Now that election day is here, U.S. voters have new concerns to consider. This article was published in the November-December 2020 issue of NewsNotes.
[This page was updated on November 2 and will continue to be updated to include more events as we learn about them.]
During the Election Day and Night
Seek help if you need it. The national, nonpartisan Election Protection Coalition runs the hotline 1-866-OUR-VOTE (1-866-687 8683). Call it for questions about how to vote or if you encounter problems when seeking to cast your ballot. Legal help is provided by the Lawyers Committee for Civil Rights.
Pray with us. The Leadership Conference of Women Religious offers a short prayer service that you can use to pray with your community called “On the Pulse of the Morning.” Pax Christi USA also offers prayer cards and resources for study and action. Sojourners Magazine offers prayers and images that can be shared on social media. For a guided prayer, we recommend this 20-minute centering prayer with Fr. Thomas Keating. For calming music, we recommend "Be Not Afraid" recorded by various Catholic artists from home for Salt and Light Media.
Prayerful Events on Election Day:
- Virtual Prayer Room for Peace. The SSNDs invite you to visit this space any time and to share this invitation with others. All are welcome! Just click on the play button. May peace prevail.
- Election Day Prayer Vigil with Shalem Institute - Prayerful guidance around a contemplative practice leading into extended silence each hour on the hour, led by a faith leader. Starting 9am ET on Nov. 3.
- Contemplative Sit In Online Election Night, Tuesday, Nov 3, 6:30 pm - 10 pm ET. Hosted online by the Dominican Sisters of Hope. Come sit with a Sister. During this time, we hope to bring stillness to the world and to each other. Come for as long as you'd like as often as you'd like, this is an open-door space. This session is open to the public, and all are welcome.
- Poor People's Campaign M.O.R.E. Prophetic Vote: Live From National City Christian Church (Evening Session) November 3, 9:00 pm - 11:30 pm ET. Hosted online by the Poor Peoples Campaign. Starting at 9:00pm ET on election day, our prayerful action will continue as Washington, DC faith leaders and voices from around the country lead us in a program of prayer, prophecy, and witness for a just democracy now. The broadcast will last until 11:30pm ET.
After Election Day
Organize to protect democracy. The group Choose Democracy is organizing and advising people not to accept the results of the Nov. 3 election until all votes are counted. They also provide training for nonviolent civil disobedience in the event that the integrity of the elections is not respected.
The Transition Integrity Project, organized by former White House and Department of Justice officials, was formed in 2017 to prevent the U.S. democracy from declining into authoritarianism. In June 2020, it convened a bipartisan group of over 100 current and former senior government officials to name the post-election scenarios. The resulting 22-page report offers recommendations for concerned citizens in the event of an improper vote count or threat to a peaceful transition of power.
Prayerful Events After Election Day:
- “After the Election: Spirituality, Civil Conversations and Social Healing” with Krista Tippett - Wednesday, Nov. 4th at 7pm ET on Zoom. Join us for a special edition of “Matters that Matter: A Conversation Series from Hendricks Chapel” with Krista Tippett, the Peabody Award-winning broadcaster and creator of “On Being,” a New York Times bestselling author, and a National Humanities Medalist. Live captioning will be provided.
- “Taking the Long View” Spotify Playlist: A playlist of poetry and conversations curated by the OnBeing Project to get grounded in reflection that will be with us the day after the U.S. election, and far beyond, whoever wins. These voices point the way forward to become the people and country most of us — across all our divides — want to be.
- Post-Election Multi-faith Prayer Vigil Friday, Nov. 6, 3 pm – 5 p.m. ET. Hosted by Faithful Democracy. Join us in prayer to close-out the Sacred Season of Voting. The theme will be “The Faith Community Is Still Here” and we are calling for bold, comprehensive democracy reforms to fix our broken foundation: addressing Voting Rights and Money in Politics to restore elected officials’ accountability to the people. The vigil will be livestreamed on the Faithful Democracy facebook page as well as those of our
partners. https://www.facebook.com/FaithfulDemocracy/