Church polling sites OK, judge says

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."

"It does not have the effect of endorsing religion, and it does not create an excessive entanglement between the Church and the state," Middlebrooks said.

Elections Supervisor Arthur Anderson said he was relieved by the ruling. Palm Beach County uses about 100 houses of worship for polling sites.

"If it had gone against us, it could have caused tremendous upheaval," Anderson said Wednesday. He said it could have resulted in long lines and long waits to vote if officials could not find suitable venues.

"As if we don't have enough problems," Anderson added.

Palm Beach County attracted the national spotlight in 2000 after dimpled, pregnant and hanging chads on punch card ballots held up a final count in the presidential election. Florida was eventually decided by 537 votes after the U.S. Supreme Court stepped in, handing the election to George W. Bush.

The state has since banned the punch cards and moved to all electronic voting machines.

According to Rabinowitz's December lawsuit, he said he had to walk past an anti-abortion banner flanked by large crosses to reach the polling site. Once inside, he said he had to vote in a room with crucifixes.

He claimed it made him uncomfortable.

"All the religious symbols and messages present in the Church were the private speech of that particular house of worship," Judge Middlebrooks wrote in his July 31 ruling.

"While Plaintiff may feel discomfort when viewing the religious symbols at the Church, that feeling of discomfort does not equate to a Constitutional violation" since elections officials did not place them there.

Rabinowitz, of Delray Beach, did not immediately return a telephone message Wednesday. His attorney, Jim Hurley, said he would appeal.

Hurley is representing the Rabinowitz on behalf of the Appignani Humanist Legal Center, which is part of the American Humanist Association.

Humanists believe in leading ethical lives, but without religious doctrine or the worship of a god.