Candlelight likely to remain polling place

COEUR d’ALENE — Kootenai County commissioners are likely to reverse a tentative decision to move the polling place currently located at Candlelight Christian Fellowship.

Commissioners Bill Brooks and Chris Fillios voted Tuesday in favor of changing the polling location for precincts 403 and 405 from Candlelight to Community United Methodist Church, pending an opinion from the county’s legal team.

Leslie Duncan wasn’t present for the meeting.

The initial vote came after dozens of Kootenai County residents asked the board to move the polling place to a different location, citing concerns about the church’s political activities.

Paul Van Noy, the church’s founding pastor, has prayed over and endorsed candidates before his congregation. Candlelight also hosts political events.

“There is a great deal of concern over the hyperpartisan nature of the church,” Fillios said Tuesday. “I cannot support the continuance of Candlelight Christian as a polling location.”

But Brooks said Friday that he plans to change his vote when the matter comes before the board again Tuesday.

Though he disapproves of Candlelight’s “hyper-politicized” activities, he said he hasn’t seen hard proof that the church engages in active electioneering or intimidation on Election Day.

“If you show me something they did to influence people on Election Day, I’ll be happy to consider it,” Brooks said.

The point may have been moot. Idaho law requires counties to designate the same polling place for the primary and general election, “insofar as possible.”

That’s why Kootenai County Clerk Jim Brannon, whose responsibilities include running elections, said he won’t move the polling place before the general election, regardless of how the commissioners vote.

“Idaho code is clear,” he said.

Several voters whose assigned polling place is at Candlelight questioned whether their ballots are secure at the church. Others said Candlelight engages in significantly more partisan activities than other church polling sites.

“I have voted in other local churches before, but Candlelight is different for me because of how actively and vocally they exclude and discriminate against members of our community,” one voter wrote in an email to commissioners.

If voters are unwilling or unable to vote in person on Election Day, they can complete an absentee ballot.

“I very much appreciate that absentee is an option, but I do not feel that I should have to use it because I am uncomfortable with my polling site,” another voter said.

Van Noy said he believes those who want the polling place moved are “persecuting” and mischaracterizing him.

“I am being accused of being discriminatory,” he said Friday.

In June, amid discussions on the city’s invocation policy, Van Noy asked the Coeur d’Alene City Council to continue to allow him to choose who leads pre-meeting prayers so that only Christian invocations would be made.

He indicated that he preferred not to allow members of certain Christian denominations to give invocations, including members of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints and Catholics, who make up about half the county’s religious population.

“We cannot discriminate,” Councilman Dan Gookin said.

“You cannot. I can,” Van Noy said.

Alicia Abbot, a Bonner County resident and North Idaho coordinator for the Idaho 97 Project, cited Van Noy’s words Tuesday when she addressed commissioners, asking them to move the polling place.

She added that numerous Kootenai County voters have expressed to her their discomfort voting at Candlelight because of Van Noy’s public comments and his church’s political activities.

Though he founded and leads the church, Van Noy maintains that he doesn’t speak for Candlelight as an entity — even when he urges his congregation to vote a particular way during a service, as he did ahead of the Coeur d’Alene School District’s recent levy.

He advised Candlelight attendees in August to vote against the levy, saying public schools “are on a mission to destroy your children.”

Van Noy objected to criticism of his comments on the levy and said he’s being “treated poorly” by some members of the public.

“I give my opinion and then I’m being scrutinized, even within the walls of my church, on video,” he said Friday. “I feel like that is wrong.”

Political signs are not permitted on Candlelight’s property, Van Noy said. But the church makes political materials, such as leaflets and sample ballots, available to visitors. In the past, Van Noy said he has sometimes created a guide for voters.

The materials are cleared away before the polls open.

Van Noy said moving the polling place because of Candlelight’s political activities would be a “direct assault” against him, but he acknowledged that it would not infringe on his right to free speech.

“The government is not trying to take away my freedom of speech,” he said. “There are individuals in our community that are.”

He also questioned whether public schools are appropriate polling places.

Idaho law requires that public school facilities be made available as polling places, but Kootenai County has steadily moved away from using them. Just 10 schools were polling places for the May primary election, compared to 23 churches.

Brannon indicated that this shift occurred because schools present logistical challenges, such as safety protocols and the potential for lockdowns.

Scott Maben, director of communications for the Coeur d’Alene School District, noted that elections necessitate breaks from some normal safety protocols. Visitors to a school typically present a photo ID and receive a badge, for example. Not so on Election Day.

“(The school district has) long felt that’s a challenge of how we conduct school and ensure student safety while still giving the public access to the polling place for voting,” Maben said.

Brooks said the matter of Candlelight as a polling place can — and perhaps should — be revisited after the general election. He suggested a town hall, where voters can ask questions about the selection process and share their thoughts.

“I want people to engage in thoughtful dialogue with each other,” he said.