Church Polling Sites OK, Judge Says

August 9, 2007

Author: BRIAN SKOLOFF

Source: The Guardian

Wire Service: AP

http://www.guardian.co.uk/uslatest/story/0,,-6836700,00.html

WEST PALM BEACH, Fla. (AP) - Polling sites located within houses of worship do not violate the constitutional separation of church and state, a federal judge has ruled.

Jerry Rabinowitz, a nonobservant Jew whose voting precinct is in a Catholic church, sued Palm Beach County elections officials, claiming that casting a ballot amid crucifixes amounted to a constitutional violation.

U.S. District Judge Donald Middlebrooks ruled against Rabinowitz last week, noting that the practice of putting polling sites in houses of worship ``has a secular purpose.''