A massive mural on the side of a gymnasium in Bloomfield featuring Barack Obama and Martin Luther King, Jr. alongside Vice President Kamala Harris will be covered over with a “temporary façade” on election day to avoid a possible violation of state election laws because the gymnasium is a polling location.

Town officials said the mural, which has been on the side of the Alvin B. Wood Human Services Center on Park Avenue since 2021, was never intended as a political or campaign statement. There have been no complaints filed with the Secretary of State’s Office nor the State Elections Enforcement Commission, but it will be covered up as a precaution.

“The Town of Bloomfield is extremely proud to celebrate and honor the achievements of Black individuals both locally and nationally,” said Bloomfield Town Manager Alvin D. Schwapp, Jr. in a press release. “However, ensuring that a polling site is fair means protecting every voter’s right to cast their ballot without interference, intimidation, or bias. Fair elections are the cornerstone of democracy, and a secure, transparent polling environment is essential for maintaining trust in the process.”

The mural, which also features actress and singer Anika Noni Rose and NFL player Dwight Freeney – both Bloomfield hometown heroes – was the product of a partnership between the Town of Bloomfield and RiseUp Group Inc., a nonprofit artist organization that has painted many murals across the state. It was painted by Connecticut artist ARCY and unveiled on Juneteenth of that year to celebrate Black excellence.

However, the very same gymnasium has served as a voting location before and since the mural was painted, raising the prospect that it could violate state election laws that ban campaigning, advertising, peddling, or soliciting within 75 feet of a polling location during elections. Even when the mural was created, it was almost certain that Kamala Harris would be involved in the 2024 presidential race, whether as vice-president or top of the ticket.

While the state’s ban on campaigning and advertising at polling stations typically applies to political campaigns and their staffers trying to sway voters at the last minute, the prospect of a giant mural that can be seen from a block away featuring the image of a presidential candidate appears not to have been broached before; both state election officials and town officials admitted it’s a good question. 

Bloomfield immediately reached out to the Secretary of State’s Office for guidance, but because no complaint had been filed with SOTS, they did not opine on whether the mural could be seen as a violation.

Inside Investigator reached out to Joshua Foley, an attorney with the State Elections and Enforcement Commission, who, likewise, would not opine on the mural as no complaint had been filed. Foley said there is “some ambiguity” in state statute that could affect whether the mural violates that statute.

“If a complaint were filed with us, our commission would answer that question,” Foley said. “There’ some ambiguity there. Is it solicitation? Is it within seventy-five feet of a door? That’s what the Commission would look at if a complaint was filed.”

“You change a fact, you change the result,” Foley continued. “The Commission decides these things based on the totality of facts in any given situation, whether it’s a MAGA hat or a Let’s Go Brandon flag. It’s all a little bit different.”

Even though it will now be covered up, the mural was unlikely to create much of a dent for Republican Presidential Candidate Donald Trump; the district has consistently voted for Democrat candidates since 2020 by a massive margin of 85 to 15.

October 21 marks the first day of early voting in Connecticut, allowing two weeks for residents to cast their ballot before election day. It will be the first major test in a national election for Connecticut’s new early voting system, which has caused concerns, particularly among municipalities, over the cost of staffing polling locations for two weeks.

The mural cost a budged $15,000, half of which was covered by the town and the other half was raised by RiseUP through crowd-funding, according to RiseUP’s crowdfunding page.

“Every time you drive past this mural, I hope and pray that you remember that. I hope and pray that whatever it is that you want to be, you achieve. That when they say no, you can say yes. That you never let anybody put you in a box or tell you what’s not possible,” former Bloomfield Mayor Suzette DeBeatham-Brown told Fox 61 News. 

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