March 31, 2003
Activist Challenges the Use of Churches as Polling Places
by Peter Schworm
The Boston Globe
FRAMINGHAM -- As an observant Jew, Rob Meltzer was deeply troubled by the prospect of entering a Methodist church, which became his Framingham precinct's new polling place last year. Setting aside religious qualms to take part in the political process, he found himself standing in a voting booth directly beneath a large cross. He filled out his ballot, but vowed never to return.
''In order to vote, you basically had to bow before the cross,'' Meltzer said. ''I was sick for a week.''
He has since voted by absentee ballot while trying to persuade local officials to move polling stations in the church and a Catholic school to secular sites, saying the current locations infringe on voters' constitutional rights. Selectmen have refused, saying the practice is widely accepted and that logistics make the church the only sensible spot.
Meltzer, a 37-year-old lawyer and political activist who plans to file a federal civil suit against the town this week, said any inconvenience from holding elections in a public building does not justify ''impinging upon constitutional rights.''
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