Prop 8 Signs at Auburn Polling Place Raise Eyebrows

AUBURN, CA - Ty Yarnell has voted at the Bell Road Baptist Church for the past 5 or 6 years with no problems. But she began to feel a little uncomfortable this time around.

The new pastor of the church is in favor of Proposition 8 and has allowed nearly a dozen signs to be placed on the property.

That doesn't sit well with Yarnell, who has a small No on 8 bumper sticker on her car.

"It's a direct insult to those of us who support the opposition side," she said. "I and hundreds of other people will come here on Tuesday to perform our rights and responsibilities as American citizens and it doesn't feel right that that happens to be the only political sign that's posted in front of the church."

Pastor Rob Patterson said the signs are perfectly legal. "As I understand it, the signs have to be farther away than 100 feet from the entrance and these are," he said.

State Election Codes 18370 and 18541 prohibit any signs or campaigning within 100 feet from the entrance of a polling place on election day. The 100-foot restriction means a distance from the room or rooms in which voters are casting ballots, not the entrance to the property.

Yarnell said she sent an e-mail to Placer County elections officials because, while the signs aren't near the door of the church, voters can only access the property by driving past the signs.

"It just didn't seem appropriate," she said. "It is the entrance where hundreds of us will be coming on Tuesday and it felt assaultive to me."

Patterson said he got a call from a county election worker.

"They asked me nicely to remove the signs so even though we are within our rights on election day to leave them where they stand, I've chosen to take them down the night before," Patterson said.

Yarnell said she appreciates the pastor's decision and was happy the issue sparked a conversation.

"Just because there are political signs out in front of your polling place or even homes you drive by, take the time to educate yourself on what you believe to be right and not take the ease route, which is to go with what somebody else believes to be right," said Yarnell.


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