Democracy needs broad participation to ensure that elected leaders are held accountable for protecting the rights and well-being of everyone in all our communities. Yet 40% of eligible voters did not vote in the 2016 elections, because they faced obstacles to voting or believed that voting didn’t matter. Faith communities, including ORUCC, played a vital role in the 2020 Presidential election. Local voter turnouts in November 2020 were 80% across Dane County and 75% in the City of Madison.

The Wisconsin Interfaith Voter Engagement Campaign, sponsored by the Wisconsin Council of Churches and Wisconsin Faith Voices for Justice, supports persons of all faith traditions in strengthening our democracy through interfaith cooperation.  The goal of this campaign is to help people of faith share their reasons for caring about voting; to work with each other and community organizations to promote voter registration and voting; and to advocate for safe and accessible voting during COVID-19. 

As physical distancing continues to prevent many traditional means of voter engagement, we at ORUCC are exploring new ways to reach eligible voters. ORUCC supported this work by designating June 2020’s Compassion Offering for the Wisconsin Interfaith Voter Engagement Campaign. In addition, we regularly post information on voter registration, election dates, absentee ballots requests, polling places, and early voting opportunities on our website and in our weekly announcements. We continue to explore ways our church can support faithful citizenship consistent with our commitment to justice for all people.

For more information, go to https://interfaithvotewi.org