Gun carriers want old polling places

By P.J. REILLY Staff Writer

Supervisors from two townships on Wednesday asked the Lancaster County Board of Elections to reverse polling place changes made last year in their municipalities.

Part of the reason they want the changes undone is so voters can exercise their Second Amendment right to keep and bear firearms.

Duane Sellers, chairman of the Martic Township board of supervisors, asked the Election Board to move the township's polling place from Martic Elementary School back to Mount Nebo United Methodist Church.

And Conestoga Township Supervisor Steve Charles requested his township's polling place revert back to Conestoga Volunteer Fire Company, reversing last year's move to Conestoga Elementary School.

Both men said their constituents want the old polling places restored for a variety of reasons, including the fact that they cannot legally carry guns onto school property.

"It's not really so much that I want to carry that day, it's that it's another right that's trying to be eroded," Sellers said.

Conestoga resident Dan Behmer told the Election Board he's a law-abiding citizen who doesn't like being unarmed.

"I don't want to go to the polls with an M-1 strapped to my side," he said. "That's not the condition. The condition is you disarm me for one whole day, and I do not appreciate that."

The two polling places were moved to the elementary schools in October after Penn Manor School District Superintendent Michael Leichliter answered a call from the county commissioners who were seeking more local schools for polling places.

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Gun carriers want old polling places