Woman fights case of election attire

Leigh Purdum refused to cover her John McCain T-shirt Nov. 4 at the Brightwood precinct in Madison County.

On Dec. 1, warrant in hand, she turned herself in for arrest.

The American Civil Liberties Union believes Purdum is the only person arrested as a result of a Virginia State Board of Elections ruling in October that banned political clothing at polling locations.

The ACLU has assigned four lawyers to defend her in court.

"This case should have never been brought," said Steven Rosenfield, a Charlottesville-based civil rights attorney leading Purdum's defense team. "At some point, we're hopeful it will be dismissed."

Purdum had been scheduled to appear this week in Madison General District Court, but her case has been continued to March 24. By that time, the defense is hopeful that a separate federal case on the constitutionality of the matter will provide legal direction.

Until this point, the controversy has played out primarily in the form of op-ed pieces and court challenges. But now that Purdum's arrest has come to light, it lends increased relevance to Borak v. Rodrigues, a federal case filed last week in Richmond by the ACLU, the Thomas Jefferson Center and the Rutherford Institute.

That case, separate from Purdum's, was filed against the state elections board on behalf of one voter in Fairfax County and another in Richmond. Those voters wore Obama buttons and stickers to the polls; neither, however, was arrested.

Rosenfield believes Borak v. Rodrigues will find the state board's policy unconstitutional, which would render Madison's case against Purdum moot.

"We'll wait to see what the outcome is on the federal court's interpretation of this statute," Rosenfield said. "If it's not [constitutional], as the lawsuit contends, Leigh's case will have to be dismissed."

Purdum is no stranger to political controversy in Madison.

In May, she earned statewide acclaim from an open-government group after winning a bitterly contested Freedom of Information case against her former boss, Sheriff Erik Weaver. That case will be heard on appeal in April.

Purdum, a federal employee who works in Charlottesville, thinks she is being singled out for political revenge.

"If I am the only person in the state" arrested under the political clothing statute, Purdum said, "tell me that doesn't show that Madison County is holding some kind of grudge."

But apart from attempting to serve the warrant, Weaver denies any allegations that his office was involved.

"We have no dogs in this fight," he said. "We have nothing to do with this case, nothing at all."

Tommy Tanner, secretary of the Madison Electoral Board, said he was only following state law when he took the complaint against Purdum to George Webb, the county's commonwealth's attorney.

Rob Humphreys is a staff writer at the Culpeper Star-Exponent.