A sign placed outside a church serving as a polling place in New Port Richey is causing controversy on Facebook.
The sign outside Grace of God Church on Rowan Road reads: "Don't vote for Democrats on Tuesday and sing 'Oh How I Love Jesus' on Sunday."
The Facebook post has drawn critical comments:
- "Perhaps you should look up the word 'Grace' in the dictionary. I hope your 'church' is held accountable."
- "Ahhh. Of course. Those who spout their supposed Christianity the loudest yet again prove to be the least Christian among us."
- "Shame on you. Jesus loved everyone. You are the type of 'religion' that gives Christianity a bad name. I was raised Baptist. SHAME ON YOU."
In response, the official church account posted: "Wow...this is the most activity on the Fb page we have ever had. Your problem is not with this sign but with God. Who am I to please, man or God?"
Pasco County Supervisor of Election Brian Corley said he is aware of the sign but says he can't do anything about it because it was placed 100 feet from the entrance.
"Beyond the 100 feet, I have no legal authority, and in this case, it's private property. We were made aware of this sign earlier, and I had my staff contact the facility. It was relayed to them that it was an individual who put the sign up. Upon hearing that the sign was featured on the Church's Facebook page, I contacted the pastor in the hopes he would remove the overtly political sign as we were getting a tremendous amount of complaints from voters. The Pastor relayed that 'he' personally placed the sign there, but the church supports him."
Corley says the church may not be used as a polling place in the future because of the sign.
"I relayed that it was inappropriate for the owner of a facility used as an election day polling place to put an overtly political sign out. He indicated he would not take the sign down, and I told him that his decision would result in us not using his facility as a polling place and it would cost the taxpayer money to notify the voters of a change of a polling place and legal advertising. Also, an inconvenience to those voters in that precinct who now must go to a new polling place in the future."
The sign is no longer there and according to someone campaigning, there was an argument between voters and the pastor. One of the voters reportedly pulled it out of the ground and drove off with it.
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