesses that volunteer their grounds — could be compelled to allow campaign activity. Senator Flowers warned the measure could be interpreted to govern wide swaths of property and infringe on property owners’ rights. "There's always gonna be issues or problems," one senator said, noting some polling sites in her district had already warned they might stop volunteering if the law were enacted as written.

John Everson, who identified himself as a pastor, told the committee he did not object to the bill as written: "Me as a pastor, I would not have a problem at all because I think it is us involved in the process," he said, adding that churches could decline to host a polling site if they wished.

After extended questions about definitions and unintended consequences, Hamer told the committee he would pull the bill and work with the drafter to bring back clearer language defining the area outside the 100-foot zone and how county boards of election commissioners would negotiate permitted spaces with volunteer sites. "I'll go work with the bill drafter... I may bring an amendment in here," he said.

The committee did not take a final vote on the measure; the sponsor said he expects to return with revised language after spring break.