WEST MILFORD It would be hard to find something more representative of democracy than the voting booth. And so The Messenger sent photographer Mike Bousquet to the polls on Tuesday to capture a classic Americana moment. But he was kicked out. Poll worker Wayne Gottlieb, who was there but not part of the ejection, said Wednesday that the poll workers manual distributed by the Passaic County Board of Election’s supervisor specifically says that they cannot let photographers in the polling place, although they can be outside. Bousquet left quietly and went over to town hall to find out why he had to leave. “When I asked about it, I was shown a page that had a list of people not allowed in the polls. It said newspaper writers and newspaper photographers.” He left without his Kodak moment, although he said, “There were so many young people voting, it would have made a great shot.” The issue of whether media is allowed inside a polling place is a polarizing one. “Every year, we get lots of calls the day after election day,” said Lucy Dalglish from the Reporter’s Committee for Freedom of the Press. “The laws are different everywhere.” West Milford Township Clerk Antoinette Battaglia said Passaic County rules do not allow newspaper photographers in the polling places. Other news media were not mentioned. Due to a shortage of time before going to press the Messenger was unable to pin down exactly what the law says. But as Dalglish pointed out, “Somebody screwed up somewhere,” because two other local papers had photographs from inside a West Milford polling place and one of them appeared to have been taken inside the booth.