I'm not normally paranoid, but this election season has gotten to me.

[*myfoursons]

Our elementary school is a polling place. I've never thought twice about this before, but I'm worried for this election! I know I'm being irrational, but the thought of the self-appointed "monitors" checking to see whether people speak Murican has me freaking out. I worry about whackos causing trouble in our school, which normally is locked up tight against outsiders. Talk me down please.

[AngB]

Our schools are closed on election day because some are polling places. I would not be ok, in this day and age and particularly this election, having my child there while random people were coming in to vote. Not ok. Poor planning on the district's part not to close school. It took one district around here forever to get on board with closing schools for voting but after the primaries when a lot of people complained AND kept their children home, they changed it.

[trcy]

I assume people are voting while the kids are in school? That would make me wacky! The community center where DD's has her martial arts class is a polling place and early voting is underway, it's crazy. Tons of traffic in the parking lot, signs, protesters...ugh, I can't stand it. I can't imagine dealing with all that at her school. I am sure everything will be fine, but I would not be happy about it either if I were you.
And, not to sound ignorant, but what do you mean about monitors checking to see whether people speak Murican?


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[elbenn]

Do they enter to a gym and then leave the same way with no access to other parts of the school? That's the way the polling locations in schools around here work.

[SnuggleBuggles]

Our schools decided they couldn't comfortably (safety and logistically) have school and voting in the building so no school. Parent teacher conference day instead.
I think you can certainly use your discretion and miss school.


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[ahisma]

.
And, not to sound ignorant, but what do you mean about monitors checking to see whether people speak Murican?

This: https://www.donaldjtrump.com/landing/volunteer-to-be-a-trump-election-observer

It's not a new thing, but it's normally not phrased in such an inflammatory way. I'm an election monitor too, but not for that group;) The group that I work with is all volunteer attorneys who ensure that there is functional access to voting (lines aren't too long, machines are working, people aren't being turned away, etc.)

ETA: This explains it well: http://www.nytimes.com/2016/10/19/us/politics/donald-trump-voting-election-rigging.html

[AngB]

Do they enter to a gym and then leave the same way with no access to other parts of the school? That's the way the polling locations in schools around here work.

This would be fine with me but this was not how it was in our area when they had voting in schools. (I actually remember in middle school seeing people voting in the hallway next to our cafeteria.)

[specialp]

Yeah, I wouldn't be okay with that either.


Our schools decided they couldn't comfortably (safety and logistically) have school and voting in the building so no school. Parent teacher conference day instead.
I think you can certainly use your discretion and miss school.


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Several in our area have done the same thing.

[*myfoursons]

The voting is in the gym, and obviously kids won't have gym that day. I am strangely paranoid about school access to any crazies who are out there on that day. I've thought about keeping the kids home, which I swear, is completely out of the norm for me. I'm usually a "lady, ease up on the paranoia. Your kids will be fine" kind of person, so this is kind of laughable for me. My husband thinks I'm crazy, but is fine if I want to keep the kids home.

[trcy]

The voting is in the gym, and obviously kids won't have gym that day. I am strangely paranoid about school access to any crazies who are out there on that day. I've thought about keeping the kids home, which I swear, is completely out of the norm for me. I'm usually a "lady, ease up on the paranoia. Your kids will be fine" kind of person, so this is kind of laughable for me. My husband thinks I'm crazy, but is fine if I want to keep the kids home.

I would be inclined to keep them home. I am sure you wouldn't be the only parent to do so on that day.


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[marymoo86]

That seems totally nonsensical from a general safety, traffic, and commonsense standpoint.

Why on earth would a school be a polling place unless it is not a school day??

[carolinacool]

Parent teacher conference day instead.
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Same here, although the school after-care will be open all day for those students. I'm comfortable sending DS because it's a much, much smaller number of kids to keep up with.

[petesgirl]

The voting is in the gym, and obviously kids won't have gym that day. I am strangely paranoid about school access to any crazies who are out there on that day. I've thought about keeping the kids home, which I swear, is completely out of the norm for me. I'm usually a "lady, ease up on the paranoia. Your kids will be fine" kind of person, so this is kind of laughable for me. My husband thinks I'm crazy, but is fine if I want to keep the kids home.

I would keep them home, and I would make it known to the administration that I was doing so because of the election and safety concerns.

[vonfirmath]

Our elementary school is also a polling place. But it has been this way for years and I've seen how well they keep the kids safe and separated from the voters. They have more adults out there making sure voters do not get into the general school.

[ahisma]

School are a common polling place here. Ours is, but it's a separate entrance without access to the school once you're inside (it's the pool lobby). I'm not worried about our community - it's pretty off the radar and there isn't a lot of hysteria in our immediate neighborhood.

If it were in the school and I felt like things were inflamed in my community, I'd probably keep my kids home.

