Honestly, it would make me uncomfortable too.
I understand the convenience of it, (a building that’s mostly empty all day) but 1) many places of worship are unwelcoming to queer and trans people,(among others) and 2) Church and State are separate for a good reason and mixing them however vaguely is a problem.
People vote in churches????? *facepalm*
yeah. it’s kinda awful. There are laws about what can be on display in the room where you vote, but nothing about the hallways on your way in.
And that’s assuming that anyone actually bothers to follow those laws.
In Italy voting is mainly done in state schools. Children are happy because schools close for a couple days to prepare for the voting which is on Sunday or over the weekend depending on the importance of the election. It’s rigorously public places. The worst you can see is elementary school children’s drawings.
Of course the Kingdom of Italy was an enemy of the Vatican when it was born, so, despite the chumminess of the fascist regime and later the demo-christian party with the Vatican, we have a tradition of laicity in our institutions that comes from the XIX century.
Then, churches or not, voting in private locations is just… wut? State things are done in state places… reason the US are weird #373402863840272940
I honestly would rather be expected to go vote in the grocery store than a church. At least the grocery store has a vested interest in not campaigning for various candidates. Or, better yet, the library. Hell, set up tents in parks.
some places have voting in schools, some do not. Growing up, we used the schools, while school was in session. Then Columbine and September 11 happened and that stopped for a while, for… probably not all areas of the country, but certainly the part where I lived.
Currently, we vote in schools, but the kids have the day off. Because security theatre or something. Which… still better than a church. But out of my entire friend group, I don’t know a single person who DOESN’T vote in a church. Only reason I know my city is back to using schools is because I drive past two on my way to work.
We vote in the old town meeting hall. Before we moved, we used to vote in the community room of a ‘retirement community’. Masonic temples (which are not churches). I could see how it would be intimidating to some to do so. There should be official government spaces to vote.
Our voting location was the clubhouse of the gated community close to me, but it changed to a church about a week ago. I have the suspicion that the folks in the gated community didn’t want everyone traipsing through their space. That, or they couldn’t accommodate the sheer numbers.
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