Don Shrubshell photo

Obama campaign volunteers, from left, Dalton Perry, Ben Ogawa, Andrea Martin and Luanne Roth are set up to distribute Obama stickers and bottled water outside the First Ward polling place in the Armory Sports & Community Center, 701 E. Ash St. The teens were allowed to stay after a poll worker and city official told them to move. •  Slide Show: Election Day in Columbia

A group of Columbia high school students giving out bottled water, potato chips and Barack Obama stickers next to the Armory Sports & Community Center got a civics lesson today they hadn’t counted on.

Three hours after the group set up a card table on the sidewalk at 701 E. Ash St., a poll worker told them to move, group member Dalton Perry said. They were being booted because no McCain representative was present, Perry said.

A Columbia Parks and Recreation Department official also told the teens their table displaying an Obama sign could give the appearance that the city had a bias against John McCain.

As the group was setting up even farther from a "no electioneering" boundary, an individual who identified himself as a Columbia city attorney told them they could stay.

"You guys are fine to be out on the sidewalk," said the man, who declined to give his name, adding, "I don’t want to be a part of this."

Ben Ogawa and Andrea Martin, both 17, attend Rock Bridge High School. Perry, who turned 18 eight days ago, is a senior at Hickman High School. Perry said when he set up the table at 6:30 this morning, he asked poll workers where he should be "so I won’t be in trouble."

Obama campaign worker Crystal Zacharias complained that poll workers dealing with the students were "extremely rude."

"I’ve never seen so many high school students want to join a campaign and get involved," Zacharias said.

Although the teens were told there had been two complaints about them from the Boone County clerk’s office, county Clerk Wendy Noren said she wasn’t aware of that. Still, Noren said, "Voters hate the people outside the polling place. We get lots of complaints."

Noren said her focus on electioneering is limited to the prohibition of electioneering 25 feet from the polling place entrance. She said she would also make it clear to her poll workers that enforcement of city ordinances is not their responsibility.

"We’re not here campaigning," Perry said. "If you haven’t decided by now who to vote for, nothing we can say or do will make you vote for Obama or anyone else."

Advertisement

Get your brain and body in shape. Food Wednesdays, Pulse Sundays and Sports daily. 13 weeks of everyday delivery for as little as 29¢ a day. Get the Tribune. Get a lot.