[egoldber]

Schools are polling places here, but we always have the Monday and Tuesday of election day week as teacher work days for the end of the first quarter. Typically they also offer parent teacher conferences. So the schools are open, but the kids are off.

Many schools in our district are not doing parent teacher conferences on the Tuesday this year. Our school is not doing them that day, but has offered other days and times instead to keep the school clear of all non-voting traffic that day. We have a tiny parking lot anyway.

[AngB]

The voting is in the gym, and obviously kids won't have gym that day. I am strangely paranoid about school access to any crazies who are out there on that day. I've thought about keeping the kids home, which I swear, is completely out of the norm for me. I'm usually a "lady, ease up on the paranoia. Your kids will be fine" kind of person, so this is kind of laughable for me. My husband thinks I'm crazy, but is fine if I want to keep the kids home.

Can they enter the school through the gym and leave through the gym? Is there going to be a school resource officer or some type of security ensuring the voters stay in the gym and leave directly? I would talk to the school but they are probably going to have low attendance that day anyway because I can promise you aren't the only one concerned.

Yesterday at my clinical site I was talking to the nurse who had to bring her son in (they called her in and he was on fall break so came along for a couple hours) and she was telling me how they had voting in the schools right by the kids during the primaries and she kept her son home because she was really uncomfortable with it, and enough people complained and kept their kids home that they decided then to not have schools open this election. (The district we live in has had schools closed the last few years as they were not comfortable with the security risk or possibly the low attendance.)

[calebsmama03]

Our schools are closed on election day because some are polling places. I would not be ok, in this day and age and particularly this election, having my child there while random people were coming in to vote. Not ok. Poor planning on the district's part not to close school. It took one district around here forever to get on board with closing schools for voting but after the primaries when a lot of people complained AND kept their children home, they changed it.

I would absolutely not be OK with school going on while the school is a polling place. I am normally the same, OP. I rolled my eyes at the people out here (thousands of miles away) freaking out and going to get kids early when Sandy Hook happened (not minimizing or discounting that in any way, it was gut-wrenching but it was 2000 miles away and not a risk to our local kids, KWIM). I would absolutely not send my kids to school *for this election* in your scenario. And I'd be caling the school board and district admin to tell them why. There are some total whackos out there this time and the risk of violence from some tea party vigilante (or otherwise) is just not worth it.

[NCGrandma]

Interesting--this thread prompted me to look at the list of polling places here, and the school calendar. Looks like most polling places are either in schools or churches, with a smattering of fire stations etc. Our school system has a teacher workday scheduled for Election Day. Not sure of the motivation, but even without paranoia or security concerns, many of these schools have small poorly designed parking.


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[PZMommy]

My school is a polling place, and many schools in my district are polling places. No plans to close school. My district would lose too much money and too many parents would complain if we closed it with such short notice. I will just hope and pray the day goes okay.

[StantonHyde]

I have voted at a local elementary school for years. We go in the main hallway and vote in a hallway. The kids come past us to start their school day. I never thought about it before. But I would this year. And if I were you, OP, I would keep my kids home too. And I send my daughter to a school where there are a number of registered sex offenders who live in the neighborhood, so I don't think of myself as paranoid.

[AnnieW625]

We vote at elementary schools most years (or sometimes the fire station) but at the schools they use the gym, auditorium, or library. If it caused a commotion which I haven't heard it ever has I am sure they wouldn't allow it. I am not worried by it.

[Globetrotter]

This has never worried me, though our elementary school is the local polling site. However, this year is just different.

[Snow mom]

Our polling place is a church but where I used to live I voted in a school and the school was open. They did separate the voters from getting into the main school (voting was in a library or cafeteria that was right inside the main doors). We live in a tiny town now but I know there is off-duty law enforcement at my polling place (because DH knows the guy and told me who he is). Honestly, I imagine he is armed, just not advertising it. I'm hoping to bring my kids to vote this year although I might skip that just to avoid crowds.

[Cam&Clay]

Schools are polling places here, but we always have the Monday and Tuesday of election day week as teacher work days for the end of the first quarter. Typically they also offer parent teacher conferences. So the schools are open, but the kids are off.

Many schools in our district are not doing parent teacher conferences on the Tuesday this year. Our school is not doing them that day, but has offered other days and times instead to keep the school clear of all non-voting traffic that day. We have a tiny parking lot anyway.

And teachers have been asked to "work from home" on that day to keep the parking lots clear!

[bisous]

I'm not too worried about things but I do understand where you are coming from. I think keeping the kids home could be educational too but that might just be the homeschooler in me that is coming out. :)

[KrisM]

Our school is a polling place too. In the March vote, the traffic was just a nightmare. I was helping in the parking lot and it was a little scary trying to direct voters where to park during drop-off and pick-up school times. We quickly ran out of spots and traffic backed up.

