Courtesy Photo Alpena Township Deputy Clerk Haley Birmingham stamps the envelopes of voters who submitted ballots before Election Day. Clerks are asking people to follow state election law while waiting to vote.

ALPENA — Many people in Northeast Michigan will vote on Tuesday, but local clerks are reminding voters to follow election laws and be on their best behavior.

The Michigan Election Law prohibits posting, displaying, or distributing any material that directly or indirectly makes reference to an election, a candidate, or a ballot question.

People should not wear hats or other clothing that name a specific candidate or slogans or logos that point to those candidates.

Discussing the candidates and how people are going to vote while in line or the voting area is also frowned upon.

Alpena Township Clerk Michele Palevich said during early voting, which ended Sunday, elections workers and her staff had to politely ask some people to remove hats or other materials that expressed their support for a particular candidate.

She said on most occasions the voters compiled without a hassle, but there were a couple of times the election worker’s requests were met with mild resistance and grumbling.

“Most people are respectful, but these issues have become a bigger problem this year,” she said.

Michigan election law says clerks and election inspectors should use their best judgment when determining whether a slogan makes direct or indirect reference to a candidate or ballot question on the ballot and whether it is a clearly identifiable campaign slogan.

Based on these considerations, the Board of Elections has determined that slogans like “For the people” and “Fighting for our rights” are general phrases that are not clearly identifiable campaign slogans and may be allowed, but slogans like “Make America Great Again,” “When We Fight, We Win,” and “We are not going back” are identifiable campaign slogans, and may not be displayed inside a polling place, any hallway used by voters to enter or exit a polling place, or within 100 feet of an entrance to a building where a polling place is located.

An individual wearing or displaying such a slogan when entering those locations should be instructed to cover or conceal the slogan before entering.

Many people have voted in the area already, but it is likely there will be lines of people on election day waiting to cast their vote. Palevich said people should be patient during the wait and election employees are going to do their best to get people in and out of the polls as efficiently as possible.

Polls open at 7 a.m. Tuesday and close at 8 p.m.

Steve Schulwitz can be reached at 989-358-5689 or sschulwitz@thealpenanews.com. Follow him on X @ss_alpenanews.com.