Approximately 65% of Americans identify as Christian according to a Pew Forum Survey in 2019. While this percentage has fallen from 75% a decade ago, this number still tells us a sobering story. We know that the most strident Trump supporters are often white Evangelical Christians. We can conclude that more than half of those participating in voter intimidation tactics during this election likely identify as Christian.
I believe it is impossible to call ourselves Christians when we engage in direct voter intimidation or stand idly by as it happens. We should not even need to condemn the use of guns to intimidate people; this should be a given understanding, a rule of life, if you will.
If we consider ourselves to be Christians, a primary doctrine of Christianity and Judaism holds that we are each created in the image of God. The Bible is full of examples supporting our uniqueness in the eyes of God. This sacred relationship between Creator and creature cannot be undone by humans. It simply is not possible for us to undo or cut that spiritual and ontological tie between us and the One who made us.
Silencing others is a means to attempt to cut that tie to the Divine. By denying the voice of another, we effectively discount that individual’s claim to have been created in the image of God, the imago Dei. We have no right to do this, and more importantly, we should not wish to discount or undermine the Divine relationship between others and God. This is blasphemous behavior if we truly claim the Way of Jesus as our life’s journey.
We have a duty to call out injustice
In his encounters with others, Jesus usually asked them what they wanted him to do. He encouraged others to voice their needs and concerns. Jesus listened to the marginalized, the Samaritans, the gentiles, even Roman soldiers. We are called to do likewise, and if we see injustice, we have a duty to call it out and to try to stop it. As the late John Lewis is so often quoted, “We must engage in good trouble, necessary trouble.’ I can hear his honeyed tones as he exhorts us to treat our vote as sacred.
History does repeat itself
The U.S. has engaged in voter intimidation for so long that, sadly, we don’t even seem to recognize it anymore. This election cycle has revealed the most blatant efforts to undermine the vote by people of color that I can ever remember. The lengths to which federal and state leaders are in league with each other to suppress voting borders on the surreal. How can it be legal at any level to have one ballot drop off box for Harris County, TX, the home to 4.7M people? How is this possible? History is repeating itself, and this newest version of voter intimidation seems ugliest of all. It seems ugliest because we are going backward by losing the great strides made after the passage of the Voting Rights Act of 1965. A ho-hum attitude only worsens this major problem.
Voter intimidation and suppression is happening all over the U.S.
People in Georgia have stood in line for 10 or more hours to vote in predominantly Black and Brown neighborhoods.
In California, the State Republican Party admits to placing 50 misleading or fake ballot boxes.
A uniformed police officer in Miami wore a “Trump 2020” mask at an early voting site, which violates department and polling place policy by promoting a political candidate. He reportedly faces suspension as a result.
Here is @CityofMiami Police Officer Daniel Ubeda, in full uniform with badge and gun wearing his Trump mask inside of the polling location in government center.
This is city funded voter intimidation.
Ubeda should be suspended immediately. pic.twitter.com/TbJxu6mcem
— Steve Simeonidis (@stevesimeonidis) October 20, 2020
In Detroit, MI, Liberty Temple Church has an official ballot box located near the church’s front door. To intimidate voters, someone placed a mysterious white box next to the ballot box. After police, firefighters, and the bomb squad arrived on the scene, these safety agencies deemed the white box a hoax. Such conduct intends to keep people from voting, regardless of whether the device happens to be a threat. Real and perceived threats operate exactly the same; they intend to scare people away, to void our constitutionally guaranteed right to vote and to diminish the personhood of voters.
Federal law prohibits voter intimidation; those doing so face lengthy federal prison sentences
NBC News reports on valuable info about voting rights. Federal law states that “no person, whether acting under color of law or otherwise, shall intimidate, threaten, or coerce, or attempt to intimidate, threaten, or coerce any person for voting or attempting to vote.”
Examples of voter intimidation include:
- Confronting voters, especially doing so in military-style uniforms,
- Brandishing firearms to intimidate voters from approaching a polling station or casting a vote,
- Verbally threatening violence
Also, poll watchers who monitor the actual voting process have strict guidelines on what they can do and say:
- They are prohibited from campaigning inside a precinct,
- They cannot interfere with the voting process beyond reporting an issue,
- Even with the right certifications, poll watchers cannot aggressively ask voters about their citizenship, criminal record, or other qualifications in a manner that interferes with a person’s voter rights.
How should we respond to voter intimidation?
“If somebody were to ask that kind of a question of you, you can just sign [a sworn statement] to affirm the truth of who you are and your eligibility. So there’s a mechanism that will allow you to vote, even if somebody is asking questions,” Sarah Brannon of the ACLU said.
The ACLU has published a guideline we can take with us to the polls. It lists what steps we can take if we think voter intimidation occurs.
Call 1-866-OUR-VOTE to report voter intimidation. Report these incidents to the voting precinct manager, too. Call the polling station’s local police precinct if a situation is escalating to violence and let them deal with it.
If you are clergy/laity or an attorney, contact Lawyers and Collars to learn more about what you can do on election day. Clergy are needed to provide a calming ministry of presence at polling places, especially in the nine battleground states: Alabama, Arizona, Florida, Michigan, Nevada, North Carolina, Ohio, Pennsylvania, Texas, Wisconsin. There is training available and printable resources and in the resources section of the PTM website.
If you are an attorney, you can volunteer to be an election protection attorney who answers a hotline for people in the field with voter-related issues. Find out how to get involved at Lawyers and Collars.
I will be a poll chaplain on November 3rd, through Lawyers and Collars, and I will let you know how it goes!
Peace to you, and peace to our country. May we all be safe and protected, the voters, the poll workers and chaplains, the counters, and all who contribute to our beloved democracy. May justice prevail on November 3rd and beyond, and may we safely move toward the transfer of power as required by our US Constitution.
