Vince McMahon, chairman and CEO of World Wrestling Entertainment -- and husband of Republican U.S. Senate candidate Linda McMahon, has filed a federal lawsuit against Secretary of the State Susan Bysiewicz.
McMahon is seeking an injunction in response to Bysiewicz's informal conversations with registrars of voters regarding whether WWE garb will be permitted at polling places last week.
"On behalf of myself, my company, WWE fans and any Connecticut citizen who wants to exercise their constitutional right to vote, I have filed a lawsuit today asserting that Susan Bysiewicz's directive that allows poll workers to refuse registered voters wearing WWE merchandise the right to vote is a flagrant act of censorship and discrimination," said McMahon said in a press release accompanying the lawsuit.
UPDATE: The office of attorney general Richard Blumenthal is responsble for defending the secretary of the state's office in the case. But Blumenthal, the Democratic nominee for U.S. Senate and Linda McMahon's opponent, has recused himself, his office said.
"Attorney General Richard Blumenthal has recused himself from this case," Deputy Attorney General Carolyn K. Querijero said. Querijero added, "We will review the lawsuit and consult with the Secretary of the State's Office."
Bysiewicz's office last week said poll workers will have the discretion of asking voters wearing WWE paraphernalia to cover it up or go home and change before entering the voting area.
A spokesman for the office, Av Harris, stressed that no one will be prevented from casting their ballot. However state law stipulates that political signs and messages be kept at least 75 feet away from the polls and some WWE merchandise could potentially be deemed "political" because Linda McMahon, the company's former CEO, is on the ballot.
The discussion about election day attire came up because the WWE brand "is so ubiquitously associated with the McMahons,'' Av Harris, spokesman for Bysiewicz, said last week.
Harris said each instance will be examined on a case by case basis, and will be left to the discretion of local poll workers.
But the lawsuit said vesting local election officials with "virtually unfettered discretion to determine whether voters must remove or conceal WWE paraphernalia" creates a potential for "the arbitrary deprivation of basic liberties."
The lawsuit also alleges that Bysiewicz issued a "directive," but her office said no formal policy has been put in place.
In an affadavit accompanying the lawsuit. a defiant Vince McMahon states his intention of wearing WWE garb when he casts his ballot "to protest the directive of the secretary of the state."
"The Secretary of the State's directive threatens to violate my right to vote and, in my view, my rights to free speech and expression,'' McMahon writes.
The suit was drafted by McMahon's attorneys at Day Pitney; among those listed was Stanley Twardy, the former U.S. Attorney.