October 24, 2018
Contact:
Mollie Katz
202-527-9058
Press@rcrc.org
RCRC Statement Denouncing Voter Suppression in the 2018 Midterms
In response to widespread voter suppression in the upcoming midterm elections, RCRC issued the following statement by its three-person team of executive directors, Delia Allen-O’Brien, Rev. Dr. Cari Jackson, and Lisa Weiner-Mahfuz:
As leaders of the Religious Coalition for Reproductive Choice, we strongly condemn the injustice and immorality of voter suppression across the country that has resurfaced in the 2018 midterm elections. Make no mistake, these practices are designed to disenfranchise Indigenous, Black, and Brown people and shape the outcome of the upcoming midterm elections.
Voter suppression tactics are a reproductive health, rights, and justice issue. To protect the autonomy of our own bodies, we must be able to elect leaders who will shape policy on reproductive issues.
Voter suppression is an abuse of power. It only manipulates our democratic political system. It chips away at our civil and human rights. Many sacred texts call on us to stand against such abuses.
We call on voters across the country to speak out against the injustice of white supremacist and exclusionary policies, including shutting down polling places in communities of color, purging people from the voting rolls, barring formerly incarcerated people from casting ballots, skewing elections through gerrymandering, and setting voting requirements that disproportionately disenfranchise Indigenous, Black, and Brown communities.
We believe strongly in the vision of a democracy that is inclusive and is committed to upholding the dignity and worth of every person. RCRC stands by values shared by many faiths — that we are all equal in the eyes of God and divinely endowed with free will.
We can and must do better as a nation to bring our faith convictions to reality, increasing justice and freedom for all. These ideals must be a bedrock of the democratic voting process.