I think the main reason churches have been used is that they have big rooms which aren’t in use during the weekday, whereas with schools and government buildings you’re displacing the people who would normally be in that place.
There’s also a bunch of old ladies, who know where everything is and are available to help, in most churches. At least that’s true of the (accessible and progressive) UCC church I grew up in, which is still a polling place. With cookies and percolator coffee.
That said, I’ve voted by mail for decades because it’s just easier, especially since I’m filling out both my ballot and that of my quadriplegic spouse. Under their guidance of course.
You don’t always have a government building in close proximity. I once lived in an area where the polling place was someone’s garage because there was no better option.
One of the polling places in my area is a Masonic temple, theres always a protest outside on election day. The Masons just pay some folks to give out free water and snacks to fuck with the protesters more.
Also, not every government building has a large enough room to set up 8-10 voting stations with minimum separations between them, and tables for passing out ballots, and voting boxes, and enough space to accommodate people waiting to vote. In fact, a lot of them DON’T have such a space, and before someone says “but electronic voting”, a good handful of states pivoted away from those years ago thanks to weirdos bitching about how hackable they were and all that.
my area has used them along with vfw halls and and condo lobbies (way convenient before mail in) such but I believe the location is required to be accesible to be used.
There are plenty of government buildings that are accessible, including schools. Why are we using churches?
I think the main reason churches have been used is that they have big rooms which aren’t in use during the weekday, whereas with schools and government buildings you’re displacing the people who would normally be in that place.
There’s also a bunch of old ladies, who know where everything is and are available to help, in most churches. At least that’s true of the (accessible and progressive) UCC church I grew up in, which is still a polling place. With cookies and percolator coffee.
That said, I’ve voted by mail for decades because it’s just easier, especially since I’m filling out both my ballot and that of my quadriplegic spouse. Under their guidance of course.
Most public schools have a gym or other big room. Election day should be a federal holiday, on which public schools would be closed and so not in use.
Proximity.
You don’t always have a government building in close proximity. I once lived in an area where the polling place was someone’s garage because there was no better option.
One of the polling places in my area is a Masonic temple, theres always a protest outside on election day. The Masons just pay some folks to give out free water and snacks to fuck with the protesters more.
Also, not every government building has a large enough room to set up 8-10 voting stations with minimum separations between them, and tables for passing out ballots, and voting boxes, and enough space to accommodate people waiting to vote. In fact, a lot of them DON’T have such a space, and before someone says “but electronic voting”, a good handful of states pivoted away from those years ago thanks to weirdos bitching about how hackable they were and all that.
You should be able to walk to a polling place, so we should use any available site.
That being said, you should also be able to walk in, so we need accessible sites
my area has used them along with vfw halls and and condo lobbies (way convenient before mail in) such but I believe the location is required to be accesible to be used.