According to data presented by the U.S. Election Assistance Commission, over 230,000 polling places were used in 2018. Less than 1% of those were located at election offices. Most were at schools, community centers… and churches.

The need

Experience during primary elections in our nation have led some to conclude more polling places are needed before the November 3, 2020 general election. Myrna Perez, director of the voting rights and elections program at the Brennan Center for Justice at NYU School of Law, is quoted in an AP news article saying, “In the best of times, really long lines are deterring and disenfranchising. In the time of the coronavirus, long lines can be deadly.”

Several ELCA congregations have opened their facilities as polling places in previous elections. Is this a way your congregation wants to steward its building in 2020? State laws govern where polling places can be located, but ELCA Legal and Risk Assessment colleagues also have some advice to share on churches serving as polling locations.

Some considerations

Before your church responds to a request or steps out to offer to be a polling place, key issues must be considered in addition to operating by COVID-19 guidelines and mandates: (1) accessibility, (2) security, and (3&4) insurance/liability.

(1) If the municipality uses the church as a polling place, it should be accessible. Officials should make an accessibility determination in the portion of the building and parking lot being used for voting. Additionally, it is always a good idea to inventory the property for safety hazards.

(2) If the church has a preschool, school or similar activity in the building that is still open, security steps must be taken to make sure that there is separation between the operating school and parts of the building accessible to the public. For example, voters may be directed to a specific door and part of the building but not be allowed access to the other portion. Some churches just close the school for election day (like many public schools do).

(3) Make sure the congregation’s insurance carrier is aware of the facility’s use as a polling place to assure coverage if something happens. The aforementioned safety hazards inventory of the area being made accessible to the public can be assuring.

(4) Proof of insurance for a location as a polling place should be available from the voting authority.

• • Request that the voting authority provide the respective church with a current insurance certificate evidencing the following type of insurance and coverage.

Commercial General Liability:

(a)  Bodily Injury and Property Damage Liability with a $1,000,000 limit per occurrence
(b)  Personal and Advertising Liability with a $1,000,000 limit per person or organization
(c)  Products and Completed operations with a $1,000,000 limit per occurrence and in the aggregate
(d)  General aggregate with a $3,000,000 limit

• • It is very important to confirm that the church is indicated as being insured on the certificate. This confirmation may look something like: (INSERT Name of Church) is named as an additional insured under the (INSERT Name of Voting Authority’s) commercial general liability policy.

Uniquely this year, being a polling place means observing best practices in this time of pandemic. Request that the voting authority comply with all federal, state and municipal COVID-19 guidelines and mandates including those regarding masking, social distancing, equipment wipe down and sanitizing product availability. Guidelines to minimize the risk of transmitting COVID-19 at the polls are discussed in a joint release from The Brennan Center and the Infectious Diseases Society of America.

Taking the next step

“For Lutherans, one way Christian vocation finds expression is through dedicated, competent public service,” states the ELCA social message, “Government and Civic Engagement in the United States: Discipleship in a Democracy.” No voter should have to choose between their safety and their fundamental right to vote in November states BrennanCenter.org which shares the joint guidelines. The ELCAvotes initiative grew from the social policy resolution, “Voting Rights to All Citizens,” which calls on us to engage in local efforts and support legislation guaranteeing the right of all to vote. With planning and awareness of best practices, your congregation may be just the place to help facilitate democratic expression in your community and be of public service.

Contact your county Board of Elections to find out how to designate a place you are connected with as a polling site. The American Association of People with Disabilities also has tips on making this connection.

“We’ve been a polling place in this precinct for more than 40 years,” said Jeff Garrison, Church Council President of Christ Evangelical Lutheran Church in Fairfax, Virg. “It is just part of what we do. We feel it is a ministry to our community to make available a safe environment to vote.”

This text will soon be available as a pdf from ELCA.org/votes and ELCA.org/resources/advocacy.

As we approach the end of the federal government’s fiscal year on Sept. 30, the Administration is considering how many refugees to welcome in 2021. Although refugee admissions have gone down each year of the current Administration, we know refugee admissions have not been eliminated due to strong advocacy – particularly from the faith community. Reflections from our summer intern give us background and conclude with an opportunity for us to again respond with impactful advocacy as the calculation is being made.

RAISING THE REFUGEE CEILING

By Jenn Werth, summer intern with ELCA advocacy

According to the United Nations High Commission for Refugees, the number of refugees on the African continent has nearly tripled over the past decade, yet the number of refugees the United States admits every year has continually fallen. As a church dedicated to supporting compassionate survival assistance and vigorous international protection for refugees*, it is essential that we hold our country responsible to increase the number of refugees it admits**.

Lutherans have a strong history of providing hospitality to refugees resettling 57,000 refugees in the United States post World War II, resettling 50,000 refugees from Vietnam, Cambodia, and Laos after the fall of Saigon in 1975, and providing sanctuary for refugees endangered by wars in Central America in the 1980s***. Today the ELCA remains active in many ways, including through its AMMPARO program, Accompanying Migrant Minors with Protection, Advocacy, Representation and Opportunities. AMMPARO helps ensure basic human rights and safety of migrant children from El Salvador, Honduras and Guatemala.

With such a deep focus on the accompaniment of immigrants and refugees in one small part of the world, it can be easy to lose sight of the international expanse of refugee populations. In 2019 alone, the Lutheran World Federation supported 1.3 million refugees and internally displaced persons, most of whom reside in African countries including but not limited to Uganda, South Sudan, Ethiopia, and Cameroon. We as a church can be a strong voice for both the refugees we work with close to home and the refugees we support from countries across the globe. As it is written in Leviticus 19:34, “The alien who resides with you shall be to you as the citizen among you; you shall love the alien as yourself, for you were aliens in the land of Egypt”.”

