First Liberty Institute is warning Rowlett, Texas after learning a city official there, Mayor Blake Margolis, is also threatening to revoke a certificate of occupancy for Freedom Place Church.
The church serves as the city’s sole early-voting site for Rowlett, a suburb of Dallas with approximately 60,000 residents.
According to local media stories, Mayor Margolis says he is concerned about the number of parking spaces available at the church, which numbers only five in front of the building.
However, an incriminating email obtained by First Liberty quotes the Mayor admitting to Dallas County officials he opposes any church being used for voting.
“The Rowlett City Council will not allow voting to occur in any church building,” the Mayor’s email states. “That’s not where voting belongs, and especially when the Pastor of this specific church has endorsed a candidate who will be on the ballot in November.”
It is not clear from the email nor news stories what candidate was endorsed by the pastor, Kason Huddleston, or why that endorsement angered the city’s young mayor.
Mayor Margolis was elected to the city council, at the age of 18, before he was elected mayor two years ago.
“Apparently, the Mayor believes that by merely having the status as a house of worship, you are automatically ineligible from serving as a polling location,” First Liberty attorney Ryan Gardner tells AFN.
A second looming issue for Freedom Place Church is its certificate of occupancy. After the voting dispute began, the City of Rowlett now says the permit was issued erroneously, but the church believes it is being targeted for political reasons.
“The city will say that this is all about parking but that's not what this is about at all,” Gardner, the First Liberty attorney, alleges.
“What this is about,” he continues “is that the mayor of Rowlett believes that churches cannot serve as polling locations, and he's made it his mission to make sure no church does.”
Despite the Mayor’s complaint about churches, an online map of Dallas County voting precincts shows numerous churches – United Methodist, Baptist, Lutheran, non-denominational – are being utilized in other areas of Dallas County. Only one church voting precinct, Freedom Place, is located in Rowlett, however.
While the legal dispute works its way through the court, a county judge has added a second early-voting location, Rowlett Community Centre.
