Dallas County judge orders alternate early voting site in Rowlett amid dispute with church
ROWLETT — A Dallas County judge ordered an additional early voting site be established in Rowlett amid an intense battle between the city and Freedom Place Church.
Judge Rachel Craig on Tuesday granted a temporary restraining order and ordered the Rowlett Community Centre as an alternate early voting polling location.
The community center has previously been a site for early voting in the city; however, this year, Freedom Place Church was selected.
The petition was filed Tuesday morning by Kyle Pugh, with the law firm C. Kyle Pugh, PC, on behalf of Robert Margolis, Senior Citizens of Rowlett, Michael Britt and Barbara Britt "seeking to enforce the Texas Elections Code," in regards to the voting location.
"Rowlett Community Centre has an abundance of parking, they have an abundance of ADA compliant parking, they have greater infrastructure to accommodate the citizens of Rowlett when they vote in this critical election," Pugh said Tuesday.
Margolis previously told CBS News Texas he was worried about his resident's access to the polls with the church being a smaller location with only 11 parking spaces.
The last time a presidential election was on the ballot, more than 22,000 voters turned up at the Rowlett Community Centre.
"It was the eighth highest early voter turnout in all Dallas County averaging 1,800 people voting a day," Margolis previously told CBS News Texas.
Margolis said the city offered the community center with several hundred parking spaces at no cost, anticipating even bigger crowds this time.
In a public statement last month, Margolis questioned whether the change in location would lead to "voter suppression, especially for elderly and vulnerable populations" and "run afoul of Texas Election Code" which mandates a polling place be "inside an accessible building" and that "a public building, if available, shall be used."
Freedom Place is a politically engaged church, serving as the venue for monthly meetings of the Rowlett Area Republican Women's Club and Rowlett Republican Men.
Concern over whether the small church could accommodate early voting crowds led to scrutiny of how it qualified in the first place for a permit to operate at its current building with only 10 dedicated parking spots.
In a letter to the church last week, the city's director of community development, Cori Reaume, wrote, "A recent review of the Certificate of Occupancy issued for the structure(s) at 4111 Main St, Rowlett, TX 75030 indicated that the Certificate of Occupancy was issued in error."
The city then informed Freedom Place Church that it had 10 days to submit a parking plan to avoid having its Certificate of Occupancy revoked.
Freedom Place Church's pastor Kason Huddleston dismissed concerns about parking, saying there's plenty of parking in the surrounding area.
The Rowlett church then accused Margolis of religious discrimination for his opposition to holding early voting there. In a letter to the city, First Liberty Institute accused Rowlett of violating the U.S. and Texas Constitutions by threatening to close the church's doors.
First Liberty attorneys requested the city withdraw its letter regarding the church's occupancy certificate, or else.
"We are in discussions with the City, and we are working on resolving the matter," Hiram Sasser, the Executive General Counsel at First Liberty Institute said in a statement Tuesday.
The judge did not say that the church could not be a polling location, but that the community center would also be a polling location.
Freedom Place Church is requesting a $15,000 payment for hosting early voting and election day voting.
"Dallas County Elections regularly uses and compensates private facilities as vote centers, and the total amount typically depends on several factors, including duration of use—whether it's for Election Day only or for the full Early Voting period," Dallas County Elections Department said in a statement.
However, during the Commissioner's meeting on Oct. 1, District 3 Commissioner John Wiley Price said the church was chosen because it was free.
"The priority is to find free or cost-effective locations and meet all the legal and logistical requirements," Price said at the meeting. "The decision is to use Freedom Place Church, a FREE location to help reduce the financial burden on the county, especially during a time when election costs are rising."
The city's community center was offered free of charge.
"We will make sure that every eligible voter has a safe and easy option to early vote in Rowlett," Judge Clay Jenkins said in a statement to CBS News Texas. "Eligible voters are also able to vote at any location in the county during early voting and on Election Day."