DaytonDailyNews.com

If you're wearing a Hillary Clinton T-shirt or a Barack Obama button, you'll probably be told to cover it up before voting in Montgomery County, said Steve Harsman, director of the county Board of Elections.

The law in Ohio prohibits electioneering within 100 feet of the polls, and Harsman said that extends to buttons or apparel that endorse a specific candidate or take a position on an issue on the ballot. Leafletting is also prohibited within 100 feet of the polls.

"We're not trying to stifle anyone's freedom of speech," Harsman said. "But you just can't do any campaigning inside a polling place."

The issue was played out inside a polling place at Friendship Village on Denlinger Road in Trotwood early Tuesday, March 4. A Dayton Daily News reporter voting there observed a young man wearing a "Barack Rocks" T-shirt who was asked by a poll worker to cover his shirt as he approached the table to sign in to vote.

Harsman said the poll worker had made the correct call. He said voters can wear T-shirts or buttons showing they are affiliated with organizations as long as they don't contain slogans or statements directly related to items on the ballot.

Poll workers, on the other hand, are not allowed to wear clothing with organizational or company logos. The rule was spelled out last fall after a controversy involving members of Dayton Right to Life who wanted to wear shirts from their organization while volunteering at the polls.