Florida Muslim Group Vows to Fight Removal of Islamic Center as Voting Site

Florida, 18 Syawwal 1437/23 July 2016 (MINA) – One of Florida’s largest Muslim advocacy groups says it plans to take legal action over the elimination of a prominent Islamic community center as a voting site for the November election.

Susan Bucher, the head of Palm Beach County’s elections department, caused outrage earlier this month by removing the Islamic Center of Boca Raton (ICBR) from the list of approved election sites after receiving calls from several dozen voters who said they would be “uncomfortable” voting there.

Her decision prompted allegations of bigotry and discrimination from mosque leaders and criticism from the city’s US representative, Lois Frankel, who said religious freedom and the right to vote were “both fundamental to our democracy”.

After a personal visit by Bucher failed to appease center officials, the Council on American-Islamic Relations (CAIR) said the likely next step to try to get the decision reversed was filing a lawsuit.

“She visited the center for a face-to-face meeting with its leadership and general community, an opportunity to hint she was in the process of reevaluating, or assembling a team to at least explore the possibility, but she didn’t do that,” said civil rights attorney Wilfredo Amr Ruiz, who is also communications director for the Florida chapter of CAIR.

“That’s why the legal process and our legal team are still very active, and why we’re exploring all the avenues. We have been approached by other human rights organizations who are interested in joining the effort. The next step is most probably going to be a legal step.”

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There are about 80 Christian churches and five synagogues assigned as polling stations in Palm Beach county, according to an Associated Press review, but Ruiz said he was not aware of any other mosques that have been designated in the entire state.

Based on complaints fom voters?

Bucher’s office did not respond to a request for comment, but in an emailed statement to the Palm Beach Post last week the elections supervisor claimed the decision to move the voting venue was not taken lightly.

“We began receiving complaints from voters. Some felt uncomfortable voting at the Islamic Center,” the statement said.

“When we received a call that indicated individuals planned to impede voting and maybe even call in a bomb threat to have the location evacuated on election day (no name was given during the call), we located the Spanish River library which is two miles away from the center as an alternative voting location.”

Bucher had invited ICBR president Bassem Alhalabi to prepare the 30,000 square feet community center for use as a polling station in April, and mosque leaders say they planned to use election day to showcase the facility.

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“We thought it’d be great to invite the community at large to visit us. We had planned to serve snacks and desserts and water,” Alhalabi told Gossip Extra.

But Bucher said the choice of venue did not sit well with many among the “50 or so anonymous callers”, even though voting was set to take place in a large reception hall and not in any area used for prayer. According to documents made public this week by Bucher’s office, the calls and emails started when registration cards for the precinct’s 2,500 voters began arriving in mailboxes listing the center as their new designated polling site.

“My polling place has changed from a school to the Islamic Center of Boca Raton. Outraged to say the least right after what happened to us in Orlando!” one email said.

“Surrender to an Islamophobic campaign”.

Meanwhile, the Boca Raton police department confirmed on Wednesday that detectives were “actively investigating” a bomb threat against the center allegedly phoned in to Bucher’s office on 8 July.

As well as considering legal action, CAIR has urged Muslims to call or email Bucher to protest her “surrender to an Islamophobic campaign”.

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“If it’s a question of numbers, if she needs a thousand calls to counter the 50 she received, I can arrange that,” Ruiz said. “There are 500 people at the centre every Friday, and the community has been activated to address directly the supervisor’s office.

“The center is a large, modern structure, has ample parking, bathrooms in every corner, has an open house for the community every week and it’s proactive in engaging the community. [Bucher] came to her own conclusion during an open house there that this was a suitable place.”

Christine Spain, a Republican who is challenging Bucher for the supervisor of elections job in an election next month, accused her opponent of “letting the situation get out of hand”.

“The library’s only two miles away, they could have avoided this whole firestorm by going there in the first place,” she said.

“Anybody espousing sharia law and running an Islamic center, to me that’s incompatible with free elections, democracy, our constitution. I know people want to play up the religious aspect but this is so much more than a religion, is not the same thing as a church for voting. It was very poor judgment in the first place with the backdrop of everything going on.” (T/R07/R01)

Mi’raj Islamic News Agency (MINA)