PALO PINTO COUNTY—A Fifth Circuit Court of Appeals recent decision blocks Palo Pinto County’s new electioneering rules stating the regulations likely violate the First Amendment.
The county drafted new rules after the March primary elections when conservative activists gathered at the Palo Pinto County Annex in Mineral Wells. Several voters and a disabled resident said they felt discouraged from voting because of the activists’ behavior at the county’s largest polling location, according to court documents.
This led county commissioners to pass new electioneering rules in April, including bans on signs on permanent county-owned structures, a limit of six signs per candidate, and prohibiting signs larger than 36 square feet, court papers stated.
The Palo Pinto County Conservatives, Grass Roots Mineral Wells PAC and Johanna “Joey” Miller immediately sued County Judge Shane Long and four county commissioners to block the regulations.
U.S. District Judge Terry Means initially rejected the injunction motion, saying the rules weren’t subject to strict scrutiny because the county property at issue shouldn’t be considered a “public forum” under Texas electioneering laws. But the Fifth Circuit disagreed, stating the regulations “fail constitutional muster” with vague terms, like “political” and “electioneering.”
“The Regulations are unreasonable because of their vague use of the terms ‘political’ and ‘electioneering’ without definition,” the judges wrote in their Aug. 15 opinion. “This lack of clarity is even more concerning given that violating the Regulations is a criminal offense.”
A Fifth Circuit panel of three judges vacated the district court’s decision and granted the preliminary injunction.
Miller said the appellate court’s ruling allows her to effectively do her job as the county’s Republican Party Precinct 6 Chairwoman.
“It starts from the bottom up and that’s the way it should be,” Miller said. “We should know our neighbors, and talk about voting records, and who is representing us. But if you can’t talk in a parking lot because you’re afraid of a misdemeanor… this has gotten really ugly and weird.”
Plaintiff attorney Tony McDonald said he was not surprised by the judges’ reasoning.
“The policies were so poorly written that the court found they would be unenforceable even in areas where First Amendment protections are less stringent,” he explained. “Young men and women have fought and died for our right to vote. I think the people of Palo Pinto County can muster the courage to walk past someone they disagree with to go exercise the franchise.”
Long said it was never the court’s intention to violate the First Amendment. The county doesn’t plan to revise the regulations before the November election, he added.
The county will follow the state’s electioneering code. Texas law prohibits electioneering within 100 feet of the polling place door and permits it beyond that point.
“I am hopeful that the County will not receive any complaints of undue harassment and undue influence and voters can peacefully contemplate their choices at the polling place,” Long wrote in an email to the Palo Pinto Press.
