Posted on 03/03/2004 9:44:06 AM PST by sakic
My new polling place stands inside the American Civil Liberties Union offices.
It offers plenty of convenient parking. From my car, I walk a few short steps along a corridor covered with posters -- one attacking Mel Gibson's movie about Jesus, another saying the government should take better care of the elderly. Others proclaim the virtues of civil liberties and invite me to join the organization. The corridor ends in a large hall where I cast my ballot, unaffected by any of the propaganda I just read.
Just kidding.
My polling place has, in fact, moved, but not to any overtly political office. Instead of the old school gym I'd grown accustomed to, I now exercise my foremost democratic privilege inside a church.
Despite the signs indicating that no campaigning is allowed at that location, there is the unmistakable whiff of politics in the air.
It is kind of the good neighbors at the First Christian Church to open their doors to voters. Their kindness, however, deserves a hearty thanks, but no thanks. Churches are the wrong venue for voting, especially at a time in our country where so-called faith-based organizations have become major players in the political arena.
My description of a walk down an imaginary ACLU office is not a total illusion. The reality is that the moment I stepped into the church building I faced a sign-up sheet to join the church group on a trip to watch Gibson's controversial "The Passion of the Christ." Bible passages also greeted me and other voters, reminding us that Jesus loves us. This we know, because our polling place told us so.
With church staff milling about, I wonder how members of this particular congregation felt when a precinct worker loudly asked if they were voting Republican or Democrat. Would they have dared "out" themselves to following the less popular party before their pew mates? I can tell you that the entire experience was more than a little unpleasant.
I wonder also how my church-going neighbors would have felt about voting in a mosque, forced to walk the gantlet of Allah hu-Akbar signs along the way to the brand new voting machines. Or, maybe they could have voted in a synagogue. Come to think of it, just a few blocks from the First Christian Church stands the Congregation Beth Haverim. That's the city's gay synagogue. There, Christian voters might have had the opportunity to hear all the latest on gay marriage. An unforgettable experience, I'm sure.
The reality is that voting in a church, mosque or synagogue should simply not happen. We would not place our voting machines in the offices of a political party, the ACLU, an anti-abortion or pro-abortion organization, or any other organization aiming to influence our political views. As it happens, our tax dollars have provided plenty of public buildings. Within walking distance of my new polling place is a large post office, for example. The school where I used to vote is still there, just across the street.
Setting up voting machines in places of worship and the facilities they manage means that voters must be exposed to proselytism on their way to the polls. It allows churches to use Election Day as a membership drive. A government-sanctioned political activity as sacred as voting cannot take place in a house of worship, because the separation of church and state cannot take a day off on Election Day.
If I wish to vote, I must go to the polling place. That's pretty much a mandate. If a church generously volunteers to allow part of it's property to be used as a voter area, it has an obligation to remove any religous or political posters; just as any other polling place would. No more, no less. If the church feels that removing posters, leaflets, or refraining from pushing their religion upon the voters is just too much to ask; the church should not volunteer their services.
For example, the Mormon church has volunteered the use of their church for local voting. During this time, the public is granted access to their community room / gym and the bathrooms for the voting process. They place coat racks across the halls, thus restricting public access to only the voting areas. This is as it should be.
By your take: the democrats have been forcing me to be a democrat all these years--constantly hammering me with their unwanted propaganda.
But they are NOT doing that at a polling place. This is mandated by Federal Law. What the Dems do outside of the voting place is simply freedom of speech. That's the difference.
This reminds me of a joke: What's the difference between a Baptist and a Methodist?
A Methodist will say hello to you in the liquor store. ;)
LOL! Good point.
Of course, there might be some excellent posters addressing the topic of so-called 'gay' marriages inside a mosque.
But I'm sure our opinions will only confuse those who wish to use a story such as this as some sort of an anti-Christian screed.
I think so, but you can declare yourself an "Independent", and since there is no formal organization known as the "Independent" party, in effect, you're just saying "I declare myself to be affiliated with no party."
She doesn't seem to think much of them. "Oh yeah, well how would YOU like being forced into a synagogue to vote?" It's as if she just KNOWS that a Christian would as negatively as she would. It's presumptuous and snide.
My aunt and uncle and I always voted in an elemenarty school cafeteria near where we live (and they never bothered to take down the children's drawings and deorations, or activity sign-up sheets, or anything of the kind either. School and lunch were going to resume the following day). The population in our neighborhood grew to the point where my aunt and uncle were assigned a new polling place, in the basement of a nearby Lutheran church.
I just don't see the personal or religious material as a big deal. You don't have to take a pamphlet out of the rack and read it, unless you're interested, and religious images just come with the territory in a CHURCH BUILDING. Their mere presence does not equal prosletyzing. Doesn't bother me a bit if it's someone else's religion.
The nearest mosque is thirteen blocks away, so I will never have to vote there, but in the event they ever offer their space for elections, it will probably not be in the place of worship itself (that's needed for prayer all through the day, I believe), it would be at the little urban madrassa they're building next door. Which would make it the same experience as voting in any other public or private school setting. Not a problem.
You don't vote IN any church anyway, it's always some meeting room or other on church premises.
I thought that was strange too, but then I remembered that yesterday was a primary election. They may have had different ballots for different party primaries, and you can only have one. So you have to say which one you want. This does not happen in the general election.
If I understand correctly, you have to register to vote with a particular party affiliation, is that right? If so, why?
It's not a question of "have to". If you want to vote in party primaries, you have to register as a member of that party. If you're not a member of a party you can declare yourself "Independent".
Seems somewhat antithetical to the presumed right of privacy when voting.
You never have to declare your party or candidate when you vote in a general or special election. And the poll workers don't have that information in front of them at the polling place. Just your name, address, and signature.
Or what about military bases. The Clinton administration tried to completely eliminate polling places on military bases.
Disclaimer: Opinions posted on Free Republic are those of the individual posters and do not necessarily represent the opinion of Free Republic or its management. All materials posted herein are protected by copyright law and the exemption for fair use of copyrighted works.