And had to walk past a bunch of right wing campaign tables to get there.
Yes, in Florida polling places always seem to be at a church. And here's the thing - Florida has a "no solicitation zone" prohibiting campaigning within 100 feet of the entrance to a polling place, but this almost invariably assures that anyone soliciting votes just outside this zone is STILL ON CHURCH PROPERTY.
And on private property, you need permission from the owner to set up a booth.
How often do you think a church is going to grant permission to a candidate running on, say, a strong pro-choice platform to set up a campaign table on their walkways or parking lot?
What you get is not a diversity of candidates with opposing positions, but rather the candidates the church supports allowed to electioneer on their property.
Why do I have to go to an (invariably mainstream Christian denomination) church to vote in the first place? Not everyone is comfortable going into a church, or into a church with beliefs you have been told are evil and counter to your own.
What I saw today was a strong influence of the Church on the political process. Can we please have that separation of Church and State the Constitution guarantees us? Can they truly be said to be separate when you actually have to go to a church to vote?
The practice of using churches for polling places needs to be banned as the Constitutional violation that it is.