Queens Polling Place Moved Out of Church
A polling site in a Queens, N.Y., 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 U.S. Justice Department said it was not handicap-accessible, as required by the Americans with Disabilities Act.
Why I became the Forward’s Editor-in-Chief
You are surely a friend of the Forward if you’re reading this. And so it’s with excitement and awe — of all that the Forward is, was, and will be — that I introduce myself to you as the Forward’s newest editor-in-chief.
And what a time to step into the leadership of this storied Jewish institution! For 129 years, the Forward has shaped and told the American Jewish story. I’m stepping in at an intense time for Jews the world over. We urgently need the Forward’s courageous, unflinching journalism — not only as a source of reliable information, but to provide inspiration, healing and hope.
Support our mission to tell the Jewish story fully and fairly.
