Many schools in Maricopa County have opted out of being voting centers this election season. Citing safety concerns, crowding and potential chaos, many schools that once participated don’t want to serve anymore.
The Show looked at a list of voting center locations and found among them many city halls, churches, libraries and one voting center that was a bit more unusual — the Messinger Indian School Mortuary.
Sabrina Messinger-Acevedo, a third-generation funeral home director, joined The Show to discuss.
Full conversation
I arrived at Messinger Indian School Mortuary in Scottsdale on a bright sunny afternoon and spotted a plaque in the ivy landscaping right outside the main entrance.
It read: “Show me the manner in which a nation or community cares for its dead. And I will measure with mathematical exactness, the tender sympathies of its people, their respect for the laws of the land and the loyalty to high ideals.”
It's a quote from William Gladstone. And while other parts of the country might think a funeral home is an odd place to have a voting center, this plaque has already set the tone for my interview with Sabrina Messinger-Acevedo.
SATIVA PETERSON: How long has the family run business been a polling place in Scottsdale?
SABRINA MESSINGER-ACEVEDO: Yeah. So we've served as a polling place for almost, I think almost over 20 years now. My grandfather was in politics starting very young and he served in kind of a couple of different capacities, including serving three terms with the Arizona House of Representatives, Scottsdale, vice mayor, Scottsdale city councilman.
And I think being within this industry, you have a sense of commitment to your community and supporting democracy as well. So this kind of was just a natural progression.
And I think it just goes hand in hand because we take pride working with everyone, regardless of race, ethnicity, religion. We're here to serve our community and this is no different. We're centrally located, we have plenty of parking. So we hope that this alleviates a little bit of stress when people are coming to vote the day of.
PETERSON: Well, and this has been a particularly stressful election season and it feels like we're inundated with really negative ads. So maybe this is a nice reminder for people, that at the end of the day, we're just happy to be here.
MESSINGER-ACEVEDO: Absolutely. I completely agree and, and we were so happy to serve as a polling place to try to bring our community together as well.
We have a beautiful courtyard reception room where the voting is held. It's just a steady flow of people throughout the entire day. And I know in the past in prior elections, we've had voting here, and we've had lines wrapping around the building and, and we stay here until everyone has had a chance to vote.
PETERSON: This is just for, on a human level, this is sort of the most nonpartisan space around. Do you think people are a little bit more in touch with their mortality or thinking about, “ey, this is, this is just an election and no matter what we're gonna go on and we're gonna spend some time with our families and, and reflect maybe on the, what's more important.”
MESSINGER-ACEVEDO: I think, maybe being here that definitely put some of that in perspective. And maybe by coming here, it makes people realize what's really important. And hopefully we don't tear each other down just because of differences in opinions and we're able to support that democracy.
PETERSON: You know, this can be a place of high emotion or people are, are undergoing difficult circumstances when they're losing a loved one. Have you seen anyone misbehave when they came here to, to vote?
MESSINGER-ACEVEDO: You know what? That's, that's a good question. Honestly, we've never had any issues. And, and like you said, there's high emotions so we're definitely equipped to deal with that when that arises. But no, usually everybody is on their good behavior, I would say.
PETERSON: Well, that's good to hear.
MESSINGER-ACEVEDO: I consider myself lucky to be able to work alongside my grandfather every single day. He's going to be 95 next month. And, and he's kind of as I've grown up, he's shown me that it's so important to be there for your community. And we originally started our first funeral home in 1959 when Scottsdale was just a small rural farming town.
And at that time, they felt like because of their size, they didn't really need a funeral home, but what they really needed was an ambulance service. So in order to proceed with opening the funeral home, we also had to act as Scottsdale’s first ambulance service. And I hope to continue that legacy of serving our community in numerous different ways and especially with where we can kind of step in and fill that void.
PETERSON: Well, this is not my local voting center, but it does feel like a very serene and lovely place to think about our kind of a unique place.
MESSINGER-ACEVEDO: Absolutely.
