Board approves campaign material distribution rules

Board also OKs raises for election workers, appoints new parks member.

Laketown Township Hall, 4338 Beeline Road.

The Laketown Township Board of Trustees on Wednesday, Sept. 11, 2024, unanimously approved new rules regulating where people can hand out campaign materials.

The new resolution stems from an incident during the August primary election which involved some “pushiness” with a campaign supporter, Manager Al Meshkin told the board at an earlier meeting.

The resolution prohibits the distribution of campaign materials, for or against any candidate or ballot question, on township property at any time.

State law already prohibits campaigning within 100 feet of an entrance to a polling place on Election Day.

Meshkin said the Laketown resolution has two purposes.

“First, it protects residents from being accosted when they are coming to the polls to vote. Voting is a very serious and somewhat personal matter,” he said.

“Second, it maintains the township’s position on being neutral. The township should not be seen as supporting any political candidate or proposal.”

The rules do not inhibit free speech. People can still stand in the parking lot or on other township property and talk about their candidate or issue, Meshkin explained. They just can’t distribute material.

The rules apply to all township property including parks and the fire station.

In other business, the township board:

  • Unanimously approved pay increases for election workers, raising election worker pay by $4 per hour from $15 per hour to $19 per hour, chairperson from $18 per hour to $22 per hour, and training meeting reimbursement from $25 per meeting to $50 per meeting. Supervisor Linda Howell said it will add $2,000 to the cost of the November election. It is within budget.
  • Unanimously approved the appointment of Mary Jo Bertolino to the Parks and Recreation Commission to replace Dick Becker who passed away in July. Bertolino received the most votes for a non-incumbent in the Aug. 6 primary. Her first meeting is Sept. 18, and she will serve through the November election. If she is elected in November, she will remain on the board.