Pasadena Polling Place Responds to Complaint (Updated)

Wading through propositions, issues and measures is complicated, but even when voters go to the polls, some of them still aren’t out of the woods yet.

Patch asked readers to share feedback about their voting experience Tuesday and Patch reader "Merry Hatebear," whose actual name is Mary Furchtgott, said she voted around 10:30 a.m. at Trinity Lutheran Church at Catalina and Walnut, commented:

“The only concern I had was a car parked by the polling place entrance doors that had a small Romney banner taped to the side and pro-life ads in the windows. I don't know the rules for cars parked there but it's not cool to endorse either candidate so close to the voting area. I was also asked to show my ID to sign in and get my ballot and I am not sure that this is legal in California.”

Calvin Murphy, who was the polling place coordinator at Trinity Lutheran, who had four precincts voting, told Patch Tuesday that poll workers ask for identification if a voter is voting for the first time.

According to California Secretary of State Debra Bowen,

“Implementation of the specifics of this requirement can be quite complicated for election officials, but in general: If a voter registers to vote in a county on or after January 1, 2003, the registration is by mail, and the voter has not previously voted in that county, then the voter must either provide ID when he or she registers or provide ID when he or she votes.”

Patch reached out to Furchtgott to ask her if today was her first time voting in the county and she responded via email:

"This is my first time voting in Pasadena but not L.A. I previously lived in Eagle Rock (Los Angeles) and voted the last 4 years over there and from South Pasadena the 5 years before that. It may have just been some mistake as I've only been in Pasadena 3 months."

As for the Romney banner and pro-life ads that Furchtgott saw in a car near the polling place’s entrance, Murphy said the situation is a double-edged sword.

Electioneering, or as the California Election Code states, “visible display or audible dissemination” of information for or against any candidate or measure on the ballot, is prohibited by law within 100 feet of a polling place, but voters that parked in the Trinity Lutheran parking lot technically could park a lot closer to the entrance of the polling place and display political banners or ads in the windows.

“We can’t not let them be in the parking lot,” said Murphy. “We have to let them vote.”

While Patch did not see a car with a Romney banner or pro-life ads around 5 p.m. at Trinity Lutheran, Murphy said he had just seen a car parked outside the polling place with an Obama yard sign in the window but he wasn’t going to do anything about it.

“There’s always going to be complaints,” said Murphy, who noted it had been “pretty smooth” at Trinity Lutheran Tuesday.

What do you think of cars possibly displaying ads for candidates, measures or propositions within 100 feet of a polling place? Should poll workers enforce these displays more?