City officials in Rowlett, Texas don’t want Freedom Place Church to serve as an early voting location. What’s more, the city is trying to shut down the church. Last week, officials sent a letter threatening to revoke the church’s certificate of occupancy, claiming it had been “issued in error.” This would force the congregation to close its doors within 10 days.
For the second year in a row, Freedom Place Church was chosen by election officials to be Dallas County’s only early voting site in Rowlett. Election officials said the church meets all the legal requirements to be a voting location.
However, in an email to other city officials last September, Rowlett Mayor Robert Margolis said, “Rowlett City Council will not allow voting to occur in any church building. That’s not where voting belongs, and especially when the Pastor of this specific church has endorsed a candidate who will be on the ballot in November.”
Mayor Margolis’s hostility to Freedom Place resulted in Dallas County revoking an agreement for the church to serve as a voting site in 2023. Then this month, just days prior to the start of early voting, the city claims ...
