Queens polling site changed from church after Jewish concerns

JTA – A polling site in a Queens, New York, neighborhood has been moved after some Jewish voters raised concerns about violating their religious beliefs by having to enter the building.

Kew Gardens Hills residents will now not have to vote at St. Nicholas of Tolentine Church because their voting venue is being switched to the Kew Gardens Hills Library, according to the Times Ledger, a newspaper in Queens.

“It’s an issue for certain people that religiously don’t feel it’s right to ask them to vote in a church,” state Assemblyman Michael Simanowitz (D-Queens) told the newspaper.

He has been helping the city Board of Elections identify alternate polling places.

The area’s previous polling place can no longer be used because the US Justice Department said it was not handicap-accessible, as required by the Americans with Disabilities Act.