Elementary is off on Nov 8 for that election. Thank goodness!

But, I will say that the school worked with the local police to come up with a plan for keeping all voters separated from students during the March vote. it worked well. We did have kids kept home from fear, but it was probably safer that day than any other.

[wendibird22]

Lots of schools are polling places. Polling places are legally required to meet certain standards, especially accessibility to those with a disability, so I can see why schools easily fit the bill.

I wouldn't be too worried and here's why...there's likely far more monitoring of the property on this day (open to the public) than on a day with an assembly or other event where parents, grandparents, etc come (think band concert, student of the month assembly, moving up night). These are all, theoretically, strangers and yet we don't bat an eye about several hundred people in a crowded aud/cafeteria and I'm guessing most of the time these people are ID'd, searched, monitored, etc. I know at my kids school, when there's assembly, parents/family just walk right in the main entrance and straight to the cafeteria. Yes there's a person in the hall but aside from that no extra measures. I'd assume on an election day there will be people making sure that community members walk straight in, do their business and leave.

And I'm not worried about random acts of violence during the election day. I'm worried about it when the polls close and the winner is announced.

[anonomom]

When I was a kid, our high school was a polling place. I always kind of liked it -- it really felt like something important was happening. My kids' school is not a polling place, but the middle school with which we share a campus is. I'm ok with it. I would hope (perhaps naively?) that being around children would give even the most belligerent "poll watchers" pause.

If they close school on election day, that makes it harder for parents to get to the polls by adding a layer of child-care complexity to the day.

I'd also far rather have people voting at schools than in churches.

[*myfoursons]

Thanks for all the responses everyone. The school said they will have a staff member in the gym for monitoring, but that doesn't seem like much to me. I'm really undecided on what to do, and will probably gauge the mood of the area as we near election.

[rlu]

Our elementary school is also a polling place. But it has been this way for years and I've seen how well they keep the kids safe and separated from the voters. They have more adults out there making sure voters do not get into the general school.

This. Voting is in the teacher's lounge at our local elementary, which is on the edge of the campus.

eta: our school has little parking and we live close enough that voters will be parking and walking by our house all day long. Depending on the weather maybe we'll sell either lemonade or coffee, should have a good (sized, and hopefully behaved) crowd this election...

[AnnieW625]

If you have early voting in your area you may not have a large turnout in Election Day.


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[NCGrandma]

If you have early voting in your area you may not have a large turnout in Election Day.


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Here, they're predicting about 50% of total voters will vote early, so should still be a decent turnout.


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[Bens Momma]

Our old school was a polling place. They made election day an inservice day just for teachers & staff, and although it wasn't said officially I'm sure it was due to safety and security of students. I have to say that I don't think I'd want my student attending on election day, just too many random people and hard to keep track of people coming & going. I'd rather be safe than sorry!

[Swish]

We're off that day too. If we weren't, I planned to keep the kids home just to avoid the craziness in the parking lot. Past elections have been ok, but voter turnout is always much higher during presidential elections.

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[123LuckyMom]

Our elementary school (which is our polling place) is closed, too. I've always brought my kids with me to vote. DS came to vote for Obama when he was two weeks old. This year, I won't take them to the polls. I'm not really worried given that I live in a super blue state, but with the stories I've heard about how some Trump supporters intend to intimidate people at the polls (like a man who created a wire cage for the back of his pickup truck intended to hold all the people he'd catch committing voter fraud), I'm not going to risk my children seeing something awful. Or risk there being guns or something there. It's hard to imagine in my town, but you never know. I'm going to vote early. I haven't decided yet whether I'll take the kids. I'd like to, but DD might not behave in a more quiet, less official seeming setting.


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[maestramommy]

Our town HS is the polling place, and it always closes on General election day. Actually there's no school in the entire district. I usually take the kids with me because I can't leave them at home alone. This year my mom is voting for the first time since moving here, so I guess we're all going together.

there are Trump supporters here, but even they seem like reasonable folks. I'm pretty sure that if any self-appointed poll watchers show up and try to give voters a hard time the police will be on them like white on rice.

[hwin708]

My former polling location (we got reshuffled to a different one about a year ago) was a local school about 6 blocks from me. All girls, K-12, private, very expensive, upscale school. Voting went on during the normal school day in the cafeteria. I have no idea where the kids ate. But you entered the school through the front gate, walked through the playground and straight into the cafeteria. Aside from moving them somewhere for lunch, there was no change to the school day. If I voted during recess, then I would be walking through a playground filled with school children.

Honestly, I never really thought about it. I can see the positives, with the girls seeing how many people turn out to vote, and it becoming ingrained in them as something people just do. But there was always security, both for the voting room, and the regular cop on guard at the front gate. So I think anyone behaving inappropriately would have been dealt with swiftly.

Oh, and there is only street parking in this area, so no parking lot swarms.