Very much agreed. At the same time, in rural America, there are often literally no shared public places *except* for churches.

Even though I am a believer, I wish it wasn't that way - but it is.

@Perfidia just to understand your point: So sometimes another room like a lobby in front of the most holy chamber of the church will be used?

(I apologise, but I have very little knowledge of houses of worship in Australia.)

( I was so in sync with this post that I replied with a French translation of it. )

Tout en étant attaché à la liberté de culte, je considère que la société doit être laïque.

Lorsque je vois des États américains utiliser des églises chrétiennes comme bureaux de vote, j'estime que cela envoie un signal qui n'est pas conforme à la laïcité.

Et je ne peux m'empêcher de me demander si les chrétiens américains apprécieraient d'être contraints d'aller voter dans une mosquée.

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Au Danemark, nous utilisons des salles communales, des écoles et des complexes sportifs pour les scrutins; cela permet de montrer à chaque électeur que toutes les croyances sont sur un pied d'égalité, et que les athées comme les croyants sont, eux aussi, égaux.

Voilà la bonne approche.

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I don't know what Perfidia's seen here, but I've voted in churches. It was just the main room with pews removed.

I've also voted in in person at schools, volunteer fire stations, a rented shop, & a hall in the civic centre/library building. For early voting, in person in a rented shop & by mail.

According to
aec.gov.au/Voting/ways_to_vote/ there are even more ways to vote than I've used.

@Perfidia

@Perfidia I can't imagine anyone anywhere votes in the church sanctuary

is that what you're imagining we do in the US?

This ends up being another indictment of the US, not a mitigation, but... many communities have purposely stopped using schools as polling places. Because schools are now "hardened" against the epidemic of school shootings, people cannot just come and go at school buildings.

My (small) town uses the firehouse and a community center. Not all municipalities have those kinds of options. We are very low on secular "third places" here.

as a kid i remember my dad going to a nicely maintained, well lit and friendly polling place (an elemetary school at the time). over the years, pressure from people like my father also voted for less public school funding. that school was judged to be redundant eventually, making the surrounding schools more dense with less funding than they'd had at the beginning of the 80s.

today, 45 years later if i could properly express the place in my memory, an american of today wouldn't believe it existed.

it depends on what kinds of buildings are available in the precinct. There are parts of the country that are so remote and sparsely-populated that a church is the best option. We also use schools, VFW halls, union halls, community centers, libraries, etc. There are probably mosques that get used as polling places too, idk.

I've seen your takes before and you come across as a typical European who doesn't understand US culture but can't stop running his mouth about it.

@Perfidia i cant remember the last time i saw church grounds used for voting, but im sure they are. I would expect that the associated hall in the grounds would be used - i would be completely and absolutely shocked if the actual church was used #australian

And we vote on Saturdays, so mucking up the schools isn’t a problem :)

And you can vote at any polling place, including the other side of the country or even an .au embassy if overseas (although believe being overseas is considered a valid excuse for not voting) :)

@leadegroot @Perfidia I suspect churches, as in the worshippy room, are used as a last resort. If there's no school, hall, or other public building available.

I do know that one of my local churches was used in elections, but we're talking 100 years ago now.

in my experience church polling places are relatively uncommon, schools and libraries are used more. I’ve even voted out of a random person’s garage (that one was weird, but they did it for years)

I don’t think mosques or synagogues are likely to volunteer their space, given the security they have to put in place.

If the polling place was in a mosque would women be required to wear a head covering in order to vote?
Would women be allowed in at all?

The message that anybody can walk into a church to vote regardless of how they look is an important one because it reminds you that this is not the case in all places.