ABSTRACT
In Burson v. Freeman, 504 U.S. 191 (1992), the U.S. Supreme Court upheld a provision of Tennessee's Electoral Code prohibiting the solicitation of votes and the distribution or display of campaign materials within a 100-foot radius from the door of the polling place on election day. "Campaign-free zones" such as this—in effect in forty-seven states and varying in distance from twenty-five feet (Missouri) to 1,000 feet (Hawaii)—ostensibly deter fraud and intimidation by insulating individuals from encounters with campaign workers. And yet, as longtime political activist and campaign worker Mary Rebecca Freeman contended, they also prevent advocates from interacting with and persuading undecided voters as they proceed into the polling place. They raise issues of First Amendment freedoms such as the right of free speech.
