California church sues over polling place dispute
A local voter complained about the church’s Black Lives Matter banners and the church was removed as a county polling place.
A California church is suing a county election official for removing its designation as a polling place after the church put up banners supporting the Black Lives Matter movement.
The Unitarian Universalist Church of Fresno served as a polling place in the November 2016 national election and California’s June 2018 primary. But after a local voter complained about the church’s banners, Fresno county clerk and registrar of voters Brandi Orth removed the church from the list of polling places for the November 2018 general election.
“With Fresno County’s decision to place priority on one written complaint by an ill-informed white person—and to break the law by removing the church as a polling place—the county chose to support the denigration of black lives and support the societal prioritization of white lives,” said Tim Kutzmark, minister of the 450-member congregation. “It is a violation of our First Amendment rights.”
