Mike and I have observed elections in numerous states and have always found that schools make bad polling places. Not only do teachers and students take up the parking spaces needed by voters, but schools are typically loud, often congested, and the voting location within the school is not always accessible to individuals with disabilities.

Today, the Louisville, KY Courier Journal has a story that illustrates yet another reason why schools are lousy polling places: they increase the threats to children attending the school. As the paper reports:

A Louisville poll worker who pleaded guilty last month to assaulting a voter on Election Day was in court again Tuesday on sex charges involving two young girls, ages 12 and 14……Steitz has also been charged with possession of child pornography and use of a minor in a sexual performance, after police said they found a roll of film in his home with nude pictures of the 12-year-old.

During the California primary in 2006, we talked with a principal at a school in an upscale section of Orange County and she was very adamant in her view that schools should not be polling places, especially elementary schools. She viewed the security threats as quite grave and she worried constantly about something happening to one of her students.