Immigration, refugee and asylum policies not only can be evaluated against who we are as a church, but also express our character as a nation. As the United States commits to receiving fewer and fewer refugees every year, dropping from 45,000 in 2018 to 30,000 in 2019 to 18,000 in 2020, our country is not meeting the expectations we as a church have for a generous policy of welcome. The Lutheran Immigration and Refugee Service (LIRS) calls on Congress and the current Administration to raise that ceiling to 95,000 refugees. As advocates for generous immigration and refugee policies, we can use our voices to support the efforts to raise our refugee ceiling rather than allow further reduction.

* ELCA social statement For Peace In God’s World, pg. 20
** ELCA social message on “Immigration,” pg. 9.
*** “Immigration,” pg. 3

TO LEARN MORE

See “Frequently Asked Questions: Refugee Ceiling and the Presidential Determination” prepared by LIRS.

ACTION OPPORTUNITY FOR ROSTERED MINISTERS:

Over 240 rostered ministers urged the president and Secretary Pompeo to commit to resettling 95,000 refugees in fiscal year 2021 by signing a Sept. 24 letter prepared by the ELCA AMMPARO and Lutheran Immigration and Refugee Service (LIRS) advocacy teams.

TWO OTHER OPPORTUNITIES FOR FAITH-BASED ACTION organized with the Interfaith Immigration Coalition in which the ELCA participates:

Join the #RefugeesWelcome2021 Campaign. Encourage your state and local elected leaders to express support for welcoming refugees by signing onto this letter.

Write letters-to-the-editor (LTEs) for your local media outlets. Here is a sample LTE that you can use/adapt for your message, as well as step-by-step instructions for how to draft, pitch, and place an LTE. Please contact media@interfaithimmigration.org if you have any questions or need help.

by Tessa Comnick, Hunger Advocacy Fellow

Like many people, I have spent the last several months living out of my house. While that may not seem like a significant statement—I mean, houses are where we live—living out of my house has taken on new meaning. It’s now where I socialize (virtually), where I work, where I sleep, where I eat… and soon it will be where I vote in the 2020 election.

I have actually voted by mail for the past several years, coming from a state with no-excuse absentee ballots (that means you don’t need a reason why you cannot physically be present at a polling place to use a mail-in ballot). When I decided to work at my local polling place one year, this habit ended up being very fortuitous. I voted from the comfort of my own home so that I wouldn’t have to think about it during my long (but rewarding) fifteen-hour-day as a volunteer. As that day dragged on, I even thought: “Why doesn’t everyone vote by mail?”

But there are reasons everyone doesn’t vote by mail. It’s different for me than it is for others. I have no disabilities that keep me from being able to send in a paper ballot, requiring a voting machine to confidently and privately vote. I have a home address, one that didn’t change even when I was at school or completing fellowships. I don’t come from a socially marginalized and/or oppressed group that has learned not to trust certain systems because they have continually failed me. The question that flew through my head never took into account experiences that weren’t exclusively mine.

We as a country cannot operate in a one-size-fits-all paradigm, especially with something as crucial as our right to vote. We need to prepare ourselves for a 2020 election that enfranchises everyone’s vote. Mail in voting should be expanded during the current global pandemic crisis, but it should not be the only option.

• SUPPORT MAIL-IN ACCESS – Currently there are 16 states that still require specific reasons or excuses to request an absentee ballot. A nation-wide no-excuse absentee ballot system could help keep lines down, keep the system from getting overwhelmed, and allow high-risk individuals to continue saying home, all while still providing the opportunity for in-person voting for those who need it.
• LIMIT MAILED BALLOT REJECTIONS – Read and share local voting by mail information so that mistakes, such as a missing signature, do not result in ballot rejections. This information should be available in multiple languages and in multiple forms, so as not to exclude anyone without access to internet.
• GET SPACES READY – Polling places should be available for those who will not vote otherwise. Some voters with disabilities, voters with language access needs and American Indian and Alaska Native voters among others need safe, in-person options for fair access. Buildings that are currently sitting closed, like churches, could be used as polling places. Guidelines to minimize the risk of transmitting COVID-19 at the polls can be followed, such as those jointly issued by The Brennan Center and the Infectious Diseases Society of America.
• IS BEING A POLLING WORKER FOR YOU? – Over half of U.S. poll workers were 61 years of age or older in the 2018 general election. In 2020 we could face a shortage. Youth and young adults should consider working on election day (hello to making it a National Holiday!) to help keep those at higher risk safe. When I did it, the day was long, but I heard an endless supply of “thank yous” showing appreciation for an open, accessible system from which to vote. I did not know what faith traditions voters followed, if any, but love for our community connected us in a way that was intrinsically divine. For me, I feel God’s presence strongest when I am among my community, expressing my love for every single member. God’s love is for us all, indiscriminately.

For you and your neighbor, what’s your plan? Learn what qualifies for an absentee ballot in your state. Instructions on how to register and vote-by-mail need to be effectively planned and widely distributed months before an election, to ensure equal access to those who may choose to mail-in their vote. Learn about becoming a poll worker if that sounds right for you. And contact your county Board of Elections to find out how to designate a place you’re connected with as a polling site.

And if you want to encourage election considerations in the next COVID-19 stimulus legislation, write to your lawmakers using the Action Alert “Take Action on the Next Coronavirus Supplemental Bill” at ELCA.org/advocacy/actioncenter. And learn more about the ELCAvotes initiative at ELCA.org/votes.

Every vote counts, and so does every decision on how to vote.

from the ELCA Advocacy office in Washington, D.C. – the Rev. Amy E. Reumann, director

Partial expanded content from Advocacy Connections: August 2020

COVID-19 STIMULUS PACKAGE  |  HUD HOUSING RULES  |  INTERNATIONAL INTERSECTIONS  |  ENVIRONMENT CONSERVATION BILL SIGNED  |  DACA MEMORANDUM

COVID-19 STIMULUS PACKAGE     The next federal stimulus package to address COVID-19 impacts remains in negotiation. While Congress is presently in the traditional period of a recess, scheduled to end September 7, lawmakers are aiming to reconcile differences. A temporary 15% increase in Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (SNAP) benefits has been a continuing interfaith advocacy effort in this new round of COVID-19 legislation. Use the Action Alert to urge this and other considerations in the far-reaching package.

