Greenfield council denies ‘DJs at the Polls’ request, adopts ban on outdoor events at active polling sites

The Greenfield Common Council on March 18 voted to deny an application from the nonprofit DJs at the Polls to host a DJ outside the Greenfield Community Center on April 1, the day of the election, and then adopted a resolution prohibiting outdoor special events at active polling places.

The decision followed a detailed discussion by council members about Wisconsin statute "2020, 5.35, parent 5," which the mayor and city staff said restricts activities that could “interfere with or distract election officials” or voters at polling places, and about potential First Amendment complications if the city were to permit amplified music adjacent to a polling site.

Erin Anderson, Wisconsin state project manager for DJs at the Polls, told the council the program is nonpartisan, that DJs receive training to avoid political messaging and that crews keep equipment at least 100 feet from polling entrances. "We are a % nonpartisan. We train our DJs... We literally just want to create a sense of community," Anderson said. She also said the organization had worked at roughly 200 polling locations nationwide last year and at multiple locations in Greenfield in November without major issues.

Council members and city staff said the difficulty is not the stated intent but the city’s inability to control what a DJ might say or play on site and the legal exposure from allowing any time/place/manner exception at a polling location. "I think it's altruistic ... I'm not — I can't control the speech of your DJ," the mayor said during the discussion, noting the risk of opening the door to other performers or activities that could be seen as influencing voters.

A motion to deny the DJs-at-the-polls application passed on a voice call; Council members recorded as voting in favor were Alderperson Jaswiecki, Alderperson Kasner, Alderperson Akers, Alderperson Sarian and Alderperson Bailey. After the denial, the council moved to adopt a resolution that expressly bars outdoor special events at active polling sites; that resolution was approved by the same recorded votes.

City elections staff said they did not want responsibility for supervising an event on an election day, and city attorneys and staff testified that permitting music adjacent to polling entrances could create a precedent that would be difficult to apply consistently. Council discussion cited prior local incidents — including bake sale complaints and distribution of bottled water — as examples of disputes that had previously arisen around polling locations.

The council’s resolution establishes a citywide prohibition on outdoor special events at active polling places; the resolution’s text and the council packet cite the statute portion described during the discussion. The resolution takes effect immediately under council rules. The council did not adopt additional, narrower time/place/manner restrictions at this meeting.

The decision leaves the group DJs at the Polls able to return with a different proposal that does not place amplified music adjacent to an active polling entrance or to pursue other vetted, city-approved voter-engagement approaches that do not conflict with state law or the new local resolution.