Reply #15: VOTING WITH GOD... [View All]

[kpete]

VOTING WITH GOD...As we get around to fixing our still-broken voting system, here's another aspect of the problem that perhaps hasn't gotten the attention it deserves.

According to a lawsuit filed today by the American Humanist Legal Center:

"An Illinois member (of the American Humanist Association) voted in a church that displayed a four-foot wooden crucifix right above the election judges. Another member in California was confronted by a large marble plaque dedicated to the 'unborn children' who are 'killed' by abortion, and containing a quote from the Bible justifying the notion that the soul is alive in the womb. And a New York member voted in a room featuring large religious slogans on the wall behind the voting machines."

It's tempting to see this as stuff as small potatoes, especially when we have so far to go to ensure that every vote is even recorded and counted at all. But according to a Stanford University study cited by the AHLC, environmental cues in polling places have a measurable and significant impact on electoral results. And if you're going to ban signs from candidates in and around polling places, it's hard to see the logic for allowing religious statements or images with obviously political implications. Could be an interesting case to watch.

http://www.washingtonmonthly.com/archives/individual/2006_11/010301.php