Is your polling location in a church?

[chaglang]

Really? I didn't think it was allowed under state law.

[chingon]

I voted in a dead mall on Saturday afternoon. Missouri you need to get on early voting.

You have been able to vote in Downtown KC and Independence for about a month already. I voted Friday.

Absentee.

[shinatoo]

I voted in a dead mall on Saturday afternoon. Missouri you need to get on early voting.

You have been able to vote in Downtown KC and Independence for about a month already. I voted Friday.

Absentee.

Yes, but only in theory. You just walk in and say you won't be able to vote one election day. You don't even have to say why.

[NDTeve]

What's worse? Voting in a church or voting in front of a huge Obama mural?

http://blogs.wsj.com/washwire/2012/11/0 ... ama-mural/

[earthling]

^Check the update.. it is wrong and was covered up. Voting in churches is not neutral either yet nothing is being done about it...

http://religion.blogs.cnn.com/2012/11/0 ... ng-places/

As churches become more aggressive in the political arena, the argument that they can be neutral sites for voting, a concept that has been embraced by some courts, comes up short.

I’ve even talked with atheists, Jews, Muslims and other non-Christians who don’t want to exercise a basic constitutional right in a church. These people have nothing against Christianity; they simply don’t believe that a fundamental democratic right should hinge on their willingness to enter a church. (And yes, most of the houses of worship used as polling places are Christian churches.)

People who support using churches as polling places often point to the need to maximize the number of polling locations to increase turnout. That’s a laudable goal, but there are many ways to do this that don’t rely on using churches, like early voting and voting by mail.

[chrizow]

who cares. no polling site is totally apolitical. anyone who is influenced to vote a certain way b/c their polling location is a church (or has a mural of obama) is a giant pussy and should have his or her citizenship revoked.

[beautyfromashes]

If it's that big of a deal to someone, you can always vote absentee before election day.

[longviewmo]

If it's that big of a deal to someone, you can always vote absentee before election day.

Yeah, but then they might have to drive by a church or Obama mural! The horror!

[earthling]

who cares. no polling site is totally apolitical. anyone who is influenced to vote a certain way b/c their polling location is a church (or has a mural of obama) is a giant pussy and should have his or her citizenship revoked.

^Yeah, it is ridiculous that it can happen but sway is a reality. There is an industry built on swaying people to buy products and it obviously works. Why allow it to be an option. About 1/3 of polling locations are in a church. A church that may sway it's congregation to a particular agenda is also giving the congregation a convenient way to vote in the same location. It may sound nitpicky but it makes it a non-neutral location.

Separately, it's odd that an official body is telling me to go to a place that promotes imaginary supernatural forces in order to participate in the election process - especially since there is supposed to be a separation. It's not a major issue at all and is nitpicky but is awkward that I'm being told to go there to participate as the default method.

In principal, places that host polling and also may have a political agenda are not neutral places. Pretty simple. Why not just take it out of the equation.

Mail-in voting (and/or internet-assisted voting) takes it out of the equation. And it's ridiculous that we (for the most part) target to vote on one day as that significantly reduces participation. Washington state does voting by mail exclusively and has highest participation in country and doesn't have to deal with cost of polling places (or electioneering).

[chrizow]

my polling location is a school. a religious school, at that. am i being "swayed" to vote differently on education issues because of that? what about the fact it's a religious school, especially if school voucher issues are on the ballot? if the polling place is a public community center, will that "sway" people to vote a certain way on local tax issues or vote for "big government?"

going to an entirely "mail-in" vote could "sway" people since it requires interaction with our socialist mail delivery network! could suppress libertarian turn-out.

[earthling]

Yeah, the school thing was discussed earlier. And in many states when a school item is on the ballot, schools can't be voting locations for that particular election. Do you disagree that states should do this?

I realize it sounds nitpicky but there is an easy way to take it out of equation and increase participation at the same time. It also costs less to operate mail in voting and avoid many other issues that come up...

http://m.kansascity.com/kcstar/db_10892 ... ue#display

[chaglang]

Doesn't the argument hinge on the voter making up his or her mind while in the voting place? If I decided on Candidate A prior to going to vote, I'm not influenced to vote for Candidate B by the polling location or it's decor. Beyond that, the building is just there for me to conduct a civic transaction. I'm sure this was all covered further up the thread.

My parent's old voting place was at St. Teresa's. I was too young to vote, but the setting certainly made an impression.

[earthling]

About 1/3 of polling locations are in a church. A church that may sway its congregation to a particular agenda is also giving the congregation a convenient way to vote in the same location. It may sound nitpicky but it makes it a non-neutral location.

Many elections have multiple items and some people go prepared only to vote on the big ones. The lower profile items can potentially be subconsciously swayed (like a school item voting in a school)... especially if the voter never really looked into those. Some who are determined on major issues may be indifferent on others could be subconsciously swayed - of course no one would admit it could happen to them.

With mail-in voting, it takes it out of the equation but the arguments against my case seem to be that many are proud that they can't be swayed so it doesn't matter - "who cares". We are all often swayed on things we are indifferent or not determined on and dont know it.

[Highlander]

I was reading in the Houston paper that some of the polling places in the inner city were in the garages of private residences. Depending on the owner, that could be a wierd experience.