Satellite voting took place at Cornerstone Church on Sunday, despite accusations that there would be electioneering and influence on voters directed toward both the Story County Auditor and the church.

Story County Auditor Mary Mosiman said more than 100 voters cast their ballots at the Cornerstone polling station, while an estimated 1,600 people attended the Sunday services last weekend. Satellite voting this year has seen a low turnout, Mosiman said, especially when compared to the 2008 presidential election, which turned out 300 or more votes at satellite stations.

The Cornerstone location has been the busiest station this year. However, Mosiman did not make any speculations as to what proportion of the votes came from members of the church itself.

“We’ve seen both, either the members of the church or the people who came here specifically to vote,” Mosiman said. “We anticipate that we’ll receive traffic through two o’clock.”

The final service ended at noon.

Mosiman and Cornerstone were still adamant in their defense that there would be no electioneering or campaigning during the church service or at the poll site.

“I’ve talked with a number of people who are members of this church and a good portion of the staff members here, even the ones who preach the message,” Mosiman said. “I do know that they might be saying that we might have satellite available, but they won’t be saying vote this way or that way … If that takes place in the church, that’s their risk.”

There was no mention of the polling or the election during the church service, aside from a brief statement in the program that read “Register to vote in the south auditorium foyer on Oct. 24.”

“We feel fine, I think that everyone got to vote who wanted to vote. The issue for us is to make sure that there is no disruption of the service because of the voting or the voting because of our service,” said Tim Lubinus, the Cornerstone global and regional ministries pastor.

Some members of the church who did not vote refused to comment and instead directed questions to Lubinus. However, one voting member, Peter Gudlewski, was willing to discuss his feelings regarding the polls.

“It’s a little curious, however … I haven’t heard anyone in church, any of the elder team, any of the pastors, anything like that mention anything about the election,” Gudlewski said. “They didn’t even say anything today that it was going on … knowing that they didn’t press anything or have any type of an agenda or publicity about the whole event made me a little more comfortable. They were very good about that, making sure they were unbiased and things like that.”

There are still four more voting sites, three of which will be next Saturday at Hy-Vee West, the Lincoln Center Hy-Vee and the First Evangelical Free Church.

The final polling station will be from 8 a.m. to 2 p.m. next Sunday at the Stonebrook Church.