Who Can Be at the Polls

The only people who can be within 75 feet of the entrance of a polling place are:

  • Voters while voting.
  • Poll workers performing their duties on election day. This includes the Registrars of Voters (even if they are running for re-election). It does not include any other municipal elected officials.
  • The Secretary of the State or their designee (must have a written document identifying themselves as a designee of the Secretary).
  • Any person rendering assistance to a voter at the request of the voter. An elector may not request assistance from their employer or an agent of their employer, and officer or agents of the elector’s union, or a candidate for any office on the ballot, unless the elector is a member of the immediate family of such candidate.
  • Members of the press while conducting their business of reporting the news.

Candidates, representatives of political parties, members of self-appointed watchdog groups, and anyone else not on the list should not be within 75 feet of the polling place except during the time when they are voting at their own polling place.

Polling Place Issues

If there is an issue at a polling place, please contact the Registrar of Voter’s office and we will have the Moderator meet with you immediately outside the polling place to rectify the issue without disturbing the free and orderly flow of the election. If you decide to enter the polling place and confront the moderator without contacting our office, or the Secretary of the State, or the State Elections Enforcement Commission, the moderator may ask you to stay beyond the 75 foot mark and will take whatever action they feel necessary to prevent or suppress disorder. 

Members of the Press

Members of the press are allowed in to all polling places. They are expected to know and observe the following conditions:

  • No poll worker may be photographed without their permission.
  • No photos may be taken which in any way indicate a voter's preferences.

Per Section 9-230, the moderators have latitude to indicate where the press may stand so that they do not impede the free flow of an election. This is particularly important in situations where well-known candidates or other famous people may be voting, and a large group of press may accumulate.

Section 9-264

Assistance to elector who is blind, has disability or is unable to write or to read the ballot. An elector who requires assistance to vote, by reason of blindness, disability or inability to write or to read the ballot, may be given assistance by a person of the elector's choice, other than (1) the elector's employer, (2) an agent of such employer, (3) an officer or agent of the elector's union, or (4) a candidate for any office on the ballot, unless the elector is a member of the immediate family of such candidate. The person assisting the elector may accompany the elector into the voting booth. Such person shall register such elector's vote upon the ballot as such elector directs. Any person accompanying an elector into the voting booth who deceives any elector in registering the elector's vote under this section or seeks to influence any elector while in the act of voting, or who registers any vote for any elector or on any question other than as requested by such elector, or who gives information to any person as to what person or persons such elector voted for, or how such elector voted on any question, shall be guilty of a class D felony. As used in this section, “immediate family” means “immediate family” as defined in section 9-140b.

Section 9-230

Authority of registrars and moderators to prevent or suppress disorder. The registrars of voters may request the head of the police department of the municipality, or, if none, a constable serving such municipality, to provide police protection at any polling place of any regular or special state or municipal election where they may anticipate disorder. The moderator of such election may, when any disorder arises in such election and the offender refuses to submit to the moderator's lawful authority, order any officer with power of arrest to take the offender into custody and, if necessary, to remove the offender from such election until the offender conforms to order or, if need be, until such election is closed, and thereupon such officer may command all necessary assistance. Any person refusing to assist when commanded shall be liable to the same penalties as for refusing to assist constables in the execution of their duties, but no person commanded to assist shall be deprived of such person's right to vote at such election, nor shall the offender be so deprived any longer than the offender refuses to conform to order.