Update: Stephanie Weiss, of West St. Paul, took this photo at her polling place, St. Joseph's Church, also in West St. Paul.
The prayer was posted in a case with other announcements, inside the church lobby and within 15 feet from the polling place door. State law prohibits political material within 100 feet of the outside of the building, said Pat Turgeon, spokeswoman for the Minnesota Secretary of State's Office
Weiss said she wasn't sure whether the prayer constituted political material.
"I thought, this is why you can't campaign within 100 feet. This is how you disenfranchise people, right here," she said. "If it isn't campaign material, it was still a really insightful experience for me, but I'm shaking."
Archdiocese spokesman Jim Accurso is looking into this, and we'll update with a response soon.
Has anyone else seen this prayer inside a church-based polling place? Or, have you seen other politicking for or against the constitutional amendments within the prohibited 100 feet?
Update: Accurso responded by e-mail that the prayer had been taken down. "It was there for a few months, and the fact that it was not removed before today was a simple oversight," he wrote. "It was initially sent to all parishes over a year ago with the suggestion that it be read during Mass as part of our Prayer of the Faithful and posted as a prayer aide in our Eucharistic Adoration chapels."
