FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
November 1, 2024
Contact: Heather Cabral, hcabral@faithinaction.org, 202-550-6880
Zack Cohen, zcohen@westendstrategy.com, 404-821-0572
Faith in Action and Congregation Action Network call out SCOTUS for undermining democracy and voting rights days before the election
WASHINGTON – Faith and immigrant justice leaders in Virginia and nationwide encourage eligible Virginia voters impacted by the Supreme Court decision to reregister through same-day voting and participate in this election. All eligible Virginia voters can register at their polling locations during early voting and on Election Day, and cast their ballots on the same day.
Leaders with Faith in Action, the largest faith-based grassroots organizing network, criticized the Supreme Court’s decision this week, noting that it undermines democracy and voting rights to allow 1,600 individuals to be wrongfully removed from Virginia’s voter rolls, due to data errors, days before Election Day. Black, Brown, and immigrant voters are often disproportionately impacted by voter purges and are also less likely to have the time and resources to fix the situation, the leaders noted in their statements.
Omar Angel Perez, immigrant justice director of Faith in Action said: “As people of faith, we are called to uphold justice and protect the dignity of every individual. This Supreme Court decision goes directly against these core values we hold dear and undermines our fundamental, constitutionally guaranteed right to vote. All efforts to discount and disenfranchise voters ahead of this election should be called out as a blatant attempt to undermine our democracy. It is deeply troubling to see Black, Brown and immigrant communities repeatedly scapegoated and leveraged as a political bargaining chip. We are deeply committed to supporting and empowering our communities to participate in the democratic process and will continue to call out all bad-faith efforts to impede us from doing so.”
Julio Hernandez, executive director of Congregation Action Network, based in the DC metro area said: “We encourage all eligible voters impacted by this decision to reregister at their polling locations and participate in this election. Same-day registration is a tool at our disposal to combat undemocratic efforts to disenfranchise voters like this one. We remain steadfast in our commitment to protect the sacred right to vote for all, especially Black, Brown, Indigenous and immigrant communities who continue to face hurdles to participating fully in our democracy.”
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Faith in Action is the largest grassroots, global faith-based organizing network. The nonpartisan organization works with 1,000 congregations in more than 200 cities and towns through its 46 local and state federations as well as in Haiti, Central America, Africa, and Eastern Europe.