We are grateful for the engagement of ELCA bishops and network members who reached out to key leaders about advancing the temporary SNAP increase. House, Senate and Administration leaders are making steady progress over a compromise economic spending bill. However, resolving widespread differences between the Health and Economic Recovery Omnibus Emergency Solutions Act (HEROES) passed in the House and the proposed Health, Economic Assistance, Liability Protection and Schools Act (HEALS) introduced in the Senate before taking the break could stall the process deep into the traditional summer recess.

HUD HOUSING RULES    In a busy month, the Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD) announced in early July that they would be advancing an initiative to weaken implementation of the 2016 Equal Access Rule, which would undermine transgender and non-binary protections for people seeking shelter. Also, HUD Sec. Ben Carson announced that the administration would take steps to roll back key racial housing protections in the Affirmatively Furthering Fair Housing (AFFH) Rule.

Since 2016, homelessness among transgender people increased 88% and could face greater challenges and barriers to shelter access if the rule is further weakened. Reconciling Works and ELCA Advocacy shared a joint Action Alert in opposition of the new changes which facilitates action during HUD’s open public-comment period through September 22.

Discriminatory housing practices have been at the core of systemic racism in the U.S. for generations – right up to present day. The changes to the AFFH rule will water-down enforcement of the civil-rights era Fair Housing Act, stopping requirements for localities to take steps to report and address patterns of segregation in their communities. Hundreds of Lutherans issued opposition to the rule through the ELCA Action Center in the spring when the comment period was open. The ELCA Advocacy office will continue to push for policies that promote racial justice in housing as the proposal likely moves through litigation.

INTERNATIONAL INTERSECTIONS     ELCA Advocacy is working in partnership with Jubilee USA Network members urging the U.S. government to support expansion of debt relief for highly indebted poor countries. We are asking for the U.S. to support provision of low interest grants called Special Drawing Rights (SDRs) through the International Monetary Fund (IMF), which will provide funds to countries to respond to the COVID-19 pandemic.

The House passed the NO BAN Act July 22 which would repeal the travel ban on citizens of 13 countries. Our Action Alert remains live to facilitate contacting senators who next will consider the legislation. Additionally, for a long time the international community failed to effectively prevent and respond to gender-based violence at the onset of humanitarian emergencies. Initiatives such as Safe from the Start have moved this issue at the forefront of humanitarian work. Our Action Alert can be used to urge your senators to co-sponsor the Keeping Women and Girls Safe from the Start Act.

ENVIRONMENT CONSERVATION BILL SIGNED     On August 4, President Trump signed the bipartisan Great American Outdoors Act of 2020 into law offering more federal resources for national parks, wildlife refuges, Indigenous public lands and our crumbling public land infrastructure. Lutheran advocates have collaborated with many in a slow-building movement for years to promote better stewardship principles for our nation’s public lands.

In addition to helping address the great backlog of infrastructure projects at the Department of Interior, the bill will permanently authorize the Land and Water Conservation Fund, allowing more resources for the federal government to acquire “lands, waters, and interests therein necessary to achieve the natural, cultural, wildlife, and recreation management objectives of federal land management agencies.”

DACA MEMORANDUM     A July 28 memorandum on Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals (DACA) from the acting secretary of the Dept. of Homeland Security may begin the process of dismantling this needed form of protection. Even as suffering and sacrifice in this time of pandemic require national focus, the administration is prioritizing taking away protections and setting the stage for further disbanding of DACA.

Our advocacy focus remains a pathway to citizenship for Dreamers. DACA recipients are members of our communities and churches who have grown up in and contribute to the U.S. An Action Alert is available to urge lawmakers to codify protection before it is further eroded.

Receive monthly Advocacy Connections directly by becoming part of the ELCA Advocacy network – http://elca.org/advocacy/signup , and learn more from elca.org/advocacy .

by Kirsti Ruud, Intern, Lutheran Office for World Community

In response to the United Nations’ Human Rights Council (UNHRC) urgent debate regarding racially inspired human rights violations, racism, police brutality and violence against peaceful protesters, an ecumenical call was issued. The ELCA joined the call on June 18 to establish an international commission of inquiry “into the on-going human rights violations of African descendant people in the United States and globally.”

“As Christians believing in the love of God and the call for justice in the Judeo-Christian scriptures,” the joint statement proclaims, “we join with organizations around the world in calling for change and to the upholding of the human rights of African descent people.”

As an intern with the Lutheran Office for World Community, I have the incredible opportunity to “sit-in” on virtual meetings to observe the UN and civil society members actively wrestle with the world’s greatest challenges. An intersectional lens is largely maintained in conversations, making it clear that existing inequalities like racism and xenophobia create differentiated experiences within a crisis. Be the agenda refugee displacement, climate change, and/or COVID-19, existing inequalities too often lead to further oppression of the most marginalized. During the June 18 debate, all speakers condemned racism in all its forms as a scourge on society.

THE URGENT DEBATE

While recent world-wide demonstrations speak to the global nature of discrimination against and oppression of Africans and people of African descent, the African countries who collectively requested this specific urgent debate identified the murder of George Floyd by police and other human rights abuses within the U.S. as cause for international investigation. Condolences were expressed to George Floyd’s brother, Philonise, who had appealed to the Council at the onset: “I’m asking you to help me. I’m asking you to help us Black people in America.” There was also consensus regarding the need for international, national, and individual responsibility in order to eliminate the scourge.

