'I Can't Breathe' T-Shirt, Mask Worn By Election Judge Irks Voter

PLAINFIELD, IL — The slogan on the clothing of an election worker at one of the Will County polling places Tuesday concerned and even irked certain people. A Plainfield voter, who wished to remain anonymous, told Patch that one of the election judges at Creekside Elementary School had "I Can't Breathe" written on her T-shirt and mask.

"To be fair, she was very pleasant and wasn’t rude to anyone that I saw. I just feel it’s inappropriate for an election judge. The same would be true wearing Blue Lives Matter Shirts or anything else as a judge," he said.

"I can't breathe" is a rallying cry associated with the Black Lives Matter movement and were the last words of Eric Garner, an unarmed Black man who died in 2014 after being placed in a chokehold by a police officer in New York City.

The voter told Patch he visited the precinct early in the morning and soon contacted the Will County Clerk's Office to report the election worker's shirt. He said he believes the shirt violates one of the policies stated in the Code of Conduct that all county election judges need to adhere to.

It says that an election judge must "refrain from discussing political views, candidate preferences, religion, or sensitive matters with others in the polling place, including other election judges."

However, the county clerk's office said wearing something like that was not illegal in nature.

"Just because something is not illegal does not mean it is not a violation of a policy. Slogans don’t belong in a polling place," the voter said.

Charles B. Pelkie, chief of staff for the Will County Clerk's Office, said upon receiving the complaint, he spoke to the Will County State's Attorney. Per an email sent to him by Assistant State's Attorney Phil Mock, since no general rule is in place for this election against messages on election judge attire, the words "I Can’t Breathe" cannot be banned from the polling place since it "doesn’t fall under the acceptable limits delineated by the Supreme Court."

Mock cited Minnesota Voters Alliance v. Mansky that addresses the limitations on banning attire at a polling place. In that case, the U.S. Supreme Court ruled persons had First Amendment rights to wear at a polling place items containing the words “Please I.D. Me”; “Tea Party Patriots” etc.

The Supreme Court struck down Minnesota’s ban on these types of clothing at a polling place as a violation of free speech, Mock said. The Supreme Court upheld a ban on any item including the name of a political party, any item including the name of a candidate at any election; and items in support or opposition to a ballot question.

"The next place to look is the rules promulgated for election judges clothing. It appears no clear-cut rule in Illinois is in existence further limiting election judge clothing from that of the general voter," Mock write in the email.

"We have received other questions regarding this from other voters but it is not a violation of our policy," Pelkie said. "If we ask the election judges to remove such slogans from their clothing, we need to be able to balance that along their rights. This is a learning experience, and we need to take a closer look at our code of conduct in the future."

Mock also said that the county can ban all future election judges from wearing "any types of clothing carrying any messages at all."

"Governmental workers can constitutionally be further limited in their First Amendment rights due to the nature of their work. That is why it is improper to electioneer as a government employee at a government location. The county clerk may have some other rule to control the locations that election Judges serve on election day," he said. "Maybe you could replace that judge with another judge at the polling place. The judge wearing the slogan clothing could be assigned to a less public location if possible."

This story was produced with the help of tips reported through ProPublica's Electionland project. If you experience or witness a problem voting, please let us know.