Is your polling location in a church?

[earthling]

My voting location was changed from a public location to a liberal church a couple years ago and being non-religious it was awkward and uncomfortable but not discouraging. With the attention on the MO dominionists lately, was wondering if others on the MO side are voting in a church too. I did a search on the net and it was hard to find large lists for the larger counties/cities as you have to enter individual address but for small counties in MO I found lists that show about 1/3 to 1/2 of all polling locations are in churches. Apparently this is legal but if you are uncomfortable with this you can challenge it and try to change the location for area. It very well may sway a handful of non-religious from voting and it wouldn't be surprising if the Right in MO promotes church locations. Over 1/3 of locations is quite a few. It would be interesting to hear how many in cities are in churches.

If you are a conservative and a polling place were at a mosque or Planned Parenthood center would you feel uncomfortable voting there? Would you challenge that? Would religious people agree that non-religious people should not be subjected to churches as well? While maybe not offensive, it is probably at least a little uncomfortable for some non-religious.

With the rise of non-religious contrasting the rise of politically driven theocrats and dominionists lately, churches are no longer neutral places in this age.

Edit: Just found this. Apparently churches are the most common location in the US but looks like Chicago only had a few...
http://news.medill.northwestern.edu/chi ... ?id=198799

Florida humanists have challenged it and lost...
http://www.nysun.com/national/court-oka ... ces/59575/

Someone successfully challenged a location in NYC..
http://www.vosizneias.com/90553/2011/09 ... intervene/

Thoughts?

[mean]

For what it's worth, my polling place is in a community center.

[lock+load]

Mine is in a church. What if I am offended by community centers? What if i hate reading and am offended by the library? Like it or not churches tend to be numerous and willing to offer their space to the public.

I've never seen someone proselytizing on election day. Really no reason at all to be uncomfortable just going in to vote.

[earthling]

I was waiting for someone to say that. Community centers are neutral locations unrelated to politics. As I said, with the rise of non-religious contrasting the rise of politically driven theocrats and dominionists lately, churches are no longer neutral places in this age.

Not sure if you lean conservative but would you think nothing of it if a mosque or planned parenthood center were a polling location?

[AllThingsKC]

In my voting life, my polling locations have been 3 churches, 1 synagogue, 1 library, and 1 museum. I haven't had a moral problem voting at any location.

I am Conservative. I would have no problem voting in a mosque or a Planned Parenthood. I'm only there to vote, not to worship or have an abortion. It's just a building. However, I don't the think gov't would allow voting in a Planned Parenthood as it is a business, and thus, it functions differently than a church, synagogue, or mosque. But, even if my polling location was at Planned Parenthood or NAMBLA, I wouldn't care. I'm there to vote in a building, nothing more.

I don't have a link, but a few years ago, I saw a story that a lady in California that allowed people to enter her home to vote.

[lock+load]

I was waiting for someone to say that. Community centers are neutral locations unrelated to politics. As I said, with the rise of non-religious contrasting the rise of politically driven theocrats and dominionists lately, churches are no longer neutral places in this age.

There are plenty of churches that are not populated with "theocrats and dominionists." You are making vast generalizations. There are plenty of churches that actually make very positive contributions to the community and are not at all politically active.

[earthling]

But there are churches that function with political motivation. Wouldn't it be better to ensure a more neutral location or are you saying you specifically want churches as locations? I sense the latter.

[AllThingsKC]

Unless you regularly attend a church/synagogue/mosque, how would you know if they're politically active or not?

What if a polling place at say, a school or community center was politically active? Maybe the people who run those places are active in getting voters to vote a certain way if they feel the school/community center could benefit from it?

[lock+load]

Unless you are going to use schools, there just aren't enough public locations available for polling places without churches. Election day is usually during the school year so that is not ideal. How many community centers and libraries are there in town? I doubt near enough. Plus, polling would interfere with normal activities in those places as well. Churches are not very busy on Tuesdays and thus are readily available.

A church building is really just like any other building. The people are the church, not the building.