Here, paths diverged. Supporters of the Africa group’s call for an international commission of inquiry highlighted the systemic nature of the problem and thus the failure of existing systems to successfully dismantle racism rooted in the U.S.’ long legacy of slavery and imperialism. Tendayi Achiume, the Special Rapporteur on contemporary forms of racism, racial discrimination, xenophobia and related intolerance, highlighted the ways in which existing UN mechanisms aimed at eliminating racism on a global scale are already over-burdened. “Failure to establish an international commission of inquiry,” she says, “would signal that Black lives do not matter, or that if they do, they do not matter enough to mobilize the Human Rights Council to intervene where it should.” Delegations expressing their opposition to creating a commission of inquiry emphasized the need to address racism globally rather than single-out a particular country. Historically imperial powers themselves and/or allies of the U.S., largely expressed confidence in the U.S. and its justice system to dismantle racism.

In the end, Council members compromised by adopting a resolution calling for the High Commissioner for Human Rights to “prepare a report on systemic racism, violations of international human rights law against Africans and people of African descent by law enforcement agencies, especially those incidents that resulted in the death of George Floyd and other Africans and of people of African descent, to contribute to accountability and redress for victims.” While this resolution falls short of the level of accountability many were calling for, it is a significant moment. As noted by Human Rights Watch in a Washington Post article, the resolution “nonetheless set the stage for an unprecedented look at racism and police violence in the United States — over the efforts of U.S. officials to avoid the council’s attention — and showed even the most powerful countries could be held to account.”

FROM GLOBAL TO INTERNAL

As I listened to the debate happening on the floor of the UNHRC in Geneva condemning institutionalized racism, I thought about the institutions of which I am part in the United States and the ways in which racism and anti-blackness permeate and fester in all areas of society, even within our houses of worship. Just June 17, the ELCA observed the five year Commemoration of the Emanuel Nine who were horribly murdered during a Bible study at the hands of an ELCA member and self-proclaimed white supremacist. Racism isn’t just everywhere, it’s right here.

My faith proclaims that Jesus not only stood in solidarity with the most marginalized, portraying an inclusive vision of the Kingdom of God, but he challenged, called-out, and was perceived as a threat by powers with a vested interest in maintaining the status quo. Too often, people like me (white, middle-class Christians) read Scripture and identify only with those in Jesus’ good favor and not with empire. Can we acknowledge that racism exists and that we benefit from white privilege? Can we face our comfort and really put ourselves out there, really confront the systems from which we benefit economically, socially and legally at the expense of Black, Indigenous and people of color? Acknowledging that we are a diverse community but still the whitest denomination in the U.S., what would it mean for me, for you, for the ELCA to truly be in solidarity with those in our community who black liberation theologian James Cone names in his book In his book The Cross and the Lynching Tree “the crucified people in our midst?”

CALLS BEYOND WORDS TO ACTIONS

I am proud that the ELCA stood in solidarity with the 54 African countries and over 600 human rights organizations calling for the UNHRC to strongly investigate racially inspired human rights abuses in the U.S. I am also heartened that the statement we signed includes asking members as individuals, churches, and communities to:

• Call for an end to militarization, police violence, the killings, and all other forms of violence against African descendant people;
• Commit to dismantling racism and discrimination in all forms;
• Embrace and encourage an anti-racist environment within communities with commitment to accountability; and
• Commit to reflection and introspection that will increase personal awareness and ways to be engaged in solving this global problem.

As several speakers noted in the urgent debate, it is critical that such statements do not remain in word alone. We must muster courage to put faith into action and follow the lead of Black, Indigenous and people of color in our community who have been taking action all along.

Creating God, we pray that you stir within us a courage to embrace your call for justice. Comfort those who are grieving. Help us to name racism as systemic sin and to challenge it boldly, even where it dwells in our own hearts. To those of us with the unearned privilege to ignore the pain, grief, and anger, may we feel implicated, connected, and transformed into action by the Gospel call to love our neighbor and challenge the powers that crucify. Amen

from the ELCA Advocacy office in Washington, D.C. – the Rev. Amy E. Reumann, director

Partial content* expanded from Advocacy Connections: July 2020

POLICING REFORM  |  DACA UPDATE  |  FOREIGN AID  |  CLIMATE CRISIS ACTION PLAN  |  CENSUS 2020

POLICING REFORM: In June, the House passed the George Floyd Justice in Policing Act of 2020, including votes from three Republican members of Congress. This legislation included most of the recommendations suggested in a letter to Congress from the Leadership Conference on Civil and Human Rights, which the ELCA signed. The bill has currently stalled in the Senate, but advocates can still encourage lawmakers to pass important policies that would help improve just policing in our communities through the ELCA Action Center.

ELCA Advocacy staff will continue to monitor key social justice initiatives and intersectional opportunities in policy to address racism and discrimination. A webinar in late summer on faith values in policing reform hosted by the National Council of Churches is being planned with the ELCA along with several ELCA full communion partners.

DACA UPDATE: The Supreme Court in June rejected the Trump administration’s push to end the Deferred Action on Childhood Arrivals (DACA) program that gives nearly 700,000 recipients the ability to work in the U.S. and avoid deportation. Congressional action is still needed to provide permanent legal protection to DACA recipients and Temporary Protected Status (TPS) and Deferred Enforcement Departure (DED) holders who are living in a state of uncertainty.

Roughly 74% of Americans support legal status for Dreamers, according to a recent Pew Research Center survey. The White House still has the ability to rescind the DACA program and can try again after considering issues of forbearance from deportation and what to do about the imposed hardship applied to those affected. Use the ELCA Action Center to encourage action around a bill that would enhance protection for Dreamers.

FOREIGN AID: House appropriators have unveiled an international budget bill for Fiscal Year 2021, including $10 billion to respond to the pandemic through coronavirus preparedness, response and relief globally. ELCA Advocacy continues to push for inclusion of these fund expenditures to support developing countries.

Appropriation is a law of Congress that provides an agency with budget authority. The House and Senate Appropriations committees, through their 12 subcommittees, hold hearings to examine the budget requests and needs of federal spending programs. The House and Senate then produce appropriations bills to fund the federal government. These bills are “marked up,” amended as needed and approved by the Appropriations committees. Find more about the process at NSF.org.

