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Yesterday I went to the mall (not posted) in Wichita Falls to get a present for my wife. I enter on the west end and shopped for about thirty minutes. I can't find what she wants in the stores on that end so I decided to go to one of the bigger retailers on the east end. Just as I get to the store entrance I notice an early voting table set up next door. Big shock as I realize I'm carrying in a polling place.

Needless to say I got the hell out of there.

Now some questions for the seasoned veterans on the board. Since the mall is not posted shouldn’t there be signs letting it be known that at this time the mall is a polling place. If I had stayed on the west end I would never have know there was voting taking place. If for some strange twist of fate it was discovered I had a weapon would I be breaking the law? When an early voting place is in a big building like a mall is there a distance that is consider out side their control or is the whole building and parking lot consider off limits?

I’m pretty new to this stuff so if this has already been discussed I apologize and would appreciate someone shooting me the link. I would really like to see what you folks have to say. Thanks

Bluemoon1 wrote:When an early voting place is in a big building like a mall is there a distance that is consider out side their control or is the whole building and parking lot consider off limits?

That's a great question. I'd like to know how it works with polling places in other businesses like grocery stores here in Austin. Early voting has been available in the Randalls on Bee Caves road the past few years. It has been conducted in an alcove next to the Starbucks in the store. Does that mean I cannot go in the store at all while carrying? I have assumed that was true, but after reading Bluemoon1's question, I'm not so sure. Yes, outside the entrances there is a sign saying polling is taking place in the store.

I would avoid those places for the duration of voting.

Otherwise, concealed is concealed. Keep walking, nothing to see here...

Just as I get to the store entrance I notice an early voting table set up next door

Was the "polling place/voting table" in the common walk area of the mall, or was it inside a store? If it was in the store proper, I'd think that the "premises" are the store's boundaries, and excludes the rest of the mall, and therefore you'd be safe from cc in the mall, EXCEPT that store where voting is taking place.

But that's just my opinion, and have really no basis for that opinion except logic. And as we know, quite often logic doesn't apply in these cases.

Isn't like a hundred feet or something? Shouldn't be too hard to keep that kind of distance in a mall, yet discretion is the better part of valor and I think you made a good call.

It's 1,000 feet, but during early voting times where something like this set up how in the world are we supposed to know where things like this are going on?

I have an icky feeling this is just something we have to be responsible for. The best we can do is when it's determined or recognized that a place is an active polling location, we have to get out of there. Ignorance isn't a defense I don't think.

Hold on a second.

Bluemoon1, was there voting going on or were they just handing out early voting absentee ballots? I'm wondering because you said there was a table. When voting, doesn't there have to some sort of privacy?

It doesn't sound like an actual polling place. If it was a polling place, there would be electioneering notices 100 feet from the doors.

Some comments:

1. Early voting is happening right now (constitutional amendments), and polling places can be set up in shopping malls. I have voted in such locations before. I don't know whether the OP ran into a poll or just a info booth, but I suspect it was a polling place.

2. Any polling place is supposed to have "100 foot" [not 1000 foot]markers at each entrance to the polling place (with signs saying no campaign materials beyond this point), which should be a clue as to whether you are approaching an actual polling place. If they do not, you should complain to the Elections Administrator of the county, or to the Secretary of State's office.

3. TX Penal Code 46.03 prohibits firearms and other various weapons "on the premises of a polling place on the day of an election or while early voting is in progress;". [The 1000 foot prohibition applies to places of execution, not polling places. ] "Premises" is as defined in 46.035: "a building or a portion of a building. The term does not include any public or private driveway, street, sidewalk or walkway, parking lot, parking garage, or other parking area."

4. If I ran into one of these in the mall, I would just "stay concealed" and avoid the immediate area (within 100'). I don't think fleeing the mall (or even the grocery store) is necessary. My two cents, IANAL and all that.

Sorry about the 1,000 foot thing. I didn't look and thought it was all listed together.

To go a little further into it, look for where the no electioneering markers are. That will tell you what the premises for the polling place are.

I have seen where the electioneering notices are taped to the walls inside the mall. This clearly would indicate that the whole mall is not considered a polling place, but just the area that is actually being used. Usually this area is also roped off or delineated some other way. In a case like this, I would not worry about carrying in the mall in general and just stay out of the actual polling place.

But, if the notices are posted by the doors, or even outside the building, then the whole mall is going to be considered a polling place. Either go shopping elsewhere OR leave the weapon in the car. I cannot remember seeing a mall posted off for electioneering this way, but I don't have a mall in the town I live in now (or the next couple towns in any direction either).

They should only allow voting in schools... and race tracks... and bars. This would make it simpler.

Since I am an election judge this is something that is pretty easy to clear up...

Steve is right on the electioneering issue...That is a 100 foot barrier set up in reference to the "front" door "to" the polling location...

The 1000 foot distance is actually a little known issue that really has never come up for me yet over the years Ihave been officiating elections in my precinct...

The issue of the 1000 foot distance is the distance away a person(s) with an amplified device may stand from the entrance to a polling location...Any amplified (megaphone) or other device that increases the level of whatever the person is saying through that device must be 1000 feet away from the entrance to the polling location or come under the same kind of violation someone tossing or handing electioneering material inside the 100 foot barrier would be...

Plus I believe they may need a permit from the local municipality to do that anyway, regardless if it is in the vacinity of a polling location...

Never have had anyone actually do this, that I can recall...But that is what I believe I have seen in the training manuals and other discussions in the classes we are required to take every year...And it doesn't even come up that much...

One Shot wrote:They should only allow voting in schools... and race tracks... and bars. This would make it simpler.

that might help out turnout too, well the last two at least