[earthling]

I acknowledge your reasoning but there are some who are uncomfortable or subconsciously may be swayed.

http://news.medill.northwestern.edu/chi ... ?id=198799

Churches are not neutral locations for many non-religious and likely _some_ of one very different religion may be uncomfortable going to a church of another - maybe not you. I could see how some people don't understand that but that doesn't mean it's a non-issue. Is better to take it out of the equation.

[IraGlacialis]

Is better to take it out of the equation.

What about locations where churches are pretty much the only community centers in the area? Or all-inclusive community centers that are run by religious institutions?
Also, to say that community centers are politically-neutral locations seriously ignores the history of political machines. Secular community centers are just as likely at being politically-motivated, be it through the organization that runs them, organizations that use them for meetings, or de facto demographics.
My polling place inside the justice center (police, sheriff, jail, juvie, courthouse...). You can say that could be offensive to some people.

A person can always report an abuse that goes on (be it in a religious or secular building), and frankly, I'd say it is tolerant of the church and evident of its civic-mindedness to allow voting to go on in it. If I was an overseer of a fundie church, I wouldn't want these heretics, infidels, and apostates voting on potentially unholy measures inside my sacred temple.
Unless there is actual proselytizing (something which, again, can be reported) going on, it says more about the person going in (in terms of tolerance and security of their faith/lack thereof) than it does about the organization hosting the event.

[lock+load]

Unless there is actual proselytizing (something which, again, can be reported) going on, it says more about the person going in (in terms of tolerance and security of their faith/lack thereof) than it does about the organization hosting the event.

Exactly

[DiggityDawg]

Mine's in a church. I'm an Atheist. Couldn't care less.

[earthling]

^Yeah, not saying all non-religious would be concerned or impacted by it - but some might. And some churches are not exactly a neutral location anymore as more and more (not necessarily most) are politically motivated with a specific agenda.

It would be interesting to see if voter participation is higher for churches that host polling places.

[aknowledgeableperson]

My voting location was changed from a public location to a liberal church a couple years ago and being non-religious it was awkward and uncomfortable but not discouraging.

God forbid, sorry about the use of the word God, if you had to attend a wedding or a funeral in a church. Would you go and listen to the religious aspects of the occasion if it was for a family member or a friend?
Schools are/were a popular polling place but now there is a concern about strangers entering the school building so many school districts are pulling schools out.
My current polling place and when I work as an election judge is a church. So what. It is just a building, much like a temple or a mosque.

[shinatoo]

In my voting life, my polling locations have been 3 churches, 1 synagogue, 1 library, and 1 museum. I haven't had a moral problem voting at any location.

I am Conservative. I would have no problem voting in a mosque or a Planned Parenthood. I'm only there to vote, not to worship or have an abortion. It's just a building. However, I don't the think gov't would allow voting in a Planned Parenthood as it is a business, and thus, it functions differently than a church, synagogue, or mosque. But, even if my polling location was at Planned Parenthood or NAMBLA, I wouldn't care. I'm there to vote in a building, nothing more.

I don't have a link, but a few years ago, I saw a story that a lady in California that allowed people to enter her home to vote.

Ditto, except the NAMBLA part, that's F'ed up.

[earthling]

Am talking about church impact on elections as voting locations, not weddings/funerals impact on elections. If voter participation is higher in churches that host locations, especially churches that have a political agenda, that's not something to ignore.

Many are not neutral locations.

[brewcrew1000]

If we were actually voting in the Church part of the building where we would see pews, alter, candles, stained glass, etc. I would be highly offended but when I vote at the church you pretty much just got straight into something that looks like a community center and you really can't tell it's a church.

Wonder if some of these newer churches trying to attract members put out pamphlets about the church and try to recruit new members. That would be highly offensive as well.

[earthling]

It's not particularly just about potential proselytizing, it's also about an increasing number of churches having a political agenda, which does not make some a neutral location.

It would be better to just take them out of the equation.

Adding Internet voting would probably increase participation the most and have less challenges for any potential favoritism or bias.

[heatherkay]

If you aren't willing to walk into a church to vote, then it seems like you're really not very motivated to vote. If you're a liberal and you feel like a conservative church is working against your interests politically, then it seems like an especially satisfying Fuck You to walk into the church and vote the most scandalously liberal ballot you can manage.