CLIMATE CRISIS ACTION PLAN: The House of Representative’s Select Committee on Solving the Climate Crisis issued its long-awaited Climate Crisis Action Plan report on June 30 that recommends policies aimed at creating jobs and transitioning to renewable energy for fuels. Although not bipartisan, many of the report’s provisions appear to be mutually acceptable and are likely to be the basis for future legislation.

All through the plan are mechanisms for addressing environmental justice and racial inequities. The plan includes a National Climate Adaptation Program to help states, tribes and localities prepare for the effects of climate change. It would also create the Climate Resiliency Service Corps that would essentially build on the Depression-era Civilian Conservation Corps to create jobs by plugging old oil and gas wells and reclaiming abandoned coal mines.

CENSUS 2020: At this time, only around 62% of households have self-responded to the 2020 Census online, by mail or by phone. Census takers are scheduled to begin in-person interviewing of households that have not yet responded, starting July 16. Let’s help keep door-to-door visits minimal. Take the 2020 Census now and urge your community to do so too – for your neighbor and yourself.

The Census Bureau announced in spring a deadline extension for collecting census data from Aug. 15 to Oct. 31 due to challenges posed by the coronavirus pandemic. An accurate count ensures that resources more justly go where they are most needed and is critical for representation in the political process. The ELCA is an official partner of the 2020 Census and will continue to encourage the most accurate count possible. Find resources at ELCA.org/resources/advocacy#CivicEngagement.

* Receive monthly Advocacy Connections directly by becoming part of the ELCA Advocacy network – http://elca.org/advocacy/signup , and learn more from elca.org/advocacy .

By guest blogger the Rev. Athena C. Thomasson-Bless, Social Justice and Advocacy Coordinator, ELCA North Carolina Synod

In a year where we are experiencing the COVID-19 pandemic and the Black Lives Matter Movement is gaining traction challenging police brutality and systemic racism, voting is both more important than ever and may look different this time around. An emphasis of the ELCA presiding bishop is that we are church for the sake of the world. Part of being the church for the sake of the world in 2020 is to encourage and advocate for fair elections and the right to vote.

North Carolina where I pastor and serve on synod staff is a state infamous nationwide for voter suppression controversies. These include gerrymandering, the manipulation of boundaries so as to favor one party or class; same-day registration regulation, which can allow eligible voters to register to vote and cast their ballots on the same day; and voter identification (ID) provisions, which were struck down for disproportionate affect on minority voters.

VOTER SUPPRESSION’S UNEVEN IMPACT

I have experienced some of the hoops that one must jump through to be able to vote in North Carolina and elsewhere as someone who was a student for the past nine years and has moved over six times in that span. I’ve waited in lines and driven over an hour to my polling place on one occasion. What I experienced was inconvenience. For many black and indigenous people of color, voter suppression can be a be a vote-prohibitive experience. For example, in the Kentucky primaries this week only 200 polling places were open for voters. And there was only one polling place in Jefferson County, the county with the most people and the largest black population in the state.

Projections this year indicate mail-in ballot use is on the rise. In the first half of this year, many states which do not already have a vote-by-mail election system are scrambling to reimagine the ways we can vote in the midst of COVID-19 realities. Projections by some experts of a second wave of the COVID-19 virus in the fall, and outbreak numbers rising as I write in states including North Carolina, add to the fear that voters may have going to polls. Looming pandemic realities are a real and tangible problem for our election system.

In North Carolina, usually less than 5% of votes are cast by mail in absentee ballot. However, this year, a surge of up to 40% more mail in absentee ballots according to state officials is anticipated. This is why a new bill, House Bill 1169, has been passed in the North Carolina Senate to provide more resources for voting by absentee ballot and to make it easier on voters to request and submit ballots. This bill had three votes against it, all coming from Black Representatives who did not like the bill’s mention of what they called misleading voter ID requirements. This opposition resonates with challenges in our country to white supremacy and systemic racism. Currently North Carolina does not have voter ID requirements in place due to court rulings that struck them down citing the possibility of motivation by racism. Even with this bill generated by bi-partisan support overall and providing more resources for voting by mail, the damage of voter suppression is evident.

Voter suppression has more often than not intentionally targeted the ability of black and Indigenous people of color to exercise the right to vote. This form of systemic racism is not just present in North Carolina, but across the nation. And as adaptation of voting methods to accommodate pandemic realities increases, myths about voter fraud may rise as well.

CIVIC ENGAGEMENT

As Christians and as Lutherans, we have a responsibility to combat the sin of systemic racism and to advocate for fair and accessible elections. On a congregational level, congregations can provide resources and have Get Out the Vote drives.* The congregation I serve, Christ the King Lutheran Church in Cary, has a voting team that is encouraging as many people to vote by absentee ballot as possible this November We will have an informational town hall during the Sunday School hour with a guest speaker and ongoing events to make sure our community is educated, is registered and has a voting plan.

Our elections may look a little different this year, so please: educate yourself, your congregation and your community. Start now! November will be here before we know it. Check out your state’s Board of Elections website and our #ELCAVotes resources, stay informed – and make sure to register to vote. We have the opportunity and the responsibility to advocate for justice and peace and use our voice to vote this November.

* Tips for Get Out The Vote drives and more can be found in the ELCA Civic Engagement Guide.

from the ELCA Advocacy office in Washington, D.C. – the Rev. Amy E. Reumann, director

Partial content* expanded from Advocacy Connections: June 2020

NATIONAL ATTENTION ON POLICE VIOLENCE AND RACISM  | COVID-19 LEGISLATIVE RESPONSE  |   COMPOUNDED MIGRANT CONCERNS  | PROTECTING VOTING RIGHTS DURING THE PANDEMIC

NATIONAL ATTENTION ON POLICE VIOLENCE AND RACISM:  The ELCA recently signed a letter to Congress with a coalition organized through The Leadership Conference on Civil & Human Rights. The letter included specific policy recommendations for just police reform. Campaign Zero, a comprehensive platform of research-based policy solutions to end police brutality in America supported by the ELCA since 2016, also includes insights around barriers to effective misconduct investigations and civilian oversight; more available from ELCA.org/BlackLivesMatter.

