Town officials have agreed to move a polling place out of the Wesley United Methodist Church after a Jewish attorney claimed in a federal lawsuit that the site violated his voting rights.
Robert Meltzer asked for the change after voting last year in a booth located directly below a large cross. When town officials refused to move the site, he sued them, citing the First and 14th Amendments.
Voting in churches is common throughout New England and permitted under Massachusetts law. Almost 60 cities and towns in the state have polling places at churches or synagogues.
The Framingham board agreed to hold a public hearing to discuss an alternative site and, in return, Meltzer dropped his lawsuit and waived claims for reimbursement of attorney's fees.
The town did not admit liability as part of the settlement. Town manager George King said the suit wasn't worth spending "hundreds of thousands of dollars" to defend. Meltzer would not comment.