@randahl

I agree, but I don't think using Christian churches for polling places sends a non-secular message. The US doesn't have as many secular communal spaces as the UK does, and churches are often the only communal places where it makes sense to have a polling place - local and scattered throughout communities. When I lived in the US, it was a two minute walk to the church/polling place, and I never felt infected by religion. It didn't have that social meaning.

@randahl Freedom of and freedom from.

@randahl Same here in Austria. I always went to a school to cast my vote.

@randahl Honestly, I am not sure why vote by mail isn't more popular, that would solve all of these problems and then some.

@randahl
For the 21 years I've lived in Maryland, all my polling places have been secular - community centers, schools, once a VFW post. But not churches. Whereas the 25 years before that, that I lived in Texas, our polling places were almost always churches. Which matches the relative religiosity, and Christian Nationist political inclinations, of the 2 states.

@randahl in my experience church polling places are relatively uncommon, schools and libraries are used more. I’ve even voted out of a random person’s garage (that one was weird, but they did it for years)

I don’t think mosques or synagogues are likely to volunteer their space, given the security they have to put in place.

@randahl Never voted in a church in the US. Schools, public buildings, etc.

@randahl I also don't love being lectured about "secularism" by someone whose country still has an established state church, like it's the fucking 1600s or some shit. We've had separation of church and state for 250 years. When are you guys going to modernize?

@randahl Over here a lot of the community halls find their origin in local Churches. Its often a part of the church building or close by.
In areas with small Muslim populations they often cooperate with the church and rent a room or even part of the church. I think there are even places where Christians, Jews and Muslims use the same building 🤔

@randahl but... what about when there aren't any of those within the polling district? we vote in hospital lobbies, private garages, park sheds, sometimes apartment building lobbies. you can't make people walk/drive across town and expect to get good turnout.

@randahl
We use the buildings that have the space (they're empty). If it's any consolation, it's mostly church polling places in Minneapolis that have served to elect Ilhan Omar. That's part of what makes the US so contentious; we pretty much aren't secular, but we are absolutely multi-faith. We run hot. It's not boring.

@randahl Yet Denmark has more or less a state church and uses church offices to register births etc. Not very secular.

@randahl as a kid i remember my dad going to a nicely maintained, well lit and friendly polling place (an elemetary school at the time). over the years, pressure from people like my father also voted for less public school funding. that school was judged to be redundant eventually, making the surrounding schools more dense with less funding than they'd had at the beginning of the 80s.

today, 45 years later if i could properly express the place in my memory, an american of today wouldn't believe it existed.

@randahl We used to use public schools, but with the rise in school shootings and concerns with political unrest potentially increasing this, many counties have moved to churches or other entities willing to host elections

@randahl I looked at our county in Florida, there are thousands of polling places, 900 precincts. Lots of churches. Also union halls, rec centers, libraries, Jewish centers, American Legion halls, cultural centers and performing arts centers, there may well be a mosque, my eyes got tired looking at the list! ours is in a community center now but used to be at a church hall - it seems so much more important to have a place close enough to walk, nobody is preaching at you it's just a space.