Sen. Lindsey Graham (R-SC), the Chairman of the Senate Judiciary Committee, held a planned June 16 hearing on potential policing proposals, stating protests show it is clear that police use of force should be discussed. Un-passed bills introduced by Rep. Steve Cohen (D-TN) have received new life in policy discussions in the House of Representatives, including a 2014 proposal to track incidents of police violence nationally and a 2015 bill that would require independent prosecutors in violent incidents.

COVID-19 LEGISLATIVE RESPONSE:  The House of Representatives on May 15 passed a second economic supplemental bill (The HEROES Act). The $3.5 trillion dollar package included almost all of ELCA Advocacy’s top domestic priorities– including expanding low-income housing, nutrition and unemployment benefits. However, the passed bill did not include any additional funding for an international response.

It is unclear whether the Senate will take up all the provisions of the House-passed bill. ELCA Advocacy is working with partners to ensure that the next Senate supplemental bill will include funding for international response. An active action alert encouraging the U.S. Senate to take action can be found at ELCA.org/advocacy/actioncenter.

COMPOUNDED MIGRANT CONCERNS:  The COVID-19 pandemic as well as federal government response to it have widely disrupted the U.S. immigration system. The ELCA with 250 others signed a letter urging the Department of Homeland Security “to immediately halt expulsions of unaccompanied children and those seeking humanitarian protection and restore the rule of law at our borders” and the CDC to rescind its May 20 order.

Under the CDC order, border officers are expelling some Central American children and asylum seekers to Mexico. The letter indicates reversing the order could allow for the entry and processing of people seeking refuge in the United States. The letter concludes: “Decisions relating to COVID-19 should be aimed at saving, not endangering lives, and should be driven by evidence-based public health measures and respect for human rights.”

PROTECTING VOTING RIGHTS DURING THE PANDEMIC:  “Administering elections during a pandemic is new territory for the [U.S.]. But we do not have to choose between public health and a functioning democracy,” reads a letter to members of Congress signed by the ELCA with a coalition of faith-based organizations. It welcomed CARES Act funds for elections but requested more in the next response package “for the Election Assistance Commission to uphold a safe and secure general election and to support states and localities still facing risks with primary elections.”

“We must have as many safe voting opportunities as possible,” reads the letter, which names no-excuse absentee voting with prepaid postage, an extended voter registration period, same day registration, election day contingency plans and online voter registration among other supportable practices.

*Receive monthly Advocacy Connections directly by becoming part of the ELCA Advocacy network – http://elca.org/advocacy/signup , and learn more from elca.org/advocacy .

from the ELCA Advocacy office in Washington, D.C. – the Rev. Amy E. Reumann, director

Partial content* expanded from Advocacy Connections: May 2020

NEXT COVID-19 RESPONSE BILL | DACA CONCERNS | NORTHERN TRAINGLE FUNDS | DEBT RELIEF FOR COUNTRIES | VIRTUAL EAD

TOP INTERFAITH PRIORITIES FOR NEXT COVID-19 RESPONSE BILL:  On May 1, the ELCA Advocacy office joined 34 other denominations and religious organizations in a letter to members of Congress. “As organizations representing a broad array of religious beliefs and faith traditions,” it reads, “we write to urge you to act with urgency to pass another COVID-19 response bill that first prioritizes vulnerable individuals and communities.” The letter goes on to share specific concerns, such as a request to collect and release federal demographic data so public health officials can begin to understand and address racial disparities in rate of infection and morbidity due to the coronavirus which are disproportionately higher in communities of color. Other concerns raised include domestic human needs, criminal justice, Native American issues, immigration, health care and more. “Interfaith Sign on Letter – COVID-19 Priorities (May 2020)” can be accessed at domestichumanneeds.com.

Are there priorities you would like to see reflected in the next response bill? An Action Alert at elca.org/advocacy/actioncenter can direct your message to your member of Congress. Additional information to help you reflect on considerations before our nation as this bill takes shape can be found here.

“The witness of this church in society flows from its identity as a community that lives from and for the Gospel. Faith is active in love; love calls for justice in the relationships and structures of society. It is in grateful response to God’s grace in Jesus Christ that this church carries out its responsibility for the well-being of society and the environment” (from Church in Society: A Lutheran Perspective, pages 1-2).

DACA CONCERNS:  Even as the Supreme Court prepares to rule on the status of the Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals (DACA) program, the ELCA has joined 248 others requesting that, in light of the COVID-19 pandemic, the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) restore DACA recipients’ access to benefits under the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act (ACA).

“Access to COVID-19 testing and treatment for DACA recipients and their U.S. citizen children is absolutely critical during this pandemic, particularly for the 27,000 DACA recipients employed as healthcare practitioners and supporting occupations on the front lines of responding to COVID-19,” reads the letter, addressed to Alex Azar, secretary of HHS. Find the letter requesting ACA access restoration for DACA recipients here.

Visit www.c-span.org for live oral arguments before the court and SCOTUSblog.com for live analysis.

NORTHERN TRIANGLE FUNDS RELEASED:  Secretary Mike Pompeo announced this week that the U.S. government will release $258 million for the Northern Triangle because the countries have made progress on curbing illegal migration. The United States suspended funding assistance to the Northern Triangle last year.

It’s unclear how the funds will be used, but initial indications are that the money will go toward migration deterrence, security programs and private-sector economic development. ELCA Advocacy is working to assure direction of the funds to support humanitarian support for communities in need. In Central America, El Salvador, Guatemala and Honduras form the region referred to as the Northern Triangle.

