They moved my polling place from a nice big church auditorium...

[Crazy Dave]

...into a closet (20'x20' room) at an apartment complex with minimal parking. Boy it's going to be crowded later. It had something to do with the child protection act but there's more kids at the apartments where they live than at the church down the road :shrug:

[Rabrrrrrr]

1. Wow - that's crap!

[Crazy Dave]

2. Very

It was shoulder to shoulder with a narrow divider where you fill your ballot out while standing up. The church used to have about a dozen tables to sit at with a little more privacy and you didn't have somebody standing next to you less than 6 inches away hacking his lungs out over everybody.

[C_eh_N_eh_D_eh]

3. I wouldn't want to vote in a church.

What's to stop some right-wing priest from proselytizing at everyone who comes in about how Jebus would want them to vote?

Why can't your district just use a public school gym? That's what they're for.

[Alleycat]

4. We always voted in a church

until this year when they moved the voting place to the library. Every time I voted no clergy were in site.

[Crazy Dave]

6. No clergy around either

They used an auditorium detached from the church. Lots of parking, lots of space, lots of privacy, walking distance from my house...

[C_eh_N_eh_D_eh]

13. That makes a bit more sense.

So the law requires that the clergy stay away from the voters, then? I'm sure many of them would be unhappy about that.

[Crazy Dave]

5. Schools are not allowed as polling places too

They are also excluded under the "Lunsford Act".

[u4ic]

7. Really?

That's where I've done almost all of my voting, in Canada. The vast majority are held in school gyms or community centres.

Where I was living for the last federal election, the polls were at a church in my district. At least it was a United Church, the most liberal Xtian denomination in Canada. I'm not one of them, but they stand for what I believe in (other than me not being Christian), so I wasn't uncomfortable there...

I do prefer schools, though; a very neutral setting.

[Crazy Dave]

9. The ""Lunsford Act" applies here in Florida

I have heard of other states and I think even in some Florida counties that you can still vote in schools. These types of laws, while good intended, are not thought out very well as most people don't want to have sexual predators in their apartment complex around their kids either. Jessica Lunsford was abducted, raped and murdered by a next door neighbor right out of her own house so not allowing elections at a church to "protect the children" is a little bit silly and not very effective. But...if you criticize these type of ideas then you are accused of being on the side of the predators.

[Rabrrrrrr]

20. What's to stop a minister? UM - the LAW?!

Sweet Jesus, people get paranoid.

[Left Is Write]

8. Our polling place has been the same since I moved here six years ago.

It's an elementary school. There's a lot of parking, but there was a huge turnout while I was there this morning and I had trouble finding a spot.

I can't imagine trying to do this at an apartment complex.

[bertha katzenengel]

10. It's extremely hard to find polling places and poll workers. Extremely.

Who knows why the church said "no" this time, but seems to me that poor location was all your registrar of voters could find. Too bad. :(

[Crazy Dave]

14. I went to a new poll worker orientation and scored very well...

...but the woman that supervises and manages poll workers for Duval county, FL is one of the most rude, hateful and degrading people I've ever met. At the orientation you could tell she had a disdain for minorities as she rudely answered their questions and tried to make them feel stupid for even asking the questions but yet she took time and was polite to everyone else. I never went back to complete my training after listening to her 2 minute, hate filled voice-mail greeting when I needed to register for the second class.

[bertha katzenengel]

16. Damn. I don't blame you. Do you know if your Registrar of Voters is

set up so that you can lodge a complaint?

[Crazy Dave]

18. I thought about it but...

She wasn't breaking any laws and I'm sure her supervisors are more of the same. I do feel bad about quitting for personal reasons though as my opinion of her soured my optimism that I had about helping serve democracy and help make sure it got served fairly and correctly.

[kwassa]

11. I used to vote in either a nail salon or a car dealership

Voting venues in Los Angeles. In the nail salon, the voters filed past customers getting their manicures to the back room where machines were. In the car dealership, lines wound around the new cars in the showroom.

[Merrick]

12. Consider yourself lucky

they could've moved it to the city dump:
http://www.newsmutiny.com/pages/VoteDump.htm

[jobycom]

15. That's funny. They moved mine FROM an apartment complex TO a

(not a church) retirement home with much more room. If it was a plot, though, it was a Democratic plot, because that precinct usually goes Republican. :) (Hope it works!)

[eyesroll]

17. A lot of polling places have been moved due to accessibility.

If the big church auditorium lacks a ramp (for example), the apartment complex might comply with accessibility regulations better.

If that's not the case, then I don't know.

[Crazy Dave]

19. Moved strictly under the Lunsford act

It has been a polling place and has always been handicap accessible for the 18 years I've lived in the neighborhood.