PEMBROKE PARK, Fla. – The Florida chapter of the Council on American-Islamic Relations is calling for the restoration of a South Florida mosque as a polling location.
Bassem Alhalabi, president of the Islamic Center of Boca Raton, told the South Florida SunSentinel that Palm Beach County Supervisor of Elections Susan Bucher changed the polling precinct from his mosque to the Spanish River Library after she received about 50 phone calls from voters expressing their concerns.
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Alhalabi said the decision is discrimination against Muslims.
"The supervisor of elections is evidently targeted by an organized lobbying campaign spreading fear and Islamophobia," CAIR spokeswoman Laila Abdelaziz said in a statement Monday. "Her discretion to designate or remove polling sites must never be based on religious, racial or ethnic bias. This apparent unconstitutional religious bias may need to be corrected by our courts."
Abdelaziz said CAIR is sending a written request for the supervisor to promptly reinstate the Islamic Center of Boca Raton as a polling location and will consider every legal avenue to prevent "this openly discriminatory decision affecting the federally protected rights of the Palm Beach County voters."
Wilfredo Ruiz, public relations director for the Florida chapter of CAIR, said he is confident that it won't come to that.
"It is unfortunate that the elections supervisor felt pressured by Islamophobic sentiments, but we would like to work with the county to restore the center as a polling location in a show of support for the diversity of our local communities," Ruiz said in a statement. "Muslims are just as much a part of our society as any other demographic, and it should not be unusual when our local governments treat Muslims as normal people with the same rights as other citizens. Casting a ballot in an Islamic center should be no less controversial than doing so in a church or synagogue."
Local10.com sent an email to Bucher seeking comment, but she has not replied.
The next Florida election is scheduled for Aug. 1.