DEBT RELIEF TO HELP COUNTRIES FACE PANDEMIC:  The G20, the World Bank and the International Monetary Fund have agreed to suspend debt repayment for some of the world’s lowest-income countries through the end of this year so that these countries can more easily respond to the COVID-19 pandemic, a move supported by ELCA Advocacy and its faith-based partners.

ELCA Advocacy and other faith-based partners have been pushing for this measure, recognizing the challenges many low- and middle-income countries face during the global pandemic. (The suspension does not include debt owed to private banks or investors.) A letter on this subject, sent by the ELCA and many other denominations in the Jubilee USA Network to address the root causes of poverty and inequality, can be found here at “COVID-19 Jubilee White House, IMF, G20 Letter.”

VIRTUAL ECUMENICAL ADVOCACY DAYS:  In place of an in-person event, the annual Ecumenical Advocacy Days (EAD) conference sponsored by the ELCA held its seminar via web conference on April 29, drawing connections among climate change, economic injustice and the current public health crisis. View the seminar here.

Among the featured speakers were the Rev. Mark MacDonald, archbishop of the Anglican Church of Canada, and Shantha Ready Alonso of Creation Justice Ministries. As part of the webinar, many EAD attendees joined in an action alert to Congress requesting better equity, environmental provisions and global relief in upcoming COVID-19 legislation. Held under the theme “Imagine! God’s Earth and People Restored!” the seminar focused on the intersection of climate change, economic injustice and the devastating impacts of inequality on public health.

* Receive monthly Advocacy Connections directly by becoming part of the ELCA Advocacy network – http://elca.org/advocacy/signup , and learn more from elca.org/advocacy .

Reprint* of post by Peter Severson, Director, Lutheran Advocacy Ministry-Colorado

It seems almost trite to point out the deep and intense division in our modern political landscape in the United States. The contrast between worldviews among the different factions in our public life is so obvious, massive, and apparently unbridgeable that it seems like an immovable obstacle to which we just have to resign ourselves. It feels easier to just take it as a given, rather than to ask how it might be reconciled. It is a very tough environment in which to be a church premised on God’s reconciliation and love.

This, nonetheless, is the context in which the ELCA finds itself, called presently to speak into a riven reality, one where the only authentic public struggle seems to be the contest for power. We are called to be a church with faith active in love for God and for our neighbor. Love, in turn, “calls for justice in the relationships and structures of society.”¹ But what are we to make of this call to be justice-seekers in a deeply divided world?

The Promise of Civility

For many, there is great appeal to placing our hope in the promise of a “return to civility.” Faced with the partisanship of a frequently-gridlocked Congress and White House, one might naturally see civility as a rescuer of public dialogue based on respect, integrity, and thoughtful consideration of opinions different from our own. Few observers would describe the overall tenor of our present discourse as ‘civil,’ much less respectful or dignified.

Perhaps for this reason, the ELCA was one of many religious denominations to draft and endorse a campaign called Golden Rule 2020: A Call for Dignity and Respect in Politics. The goals of the campaign, launched in November 2019, are twofold: one, to ask Christians to “pray for the healing of the divisions in our country” (meaning the United States), and two, to reflect on the Golden Rule in one’s ministry setting for the purpose of applying Christian principles to our political discourse.²

The call for civility in politics – which the campaign defines as showing dignity and respect for those who disagree with us – appeals across a broad swath of Christian traditions. The Golden Rule, to which the campaign’s name refers, can be found in many forms in many faiths: treat others as you would have them treat you. For Christians, this could be readily distilled from our Gospel call to love our neighbors as ourselves. As an ecumenical pursuit and as an implicit critique of the present incarnation of U.S. politics, the campaign is both timely and straightforward.

Holy Restlessness

The longer history of our country would suggest, however, that calls for civility do not always manifest as calls for dignity and respect, a posture for how to engage in dialogue. Such calls can be, and have been, deployed as cudgels against the holy and restless impatience of God’s justice-seeking people. When civility is taken to mean a critique of not just form but function and process, it can easily mutate into an obstacle to our critical participation in the social, economic, and political structures of our nation. It tells those who would publicly confront figures with calls for accountability that the act of confrontation itself is the real obstacle to reconciliation and progress, not the policies which those public figures enact or the norms they embody in their public conduct.

In this way, civility can morph into “an attempt to extend complicity” to those who would protest the brokenness evident in our public life – the move to deny health insurance to vulnerable populations, the separation of asylum-seeking families, the use of tax cuts for hyper-wealthy individuals as a justification for cutting social services to the poor – and to make it seem like those people who are speaking out are solely responsible for our loss of public comity.³ But it is precisely such policies that are the source of the rift itself. They stir the outrage of those who want our economic and social systems to care for the poor.

When used as a model for dialogue, civility can be a posture of conciliation and respectful engagement. This seems to be the intent behind the Golden Rule 2020 campaign. Unfortunately, civility has often been deployed in other contexts of our public life as a pretext for silencing the urgency of demands for justice. Politicians are increasingly wont to praise civility and disparage public confrontation (especially when they are the ones being confronted). Such calls for civility are often “little more than a plea on the part of those who benefit from the status quo to be spared the discomfort of acknowledging or addressing the pain of others.”⁴ But these are the wages of being a public servant in a democracy: that one must, occasionally, confront the actual public who is ostensibly being served. For the sake of the urgent needs of our neighbors, people of faith cannot obsequiously continue to prioritize the comfort of those in power. Quite the opposite, in fact.

Other critiques might suggest that a call for civility is naïve, or that the ship has sailed on any attempt to revive civil discourse into our political process – that 2016 was, in effect, a Rubicon of cheapened discourse beyond which we cannot return. And one could argue that the dichotomous framing of the campaign itself (with an emphasized letter “D” and letter “R” in its logo, along with binary red and blue color motifs) also buys into the Manichaean two-party gridlock that deeply infects U.S. politics, foreclosing our imagination from other ways of being that are not solely Democratic or Republican partisanship.

