Court hearing set on Coconino County tea party T-shirt case

A federal magistrate plans to hold a hearing Wednesday in a Phoenix courtroom on whether to order Coconino County election officials to allow a woman to wear a tea party T-shirt to polls on Nov. 2.

A lawsuit filed by the Goldwater Institute on behalf of Diane Wickberg in a case that stems from the May 18 special election and the Aug. 24 primary election.

The suit says Wickberg ran into resistance from elections officials when she appeared wearing a T-shirt that read “Flagstaff Tea Party: Reclaiming our Constitution Now.”

State law bans electioneering inside a polling place, and a poll worker told the woman that the T-shirt might influence other voters. The suit says Flagstaff Tea Party doesn’t advocate for or against candidates or ballot measures.