McKinney Set to Defend Controversial Voting Ordinance

MCKINNEY — City leaders say they will continue to defend what has become a controversial ordinance governing electioneering after campaign workers for a former Republican state senate candidate filed a complaint in district court earlier this month. Council members met in closed session Monday night to discuss the case, hours after a court hearing originally scheduled to debate the matter was postponed until March 27. "We think we were well within our rights to reasonably regulate the safety and orderly conduct of a polling location," McKinney City Manager Paul Grimes said after the council meeting. State law requires campaign workers stay 100 feet away from a polling location. But McKinney's new ordinance — approved last October — creates designated areas beyond that 100-foot zone where people can post or pass out political information outside some polling places. Grimes said the Council passed the ordinance after receiving complaints from residents following its local election last May, specifically taking issue with electioneering at the John and Judy Gay Public Library. The new ordinance confined campaigners to stand in a field southwest of the library.   Continue reading...