A Refuge from Exhaustion

It would be a mistake, though, to presume that civility’s distortion as a rhetorical weapon means that there is no place for civil discourse in our politics. Put simply, it is not bad to wish for a more elevated and dignified form of politics. Public opinion polls suggest that many Americans are exhausted by the addiction to rage, tabloid sensationalism, and zero-sum approaches to politics coverage in our media and public life. For the church to function as a place of refuge from this exhaustion is entirely appropriate. Jesus extends this invitation to all of us: “Come to me, all you that are weary and are carrying heavy burdens, and I will give you rest.”⁵ In that context, the church can be a place which calls for a politics that upholds dignity, respect, and love.

It is also true that Christian people are at different stages of their journey toward imagining and pursuing a politics not addicted to rage, fear, and demonization of others. Some people of faith may be ready to forcefully critique the structures and institutions of our broken and sinful world, while others are simply desiring to imagine ways to talk to their divided families, neighbors and friends. All people need to continue to wrestle deeply with the meaning of the Gospel’s call to love our neighbors. As much as we may wish for urgency in the task of pursuing a reconciled civic discourse, not everyone walks from the same place or at the same pace. Endorsing a resource that supports those for whom beginning with civility is productive is a good thing. At the same time, it must neither be our only resource nor our only framing of what God requires from us in the present moment.

To What Are We Called?

The emergent question is this: to what are we called? How can we be a church for the sake of the world, a light to show God’s love? For one, we can proclaim the gift of the Gospel, which “does not allow the Church to accommodate to the ways of the world.” We can remember that “the presence and promise of God’s reign makes the Church restless and discontented with the world’s brokenness and violence. Acting for the sake of God’s world requires resisting and struggling against the evils of the world.”⁶

In doing so, we can affirm that calling the powerful to account for how they propose to treat the poor, the orphan, and the stranger is a holy task. Sometimes that struggle may mean publicly addressing the powerful. Sometimes it may mean meeting privately with a decision-maker to exchange views. Sometimes it may mean testifying at a rally, or testifying on legislation. It may mean living out a counterexample in our own lives, caring for the needs of others in an immediate, tangible way. And it may mean learning how to converse civilly with our neighbors in our own congregation or ministry setting.

These ways of struggling to address the suffering and brokenness of the world can all be faithful. Jesus met with religious authorities and cared for the bodily needs of the common people. Jesus subjected himself to the power of the empire – a power which would eventually kill him – but not before charging into the Temple to flip over the tables of usurious money-lenders. Loving but persistent confrontation with prevailing authorities marked Jesus’ ministry on Earth, as did speaking to, teaching, and healing individual people.⁷

The Gospel proclaims God’s love for all people, including those who are powerful decision-makers and those on the margins. Through our Lutheran understanding of vocation, we know that some people are called into public service to make policy on behalf of the body politic, while others are called to agitate for change. All of us broken, imperfect sinners have various vocational callings in the world. Regardless of what the call is, God does not leave us alone in it: “In witnessing to Jesus Christ, the Church announces that the God who justifies expects all people to do justice.”⁸ How do we treat our poorest neighbors? How do we show love, compassion, and respect for all people, regardless of how the world might try to inflate or diminish their inherent value? As people of faith, we believe that God calls us to hold the powerful accountable for how they answer these questions. As a church, we respect “the God-given integrity and tasks of governing authorities and other worldly structures, while holding them accountable to God.”⁹

It is a gift from God that our ultimate hope is not in perfectly accomplishing this work. Politics can be a “prudential way to secure justice, beat back evil, and mitigate the effects of the Fall.”¹⁰ But it is also not the appropriate forum in which to place our hope of salvation. We should have no illusions about our political ingenuity – civility, activism, and otherwise – fully escaping the brokenness and sinfulness of the world; in short, we cannot expect to “legislate our way to the kingdom” by deifying the potential of human activity.¹¹ Our call in this arena is not to ultimacy, but to pursue justice in a world where we will nonetheless have to keep praying for God’s coming reign.

Conclusion

At this critical juncture, during this electoral cycle but equally for those that will come after it, we must claim the mantle of public church. Amid the struggle to “discern when to support and when to confront society’s cultural patterns, values, and powers,” we ought to remember that civility has value, but so too does a restless and sometimes messy or unruly passion for God’s justice for all people.¹² We are called, as the hymn says, to act with justice, and to love tenderly, and to serve one another: to walk humbly with God.¹³ The Gospel does not promise that this walk will necessarily be easy or comfortable. But it is in the liberation of a life lived in faithfulness to Christ that we draw on the strength of our community in the church, as well as those justice-seekers outside the church, to keep going.

“You must feel with sorrow…all the unjust suffering of the innocent, with which the world is everywhere filled to overflowing. You must fight, work, pray, and – if you cannot do more – have heartfelt sympathy.”¹⁴

ORIGINAL ENDNOTES
1 ELCA Social Statement, “The Church in Society: A Lutheran Perspective” (1991)
2 https://goldenrule2020.org/
3 Jonathan Sturgeon, “American Jekyll, American Hyde,” The Baffler (July 20, 2018)
4 Maximilian Alvarez, “Don’t Let Them Win,” The Baffler (June 29, 2018)
5 Matthew 11:28, NRSV
6 ELCA Social Statement, The Church in Society: A Lutheran Perspective
7 Cf. Cynthia Moe-Lobeda, Public Church: For the Life of the World (2004)
8 ELCA Social Statement, The Church in Society: A Lutheran Perspective
9 Ibid.
10 James K.A. Smith, On the Road with Saint Augustine (2019), 190-191
11 Ibid.
12 ELCA Social Statement, The Church in Society: A Lutheran Perspective
13 Evangelical Lutheran Worship #720
14 Martin Luther, “The Blessed Sacrament of the Holy and True Body of Christ, and the Brotherhoods”

* “The Paradox of Civility Reflection and Discussion Guide” accompanies the original post reprinted here by permission to the blog of Bishop Jim Gonia, ELCA Rocky Mountain Synod (2/11/20).