Posted on 03/03/2008 11:08:00 AM PST by greyfoxx39
Religious and cultural traditions collide in odd ways.
Is it right to tell election poll workers, assigned to Mormon church meeting houses, to not bring coffee, sodas or anything else caffeinated to refresh themselves during their long day tending to voters?
-SNIP-
First, lets look at the polling place duties and sipping Maxwell House in the meeting house.
Longtime Tempe poll worker Mary Ann Hemmingson has signed up to work the polls for the March 11 election. Shell spend her 14- or 15-hour day in a church, but no longer one that belongs to the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints.
I never sign up to work at a Mormon church because the board workers there are not allowed to have any caffeine on the premises, she said. That means no coffee in the morning and no Diet Coke in the afternoon. ... You dont want to see what I look like without my daily dose of caffeine. Its not a pretty picture.
The Word of Wisdom portion of the Doctrine and Covenants, put forth in 1833 by church founder and prophet Joseph Smith, says that hot drinks are not for the body or belly. Add to that what H. Burke Peterson, first counselor in the Presiding Bishopric, said in 1975: We know that cola drinks contain the drug caffeine. We know caffeine is not wholesome nor prudent for the use of our bodies. It is only sound judgment to conclude that cola drinks and any others that contain caffeine or other harmful ingredients should not be used.
Advising followers to restrict what they take into their bodies is one thing, but applying that mandate to those people who perform a public job inside their buildings in a one-day stint seems to be taking things too Far.
(Excerpt) Read more at eastvalleytribune.com ...
My point is, WHY would you have to "smuggle" it? In 49 states, it's not a "controlled substance".
For now!
(Until some bozo shows up and starts laughing like the Joker!)
You are a jerk!
If a congregation is kind enough to permit the use of their space for polling, folks should respect rules like this that are minor annoyances, at most.
Thank you for showing kindness to me.
NO, the polls should be moved to a neutral place.
Like good union people, getting their customers served took a back seat to serving themselves. I could have worked faster than any three of them put together and I actually did whenever my wife took a break.
“NO, the polls should be moved to a neutral place.”
That’s fine, too. But if the local board of elections has what they believe is a compelling reason to use an LDS building as a polling place, then they should makes sure that LDS rules like this are respected.
sitetest
Please: NO profanity, NO personal attacks, NO racism or violence in posts.
That must be some of the new-fangled stuff that John has added to the site since yesterday.....it SURELY was never there before, was it? /s
Of course, MY eyewitness account would be discredited by you, as per the formula, wouldn't it?
what REPLY box?
Our Catholic buds took off with all the wine and crackers, muttering something about Europe’s rest... Yukon rice... something like that.
Oh, well. Who’s for beer and pretzels?
When I posted that, it said "Please: NO profanity, NO personal attacks, NO racism or violence in posts."
AND NOW, IN POSTING TO YOUR REPLY TO ME....IT ISN'T THERE UNDER THIS REPLY BOX!
BUT...when I click on "post reply" to all the other posts next to YOUR reply to me, IT IS THERE!
We have gremlins!
WHO suggested anything like that?
As for the "Helping hand" thing, I am glad you brought this up. Please show one, just one instance of "Mormon Election Fraud", Were waiting... (Crickets)
My, WHO said "Mormon Election Fraud"? LOL....projecting, are you? I said And I wouldn't be comfortable if ONLY poll workers of a specific religion would choose to work under these circumstances...never know when a candidate of said specific religion would need some extra "help".
The problem is the LDS church is the only one willing to lend enough places, or they'd be in schools like mine is.
I'm all for the polling places to be in schools...there certainly wouldn't be any religious control there! And quite possibly there are other churches that lend their facilities.
It took a while to decipher that, but I am ROTFL....FUNNY!
All I can say is that if a polling place is set up at church, mosque or whatever and the conditions for use of that property are agreed in advance, then such conditions should be followed no matter how silly they may seem.
The property owner is providing a public service by offering their building as a polling place. Those contracting for the polling place have the right to negotiate conditions for use of said property during said polling process. If they agree to said conditions, they should either honor them or find another place.
There is a far, far bigger problem in this area and Philadelphia with poll workers who won't even let poll watchers into the building to observe the process and report on suspicious and clearly fradulent activity such as ineligible and multiple voters, votes already on the machines and other crap far more serious than asking workers to duck outside in sunny Arizona for a swig of coffee.
The local board of elections should find a school instead of a church.
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