Can you think of anything more dangerous than having hundreds — maybe even thousands — of full-blooded strangers barging into the buildings where our precious children learn?

Well, how about all those strangers not barging in, not even being allowed across the threshold, thanks to new, completely hysteria-driven restrictions on voting in the schools?

More and more schools and districts are saying no to the age-old American tradition of hosting elections in the school gym. It's a "risk" they say they cannot take.

Except that, as far as I can tell, it never has posed any risk at all — and still doesn't.

An article in the Iowa City Press-Citizen details how Election Day already has changed in Iowa. Only 7 percent of voting is still done in public schools. "The pressure to move polling places out of schools intensified following the December school shooting in Newtown, Conn.," writes the reporter, Emily Schettler. Yet — what is the connection? One terrible thing happens in one place and suddenly all voters in all schools are regarded as potential terrorists? Should schools outlaw basketball games, too?

The article adds that although there haven't been any serious problems in Iowa during elections, "officials pushing the moves say they want to avoid future issues."

Which, in case you haven't noticed, is an argument you could use to outlaw absolutely anything. "Though there haven't been any problems with kids impaling themselves on pencils, we want to avoid..." "So far, no children have violently collided during square dance instruction, but we hope to avoid..."

Here's an idea: Why don't officials try to avoid going crazy worrying, "What if an exceedingly unlikely event that never happened in this context not only happens again but happens in exactly this context?"

Already one county has had to spend $8,000 for polling space because the schools — free and paid for by our taxes — were no longer available. So now the county is missing out on a nice chunk of change that could have been used for, I don't know, buying copies of the Constitution? And the school kids there don't even get to see their parents, neighbors or other local adults exercising the inalienable right that makes America such a beacon of fear.

Er, freedom.

Look, there's safety, and then there's sanity. Ideally, the two go hand in hand. But when it comes to kids and schools, it feels as if they aren't even allowed in the same building.

Lenore Skenazy is the author of "Free-Range Kids: How to Raise Safe, Self-Reliant Children (Without Going Nuts with Worry)" and "Who's the Blonde That Married What's-His-Name? The Ultimate Tip-of-the-Tongue Test of Everything You Know You Know — But Can't Remember Right Now." To find out more about Lenore Skenazy ([email protected]) and read features by other Creators Syndicate writers and cartoonists, visit the Creators Syndicate Web page at www.creators.com.