Update (5:45 p.m. ET): The Associated Press has just picked up the story:
Vince McMahon sues to allow WWE fans to wear garb
HARTFORD, Conn. (AP) — World Wrestling Entertainment CEO Vince McMahon has filed a federal lawsuit to stop Connecticut election workers from asking WWE fans to cover up their wrestling garb at the polls.
The husband of Republican Senate candidate Linda McMahon filed the suit in federal court on Tuesday.
He says Secretary of the State Susan Bysiewicz (BY’-suh-wits) is violating free speech rights by telling local registars they can ask people to cover up or return wearing something else.
State election law prevents political advertising within 75 feet of the polls.
But McMahon calls Bysiewicz’s order a “flagrant act of censorship and discrimination.”
Bysiewicz did not immediately respond to a call for comment. Richard Blumenthal, the state attorney general and Democratic Senate candidate, has recused himself from the lawsuit.
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The following press release was issued by WWE today.
CONNECTICUT SECRETARY OF STATE SUED FOR CENSORSHIP AND DISCRIMINATION
STAMFORD, Conn., October 26, 2010 – “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 Vince McMahon, Chairman and CEO, World Wrestling Entertainment.