Church Voting

When my daughter and I went to vote (for Hillary, of course!), we had to go to church. For the 21 years that I have lived at my current address, our polling place had been Wood Glen Hall, a retirement community. Now, without notice from the registrar, we found out that New Life Church was where we need to go. We only found out because the Bernie people (yes, we felt the Bern early on but have since thought better of it) texted us.

I have two problems with this. One, I think that when the Registrar of Voters changes a long-established polling place, clear notice should be given to the concerned voters so that people don’t just give up and fail to vote. Two, and just as important, I am a strong believer in the separation of church and state. Churches should not be used as polling places. Making voters enter a church in order to exercise their constitutional right to vote seems wrong. What if the voter’s faith prevents them from entering another religion’s place of worship? What if the voter is an atheist and really does not like entering a church of any denomination? We have plenty of other options. Public schools would seem like the most obvious and best choice, offering children a chance to familiarize themselves with the democratic process.