Get out the vote
Photograph by Element5 Digital via Unsplash
Rev. Clint Schnekloth
We’re living in that moment which comes around every two years when national attention to elections means a shift to discourses prioritizing getting everyone out to the polls… or keeping them home. Remarkably (and possibly illegally) at the Republican midterm convention in Dallas, Trump promised a $5,000 “Trump Dividend” to American adults if Republicans retain control of both houses of Congress.
Get out the vote influences how public discourse happens in a variety of ways, most of it not directly related to the most basic appeal, “Get out and vote!” But I would say I always have a lot of respect for those who with the simple purity of their vision that central to democracy is widespread voter turnout, staff voter registration tables at college campuses and farmer’s markets, register voters door-to-door, and find ways to connect with new voting populations.
Albious Latior, director of Ozark Atolls, a Marshallese outreach ministry based out of our congregation, is a longstanding champion of voter participation. He not only helps new Marshallese citizen voters register for the first time, he also educates them on the issues and then helps get them to the polls. He’s aware that many things would be far better for the thousands of Marshallese who now live in this country if they were registered in larger numbers and voted as a bloc.
Latior estimates that as many as 3000 Marshallese citizen voters are eligible to vote in elections in Northwest Arkansas. Marshallese citizens living in the United States under the Compact of Free Association are not automatically U.S. citizens and cannot vote in federal elections. But their U.S.-born children are citizens, and a growing generation of Marshallese Americans is now reaching voting age.
3000 voters may seem small at the national level, certainly not enough to swing an election for the Senate or the governor’s race… but in local elections, many of which are decided by hundreds or a few thousand votes, a Marshallese electorate voting in large numbers could entirely shift local politics.
A case can be made on Christian grounds that democracy, though not perfect, is one of the most effective ways for us to be able to live out the prayer of Jesus, “on earth as in heaven,” empowering the people themselves to have a hand and voice in how they are governed and how our collective life is shared. Therefore, it behooves all of us to resist any moves by anyone anywhere to suppress voter rights or manipulate districts to disenfranchise voters.
Right now is precisely the right time to begin researching who you will vote for in November. It will take some time to sort out all the candidates for city council, county, state, and federal positions on your ballot.
The extraordinary fight over congressional districts in my neighboring Missouri is a case in point: the legislature drew a new map designed to give Republicans an additional congressional seat, but a ton of activated citizens gathered enough signatures to force the map to a referendum. After conflicting state and federal court rulings, the U.S. Supreme Court blocked use of the new map this fall, leaving the 2022 districts in place while Missouri voters decide the issue themselves.
But the most effective thing progressive Christian communities can do besides resisting voter suppression is to energize people to actually get out and vote. Many younger progressives feel disenfranchised not only from church, but also from the political process. This is amplified when the topic is local elections. So churches can be profoundly instrumental not only in encouraging people to get out and vote, but also informing voters on the local elections for county, municipal, judicial, and other positions that often do not receive sufficient attention in the media to educate voters sufficiently to make informed decisions.
My own personal practice as a pastor is to be very transparent, to learn, and to publish. I’m aware that often not only do people not know the difference between, for example, two candidates for a position as county judge, they don’t actually even know what the county judge is (not actually a judge, but more like the CEO or administrator for the county), so I go out of my way to use social media and other platforms to educate and even endorse candidates. I do not, notably, make such endorsements in worship or from the pulpit, but I do exercise my voice as a citizen.
One of the most common things new friends I meet tell me when I’m out at public events is that they follow me on social media and they agree with a lot of what I say, but not all of it. I always respond, “Wouldn’t it be weird if you agreed with me on everything?” I tend to think making actual endorsements helps people clarify their positions. Tell people who you are voting for and why. Maintaining political conversations as secret (as if they were on the level of bedroom talk) does nothing for the public square and political process, which is inherently…public.
Personally, I land on identifying as a Christian socialist/progressive, and I try to vote accordingly. If you’ve never read it, I highly recommend Phil Christman’s “Why Christians Should Be Leftists.” Even if you end up finishing and saying “I agree with a lot of what he says but not all of it,” at least you’ve read and can reflect on a cogent alternative to the wholesale appropriation of Christianity by the Right.
Right now is precisely the right time to begin researching who you will vote for in November. It will take some time to sort out all the candidates for city council, county, state, and federal positions on your ballot. I pay a lot of attention and I’m still working on learning about a few judgeships I know little about. But if you start now, you’ll be informed by November and you will also have time to encourage a few friends and neighbors to vote also. If you’re feeling particularly brave, I recommend door knocking for a candidate you like. It’s loads of fun and you get your steps in.
Rev. Clint Schnekloth is pastor of Good Shepherd Lutheran Church in Fayetteville, Arkansas, a progressive church in the South. He is the founder of Canopy NWA (a refugee resettlement agency) and Queer Camp, and is the author of “A Guidebook to Progressive Church.” He blogs as Lutheran Confessions at Substack.
The views expressed are those of the author and not necessarily those of American Baptist Home Mission Societies.
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