The importance of our democracy and the right to vote was first taught to me by my mother. As young as I can remember, she brought me with her into the voting booth, scooped me up off the floor and invited me to pull the ballot levers. On the way to the Public School 6 where we could cast her ballots, she would explain why she voted, who she was voting for, what they stood for, and why it mattered that as many people vote as often as possible, even in midterm elections. It was one of the first embodied lessons of our 5th UU principle, put concisely and clearly in children’s language this way: “We believe all persons should have a vote about the things that concern them.” (Here is a link to the full list: www.uua.org/beliefs/what-we-believe/principles/for-kids)
I am delighted to see how many of our members and friends are moved to put our 5th principle into action by getting involved in mailing letters and making phone calls with our partners on the frontlines in North Carolina – Forward Together: The UU Justice Ministry of North Carolina, Carolina Jews for Justice, and the New North Carolina Project.
Last Sunday, Kirsten Lee, who has been a lead organizer with our Social Justice Director, Dana Buhl, announced that we had reached 7,460 letters! We were almost 75% of the way to our goal of writing 10,000 letters for UU the Vote. We will make our goal and, even surpass it, if we keep it up.
I am so inspired by Dana, Kirsten, and all our UU the Vote volunteers that I joined one of the opportunities to phone bank following a training with Rev. Lisa Garcia Sampson, the Executive Director of UU Justice Ministry North Carolina and other leaders. Our goal was to call as many people as possible, and we were specifically reaching out to black voters.
These were nonpartisan calls. We did not tell anyone who to vote for, but we did share how to access their vote in North Carolina and where they could find information about all the candidates from the North Carolina State Board of Elections website (www.ncbse.org). 21 callers from First Unitarian Portland were joined by 12 callers from our partners, and we collectively made 2,696 phone calls! (And, we fulfilled DeReau Farrar’s challenge to dye his hair blue if we had at least 20 callers that day.)
I had some meaningful conversations, some people hang up, and some people thank me for helping them know how to access their vote. Some folks even said they would reach out to other people and encourage them to vote too. It was an enjoyable way to make a difference.
Here is how you can still participate:
- Write letters to registered voters encouraging them to exercise their vote. Some elections in North Carolina have been lost by one vote! The letter begins, “I vote because…” The two final Sundays, October 16th and October 23rd before and after the service, you can go to the UU the Vote Table in Fuller Hall (below the main sanctuary) and join the volunteers writing letters. There are also opportunities to write letters in community on Mondays, October 17th and October 24th from 2 – 4pm in the Buchan Building.
- Join the phone banking efforts and make nonpartisan calls to help get out the vote. The opportunities left to join are on Thursdays, October 13th, 20th, 27th, and November 3rd from 3:30 – 5:30pm Pacific on ZOOM. Each day of calling is hosted by a different UU or Jewish congregation. Don’t worry if some people hang up or aren’t interested. Just focus on the people you do reach that evening who will feel encouraged and those who will move from maybe I will vote, to yes I will vote. You can register to participate here: https://us02web.zoom.us/meeting/register/tZwocO-rqTkvHNCxeOAHolueT_x0JOFJzTH_
Thank you to all of you – members, friends, and visitors – who support our congregation’s justice efforts by volunteering your time and passion and skills and by giving of your treasure to support our having a robust social justice program. May all of our collective efforts help to strengthen our democracy for now and for the future.
In faith,
Rev. Alison