Board votes campaign hat at poll is violation of law

A man who wore a “Make America Great Again” hat when he went to vote violated a Georgia law prohibiting campaigning at the polls, according to the State Election Board.

The board voted 3-1 on Thursday to send Roswell resident Lee Holsworth a letter of instruction. He doesn’t face any other fines or penalties for wearing the hat at the Johns Creek Environmental Campus early voting location on Oct. 29, 2016.

Red “Make America Great

Again” hats are an expression of support for Republican President Donald Trump, but Holsworth said his hat didn’t mention Trump by name.

Holsworth told the board he always wears a hat because he has skin cancer, and he removed it when asked by a poll worker.

“I didn’t feel like I was electioneering or anything like that. I was just coming in to vote. I don’t even know if there were any other voters there,” Holsworth said during the State Election Board meeting. “When asked to take it off, I was so surprised, but I did it.”

The three Republican appointees on the board supported the finding that Holsworth violated state law, but the Democrat on the board opposed the decision.

“I just don’t think it’s a violation to wear a ‘Make America Great Again’ hat that doesn’t say to vote for any particular candidate on it,” said David Worley, a board member and former chairman of the Democratic Party of Georgia.

Matt Mashburn, a board member and Republican poll watcher, said the hat shouldn’t be allowed in a polling place.

“My thinking was that the president and MAGA are indistinguishable,” Mashburn said. “If you showed 1,000 people a MAGA hat, at least 995 if not all 1,000, would associate MAGA with Trump and only Trump and no other candidate or issue.”

The board cited a Georgia law that prohibits a voter from distributing or displaying campaign materials within a polling place. The case was one of 98 decided by the board Thursday, dating to 2014.

The board has the power to send letters of instruction, levy fines up to $5,000, issue public reprimands and refer cases to the attorney general’s office for further investigation.

AJC The lone Democrat in the 3-1 vote opposed the finding. Board member David Worley said he doesn’t think the hat instructed anyone to vote for a particular candidate.