Click here for an easy and free way to help protect endangered habitat at The Rainforest Site! Non-profit ad by Voyager
VoyForums

[ VoyUser Login optional ] [ Contact Forum Admin ] [ Main index ] [ Post a new message ] [ Search | Check update time | Archives: 1, [2], 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, 10 ]

[ Next Thread | Previous Thread | Next Message | Previous Message ]

Date Posted: Saturday, October 16, 04:34:50pm
Author: J Warner
Subject: And you won't because she didn't break the law
In reply to: Karen M 's message, "I've been unable to find the penalty that" on Saturday, October 16, 04:09:28pm

No complaints filed against Michelle ObamaBuzz up!2 votes


.. Jessica Puente - The Daily Caller – Fri Oct 15, 3:38 pm ET

The Chicago Board of Elections said no complaints have been filed following allegations that First Lady Michelle Obama violated Illinois election law Thursday.
Obama had visited a Chicago polling place to cast her vote in the upcoming Illinois election. According to the White House pool report, she also spoke to other voters while she was in the polling place.
“She was telling me how important it was to vote to keep her husband’s agenda going,” Dennis Campbell, one of the voters the first lady spoke to, said.
That exchange triggered allegations that Obama violated Illinois election law, which states: “No judge of election, pollwatcher, or other person shall, at any primary or election, do any electioneering or soliciting of votes or engage in any political discussion within any polling place, within 100 feet of any polling place …”
Although the story quickly became the headline on the Drudge Report and received significant attention in the media, the Illinois Board of Election told the Daily Caller Friday that, more than 24 hours after the event, there had been no official complaint.
Jim Allen, public information officer at CBE, noted that Fox News and other media outlets had taped Obama’s visit to the polling place and “nothing could be heard.”
He stated that it was Mr. Campbell who “initiated contact with Mrs. Obama not the other way around,” and added, “Electioneering is only punishable if someone is approaching voters, warned to move out of the election zone, and then persists.”
Therefore, if anybody violated the law, it would have been Campbell, the voter who approached the first lady, Allen suggested.
However, Charlie Spies, an election attorney with Clark Hill, PLC, argues that “even if her conversations didn’t constitute electioneering, they almost certainly violated the broader Sec. 17-29 ban on engaging in ‘any political discussion within any polling place.’”
Violating the election code could result in a misdemeanor.
The Obama’s office has not responded to a request for comment.

[ Next Thread | Previous Thread | Next Message | Previous Message ]

Replies:

[ Contact Forum Admin ]

Forum timezone: GMT-5
VF Version: 2.94, ConfDB:
Before posting please read our privacy policy.
VoyForums(tm) is a Free Service from Voyager Info-Systems.
Copyright © 1998-2012 Voyager Info-Systems. All Rights Reserved.