The Diocese of Southern Ohio and Ohio Council of Churches endorse Issue 1
Don’t let misleading ballot summary confuse you
The 2024 Ohio Pulse Poll, just released by Baldwin Wallace University, reports that 68.9% of Ohio voters oppose gerrymandering. Ohio’s current maps were created by elected officials, and have produced a supermajority in our statehouse and our US House delegation, far exceeding the majority party’s share of statewide votes. The Oct. 1 Advocacy Update describes the discordance between the policies which our General Assembly is passing and The Episcopal Church’s quest for racial justice, our work to prevent gun violence, and our commitment to climate solutions as an urgent humanitarian priority. When legislators create “safe” districts to preserve their power, they can ignore Ohio voters’ majority views, a reality vividly documented in the Ohio Pulse Poll on these three issues.
To prevent conflict of interest, the Issue 1 “Citizens not Politicians” amendment would ban elected officials and lobbyists from Ohio’s Redistricting Commission and require a public, transparent process to produce district maps. The Executive Council of the Diocese of Southern Ohio, the League of Women Voters Ohio, and many other statewide civic groups have endorsed Issue 1. The ballot summary – written by elected officials on the Ohio Ballot Board – misleads voters by stating that the reform would “require” rather than prevent gerrymandering.
“Just know that a Yes vote establishes the nonpartisan commission and a No vote keeps the current process in place,” wrote the Ohio Council of Churches in their Oct. 10 newsletter. “Please spread the word to your friends, family, and faith communities to vote Yes on Issue 1 this election. The Council has worked tirelessly with our faith, civic, and community partners since 2015 to ensure that legislative maps in Ohio are drawn fairly…We believe voters should choose their representation, not the other way around. We witnessed last year the refusal of the current redistricting commission to obey the very laws they swore to uphold when they drew unfair maps not once, not twice, but seven times. Issue 1 is designed to correct this miscarriage of justice by replacing the current commission made up of elected officials.”
Parish Election Challenge: Building Community with Election Engagement. “The Episcopal Church, the Evangelical Lutheran Church in America, and the United Methodist Church are together calling on our member parishes, congregations, and worship communities to take part in the 2024 Parish Election Challenge to help facilitate voter participation in this year’s U.S. national election,” writes the Episcopal Church’s Office of Government Relations.
“Participate in the Parish Election Year Challenge taking non-partisan action through your faith community to encourage voter engagement as Tuesday, November 5, 2024, approaches. Please share on social media to let others know you are involved!
“The acts of casting one’s vote and ensuring others can vote is an expression of the Gospel call to love our neighbors. Christians have the opportunity to be involved in the public square through healthy, faith-informed civic engagement. In an environment with increasing disinformation and misinformation, our church communities can serve as trusted voices about the election. All our actions as parishes and congregations to encourage voter engagement will be non-partisan.”
Volunteer for election protection: Register for trainings now
The Ohio Voter Rights Coalition invites you to volunteer to help ensure this year’s elections are modern, secure, and accessible to all Ohioans. Trainings are online. Some are scheduled and others are on-demand. An overview of the roles, schedule, and training links are all available here.
The roles include:
- Poll monitoring (including your county Board of Elections during early voting)
- Social media monitoring
- Peacekeeper or Election Protection Ambassador.
- Distributing signs and flyers publicizing the Election Protection Hotline
- Command Center to resolve issues – a role for people with legal training
Volunteer to drive voters
The nonpartisan Greater Cincinnati Voter Coalition is recruiting drivers to help voters get to the polls. You can sign up here.
Ohio Council of Churches Anti-Racism Sunday October 20
“Anti-Racism Sunday is an opportunity for congregations to publicly declare during their Sunday morning worship services that racism is a sin incompatible with God’s vision for humanity,” writes the OCC. “The Ohio Council of Churches seeks at least 12 congregations across the state to create your own Anti-Racism Sunday, and offers suggestions for sermons, readings, Sunday School lessons, and activities for all ages. To register your congregation for participation in Anti-Racism Sunday, please click here.
You can also watch the OCC’s own Anti-Racism worship on YouTube, featuring a message from the Rev. Dr. David Long-Higgins, the Conference Minister of the Heartland Conference of the United Church of Christ and President of the Ohio Council of Churches’ Governing Board.”
To let the OCC know if you are interested in viewing the online worship experience, please click here.
Jim Wallis to speak on countering Christian Nationalism at Trinity, Columbus November 2
The Rev. Jim Wallis, the founder of Sojourners, leads Georgetown University’s Center on Faith and Justice at the McCourt School of Public Policy. The Center advocates for racial justice and building a multiracial democracy. A public theologian, Wallis is a New York Times bestselling author of twelve books, including Christ in Crisis, America’s Original Sin, God’s Politics, and The Great Awakening.
Presented by the Ohio Council of Churches, Wallis’ lecture (5 pm) is free and open to the public, but registration is required. Click here to register.
Toolkit to understand Project 2025
The Samuel DeWitt Proctor Conference aids the African American faith community in addressing critical human rights and social justice. They see Project 2025 as a “blueprint for erasing the democratic government as we know it and replacing it with an authoritarian government where the executive branch has full control.”
The Samuel DeWitt Proctor Conference, Inc. offers a toolkit with information it believes will assist religious leaders – particularly in the Black church – who are wrestling with the implications of Project 2025 for Americans who are not white, wealthy, male, and Christian.”
