For Planning Purposes: October 27, 2020
Contact: Heather Cabral | 202-550-6880 | hcabral@faithinaction.org
Erin Williams | 202-748-0699 | ewilliams@faithinaction.org
WASHINGTON – Rev. Juard Barnes, Midwest Regional Lead for Faith in Action, has issued a statement on yesterday’s Supreme Court Ruling that all absentee ballots for the state of Wisconsin must be received by 8:00 p.m. on November 3, and no late ballot will be counted regardless of the postmark date.
“We are in the middle of a pandemic that is affecting tens of thousands of Wisconsin residents, and disproportionately people of color and poor people, as well as a postal service whose delivery has been severely compromised in recent months. People are being cheated out of their right to vote by the highest court in the land, and that is a crime in itself. Once again, people of faith are reeling at the unconscionable democracy backsliding, as the Supreme Court rules to suppress the votes of a vulnerable and exposed population by not allowing mail-in ballots received after Election Day.
“The openness of this erosion of restraints in a racially polarized party system being upheld by a stacked Supreme Court is not the spirit in which we, as people of faith operate. We renounce this clear case of deck stacking, knowing that in the Wisconsin primaries, similar tactics were employed, voting by people of color was suppressed by as much as 10%.
“We invite people of good conscience to mobilize and re-enfranchise the most vulnerable with a powerful response characterized by record enthusiasm against this end run around the 15 Amendment. Let’s call our people, move Souls to the Polls like never before as a response to regimes that seek, at every turn to unleash a vast system of obstacles to an American dream.”
This year, Faith in Action launched its Rise+Vote campaign, a comprehensive education, registration, and mobilization campaign. Rise+Vote aims to make sure that voters who have been politically redlined are heard at the polls. Congregations are one of the most powerful organizing tools we have, and it is through faith that the organization will move communities to the polls. Additionally, over the past year, Faith in Action has been energizing its network to encourage historically underrepresented and undercounted communities to get out the vote. To date, the Faith in Action network has conducted over 1.1 million live conversations with voters.
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Faith in Action, formerly known as PICO National Network, is the largest grassroots, faith-based organizing network in the United States. The nonpartisan organization works with 1,000 religious congregations in more than 200 cities and towns through its 46 local and state federations. For more information, visit www.faithinaction.org.
Faith in Action is a 501c(3). Faith in Action and its affiliates are non-partisan and are not aligned explicitly or implicitly with any candidate or party. We do not endorse or support candidates for office.
