Episcopalians and voting rights

 The Office of Government Relations of the Episcopal Church has weighed in on both the For the People Act and the John Lewis Voting Rights Advancement Act, and is urging people to speak out publicly on the importance of voting rights for all. Their website states:

As a Church, we have policy on most – although not all – of the issues in the For the People Act and the John Lewis Voting Rights Act. Primarily, we oppose voter suppression and encourage voting access. 


General Convention Resolution 2018-D003 calls on all states to cease and desist efforts to suppress the voting rights of American Citizens. We “call on governments on all levels to create policies to enhance voter participation by, among other strategies, seeking to implement policies that will increase early voting, extend registration periods, guarantee an adequate number of voting locations, allow absentee balloting without the necessity of having an excuse, and prohibit forms of identification that restrict voter participation.” 


This is their take on the recently passed H.R.1 – the For the People Act, which they note has five main components: 


1. Election administration: Expand voter registration and voting access, specify how to appropriate remove voters from voter rolls.


2. Redistricting: Require states to establish independent redistricting commissions to carry out congressional redistricting (states begin the redistricting process once the 2020 Census data is released, so this could have a huge impact for the coming 10 years).


3. Election Security: Investments and enhancement.


4. Financial transparency: Campaign Transparency, Countering Foreign Interference, Empowering Small Donors and Related Reforms, Enforcing Campaign Finance Laws, Strengthening Campaign Contribution Limits.


5. Ethics Reforms: Supreme Court Ethics Reform, Expanding Lobbyist Disclosure, FARA Reform, Recusal of Presidential Appointees, Executive Branch Ethics Reforms, Congressional Ethics Reforms, Disclosure of Presidential Tax Returns. 


The John Lewis Voting Rights Advancement Act, they note, deals more explicitly with racial discrimination in voting, directly highlighting the issue of racism and discrimination in our electoral process. 


The Act would update and strengthen the 1965 Voting Rights Act in response to a 2013 Supreme Court decision which, they say, gutted the 1965 law. The bill updates the coverage formula that determines which states and localities must pre-clear (that is, seek advanced approval for) changes to their election laws with the Justice Department to ensure those changes do not place an undue burden on Americans’ voting rights. These provisions were in place from 1965 to 2013, and produced the greatest increase in minority participation in the electoral process in American history. 

Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

CACC names new executive director

Peter Crasto-Donnelly has been selected as the new Executive Director of the Capital Area Council of Churches . Peter has served on the board for five years and as Board President for the last two years. He is a member of the Shrine Church of Our Lady of the Americas in Albany.     In making the announcement, the board expressed its thanks to Bruce France for his five years of service as Executive Director and thanked him for his ongoing help to ensure a smooth transition.   A video message from Peter is available here .
Read more

And so it begins

This is the continuation of a blog with the same name that lived on the website of the Albany Times Union for more than seven years until last week, when the newspaper decided to end that service. I am grateful to the staff of the paper for giving me the opportunity to reach out to their large audience and develop a following that was concerned about the role of religion in our public life. We in the Capital District are blessed to have an interfaith community that willingly shares its beliefs without feeling the necessity to attack those who believe differently. We gather on issues where we agree and travel our own paths on issues where we differ. Those differences center on substance, never on the character or tenets of the other. By way of introduction, my name Walter Ayres and I am an ordained deacon in the Roman Catholic Church. I also am director of Catholic Charities Commission on Peace and Justice, a member of the Capital Area Council of Churches , the Labor Religion Coalitio...
Read more

Stop the Hate on September 21

On Wednesday, September 21, the College of Saint Rose will mark the United Nations’ International Day of Peace with a “Stop the Hate” program. It will begin at 7 p.m. in the Interfaith Sanctuary, 959 Madison Avenue in Albany. Joan Horgan, director of spiritual life at Saint Rose, said that the International Day of Peace calls upon people worldwide to cease all types of violence and re-dedicate themselves to the work of peace. “Stop the Hate” speakers include Lisa Good, who works with Urban Grief and the victims of gun violence; Anne Liske, a Quaker whose community works for peace; Dr. Sheik Ubaid, who will address the anti-Muslim genocide in India; Father Vasyl Dovgan, who will share the perspective of the Capital Region’s Ukrainian community; and Walter Ayres of Catholic Charities will talk about racism and voting rights.   The event, which is free and open to the public, will also feature prayers and music from multiple faith traditions.    “At every level in our commun...
Read more