Should churches be used as voting places?

Everyone knows that religious freedom only applies to the christian religion.~

Why not!—as long as God, Allah or whatever almighty personage is worshiped there outside the voting area.

Aren’t they already?

When churches are used, the voting is done in a building separate from the worship center, usually a classroom or conference building.

Voting is a scam. May as well vote in a building intended to scam people…...

Who cares where it’s held? At the Democratic rally a few months ago (where I took the pic of the kid in my avatar, actually,) the first rally I’ve ever been to, there were SO many people, record breaking numbers (thanks Bernie) that they needed to open up a second big room. The only other room big enough was in the sanctuary, so that’s where us Sanders folks congregated and GOT LOUD!

Why was the article from the Freedom from Religion foundation written in the first place? There is absolutely no religion involved in the voting process. Churches are often used because there is space available during the week.

Conference or meeting rooms in libraries are sometimes used as are schools, though this often disrupts the schedules or normal usage of school and library facilities.

It is understandable that many Americans, especially mainstream conservatives, would be uncomfortable only having a Mosque for a polling place. Despite the politically correct affirmation that Islam is a religion of “peace”— Islam is, in fact, at the core of their creed. actively at war with the non-Islam world and Islamic governments in the Middle East often have the eradication of Israel at the core of their constitution. The Peace which Islam declares is the same word for Victory— when your enemies have been destroyed or subdued into complicity. I am not denying that Islam is a very spiritual religion, but it also is at war with, or at least at odds with, the ways of western civilization, including the freedoms and recreational pursuits you now enjoy. Islam has no tolerance for liberal thinking and believes that the pleasures you enjoy are the source of evil and must be avoided or destroyed.

Whereas I know its only a building and I personally do not care where its held, I do feel that a Mosque is in itself an antithesis to our American, libertarian way of life and freedoms. A building is a building, but many are not at ease at what that building stands for, especially in light of the ever-increasing incidents of terrorism.

Many mainline churches have no problem with building bridges with Muslims and some conservative churches welcome opportunities to associate or evangelize with Muslims, but that’s not the point of the poling place. In fact, its strictly not allowed.

My precinct voting location is a huge Methodist church.

Because of this, I take advantage of early voting, which is held in a meeting room at the library.

Absolutely no.
Churches are for praising God. Not man.

Shouldn’t really matter..

@imrainmaker:

Perhaps. If polling places were equally likely to be a mosque, Jewish temple, hare Krishna worship center, it likely wouldn’t.

I’m waiting for The Satanic Temple to get a brick and mortar building and petition to become a polling place.

^^haha.. let’s wait and watch..))

I voted for many years, almost 20 years, in a church. It was in the community rooms, not the sanctuary. It was fine by me, and religious belief never came up.

No. Schools and other municipal buildings should certainly be sufficient.

I vote in a church. No services going on at the time so I’m OK with it. The building could be a mosque and I wouldn’t care.

Sorry, @Pandora—I disagree that places of worship are only for worshiping. I believe churches, synagogues, mosques, etc. may also be used for civic and social purposes, especially in small communities. But as I said above, politicking should be kept out of the voting area.

@dappled_leaves, many communities, especially very small ones, have limited public facilities—a church or mosque may be their only (or perhaps most convenient) place to vote. Additionally, such communities may also adhere to cultural/communal practices different from those you and I are accustomed to.

Churches have long history of seconding as a community center.

@Pachy, so do schools. So why not use them? I’m not atheist but if there are any in the community that would feel uncomfortable voting in a place of worship than voting should not take place in a place of worship. Even if this stops one person from voting it is a form of harassment. If there is a church, than there is a school somewhere that can accommodate any American who wishes to vote. By holding it in a place of worship you are mixing church and state intentionally. They are either separate of the they are not.

As a Christian I also sometimes vote against what my faith would dictate because I don’t vote on just one issue. I vote how my conscious dictates what I believe is best for my country. I don’t believe in abortion but I can’t purposely let my faith throw everything else out for an issue that I am not completely clear about. Holding it in a church will only further cloud my mind. There is more at state than just abortion for me and I know I am not alone in this.
Voting should always take place in a neutral place. Community centers, schools, courthouse, police stations, or libraries, or even shuttles for small communities to polling stations should be made available. In NC they have a program for the elderly who may need a ride to polling stations. No need for places of worship to be involved any more. The horse and buggy days are long gone. If people in small communities can drive to lowes to pick up lumber, than they can drive to a polling station.

I think it’s probably just tradition. Churches have long been much more than places of worship. They’ve always been the focal point of the community, for many reasons.

I really can’t think of a single reason churches should not be used as a place for people to gather to vote on how their community is going to be governed.

And to be upset because you have to vote in a Mosque is just silly. Just exactly what are they afraid is going to happen? Gonna catch the Muslim virus?

@Dutchess_III – Have you seen America lately?

LOL! It’s official. It’s insane.

@Pachy I challenge you to find one “small community” that has a church but no school. If children can be bussed there on a daily basis, people can drive/be driven there to vote.

I grew up in such a community. I understand that their cultural/communal practices may be “different”, but the state should by no means assume that they are uniform. There may be people who simply refuse to set foot in a church that is not their own, regardless of the function of that building on voting day. These people cannot be disenfranchised.

What is one supposed to do with the school children? Turn them out of their school for the day? Election day in the United States is always on a Tuesday (which conveniently makes it more difficult for the working class to vote), so using a school would require shutting the school down for the day. This may be why churches are used—a church would not be inconvenienced on a Tuesday.

@Setanta They don’t use the whole school, obviously. It would only require the gymnasium or auditorium for a day.

I believe Canadian schools are generally open when voting is conducted in the school; it seems to be the same in the US. Some schools do close – it’s probably a decision made at the scale of the school board.

I now live in Canada. The polling place for this riding is in a school. However, the national elections don’t take place on a weekday. Canadians do not vote on nearly so many things as Americans do. Americans vote on municipal, county and state offices as well as the national offices. They vote on tax levies, bond issue, judges, referenda and a variety of other measures that citizens of other countries don’t vote on. In 2004, when voter turn out was very high, it took more than three hours for me to get into a voting booth—taht was in Ohio.

@Setanta yes, they could close the school down for the day. That’s not really a problem. Or they could leave them open, and use it as a lesson plan for the kids.

Schools are pretty flexible. Around here there is no school on the third Friday of September because that kicks off our annual Bluegrass festival, and most of the parents pulled their kids from school on that day, anyway. The teachers would be looking at only 3 or 4 kids in the classrooms! It’s specific to our town. So they just shut it down.

I still don’t see what the problem is in using a church. I really don’t.

I think elections should be held on Sundays, so that everyone can participate, and can choose their time of day. Far fewer people would be inconvenienced, and it would be much easier to use schools. The present American system was set up to assure that election day would not fall on November 1st, which is a holiday in the Catholic and Anglican churches, and some Protestant religions. It is not in the constitution, it’s not carved in stone, and it was passed by Congress in, i believe, the 1850s. There’s nothing to stop Congress from changing the date again.