Faithful Democracy: Introduction

In the fall of 2003, UUA President Bill Sinkford called for UU involvement in the voter mobilization effort. He stated then:

"There is work to be done. I'm not talking about simply affirming the importance of voting, nor of simply promising to vote ourselves. I'm talking about mobilizing to get out there and work to prevent the travesty of the last election from recurring. We want to see this nation's promise of democracy restored, and to do what we can to ensure that everyone's vote gets counted."

Getting Started: Priorities and Partnerships

If your congregation has not already done so, form a voter task force. Decide together the issues that are most relevant to your congregation and your community.

The UUA Advocacy and Witness staff strongly believes that voter activities should be done in partnership with community groups, with the knowledge that relationships formed during this work often last beyond it. We recommend that congregations explore opportunities for partnership early on in the process—before making big plans. Community based organizations know the ropes, know their communities, and need allies. Working with these organizations provides a way for those of us with more power and privilege to form needed alliances across race and class.

Brainstorm what groups you might partner with. What existing relationships or memberships does the congregation have in interfaith or secular groups? What groups do members of your congregation work for or with that would make good partners? What groups work with communities with traditionally low voter turnout, such as young adults, people of color, and people with low incomes? Often partner churches in low-income areas, immigrant communities and/or communities of color have connections that can provide further suggestions for partnerships and projects. Check out www.faithfuldemocracy.org for faith groups active in your area and www.nationalvoice.org for community groups.

Form an Action Plan

We recommend planning your work so that it includes some activities in each of the five areas: voter registration, voter education, Get Out The Vote (GOTV), advocacy and poll monitoring. Start your planning by brainstorming goals in each area, then narrowing them down to manageable list. From there repeat the process by brainstorming activities to meet those goals. For example, one goal might be to have everyone in the congregation registered. Having a voter registration table at coffee hour could help you achieve that goal.

Legal Considerations

Congregations have tax-exempt 501(c) 3 status and therefore must conduct voter registration, education, and GOTV (get out the vote) drives in a non-partisan manner. See The Real Rules: Congregations and IRS Guidelines on Advocacy, Lobbying, and Elections, a publication of the UUA Washington Office for Advocacy, at www.uua.org/voting (link to legal info)

Stay in Touch

The more we know what you're doing, the more we can help you and other congregations share knowledge and inspiration. The UUA is committed to our leadership role in non-partisan faith based voter registration. We want to know and tell others how many voters our congregations are successful in registering in 2004. Please send us the results of your registration drives, tell us how many people you registered and let us know which actions worked best. Your participation will help us plan effectively for future elections! Have the chair or a person from your group let the UUA's Voting Project Coordinator , Sarah Craft , know that you are working on voter mobilization by emailing voting@uua.org or calling 202-296-4672 x22. For weekly updates from Sarah and to share best practices with other congregations, sign up for voter-news, the UUA's listserv for voter work, at http://lists.uua.org/mailman/listinfo/voter-news.

Get media attention

In brainstorming sessions, consider activities that would be exciting to local media. Partnerships and joint activities are often covered positively. Issue a press release to inform your local media about your congregation's dedication to voter and civic participation. Contact Janet Hayes in the UUA Public Witness Office for assistance at jhayes@uua.org; 617-948-4386.

A basic timeline for your voting work:

Present-September 2004: registration and voter education activities (see the Voting Events Calendar at www.uua.org/voting). Try to commit to holding at least four activities during this period.
August-October 2004: Intensive voter registration, approaching most state's 30 day registration deadline.
September, October: Get Out The Vote (GOTV)! Phone bank; call voters, remind them of their registration, their polling place and ask what their needs are for election day. Begin registering and training people to work as poll monitors for election day.
November 2, 2004: Work as poll monitors; facilitate rides to the polls.
Post-Election: Report back from voter activities; share best practices with the UUA, other congregations and community organizations.

Voter Registration:

There's no better place to start registering voters than within the congregation. Once all the members of your congregation are registered, use your skills to conduct registration guides outside your church. Shopping malls, subway stations, parking lots, community events or fairs can all provide opportunities to register voters.

The Interfaith Alliance has created a 2004 Election Year Handbook. A hard copy was mailed to all congregations in late January 2004. You can also download it from the UUA Voting site www.uua.org/voting or directly from www.InterfatihAlliance.org/Elections.

Voter Registration Requirements and Deadlines vary by state. To learn about your state's voter registration requirements see: http://www.vote-smart.org/voter_registration_resources.php

1. Talk to your minister about conducting a registration drive in the congregation. Brainstorm with her/him ideas on how to make it successful. You should discuss the following:
   • Publicizing the voter registration drive in the order of service and announcements during the weeks preceding the election, two weeks and again one week prior to the drive (see the sample announcements below).
   • Putting up fliers and/or posters in appropriate locations.
   • Setting up a table during coffee hour.
   • Including a message in the sermon about the importance of informed voting: registration, education, and motivation. See theological resources including sample sermons at www.uua.org/voting.
     
     
   • Expand your task force to help conducting the drive. New core members can help research voter registration laws, recruit volunteers, and carry out publicity. Remain committed to bi-partisanship; try to include members of all major political parties. Recruit volunteers to help with registration. Be clear about how many volunteers you need (how many per table, etc). Consider asking for help from church committees: membership, social action, etc.
     
     
   • Learn registration procedures: Contact your local election office to determine what methods are permitted in your area (be aware of variations by state and county). In some areas, only official registrars are allowed to register voters. In other areas, volunteers can be deputized as registrars if they attend a training session. Some election offices will arrange a special training for your group. Other areas have no specific requirements and anyone can register voters.
     
     
   • Choose when to conduct the drive. Check with your local election office for registration deadline. In some areas, registration closes as much as two months before the election. Coffee hours after Sunday services are great opportunities to register church members and conduct drives outside the church.
     
     
   • Meet or telephone each volunteer and make sure he or she knows the process. Tell your volunteers when and where they will be needed and for how long; what they need to do to be deputized as registrars (if necessary); where they will find registration materials on the day of the drive; what they are to do with the registrations when they are finished and what to do if they get a question they can't answer. Be sure to advise them that they must keep the drive non-partisan. Absolutely no comments or suggestions can be made about how a person should register or how a person should vote in the election!
     
     
   • Publicize your registration drive: Use announcements in orders of service, newsletter bulletins, oral announcements, fliers, posters, and other materials. Below are sample announcements.
     
     Sample Announcements:
     
     Weeks leading up to the drive:
     Voter Registration
     
     (Congregation) will be conducting a non-partisan voter registration drive on (dates) following all services. Living our values is an important part of Unitarian Universalism, and civic participation—in the form of informed voting—is one of the most important, tangible ways in which we can express what we believe.
     
     We urge you to register and vote in the upcoming election. There will be tables at coffee hour where you can sign up. If you are not registered or have moved recently, please take time to register.
     
     The day of the drive:
     Voter Registration
     
     TODAY we are conducting a non-partisan voter registration drive. Forms are available on tables at each exit. If you are not registered, please stop and fill out one of the registration forms. As Unitarian Universalists, we have an obligation to promote the common good by exercising our right to vote. Please register today!
     
     Vote, and the choice is yours. Don't vote, and the choice is theirs. Register, or you have no choice!
     
     
   • Conduct the drive.
     •  Keep it non-partisan! Absolutely no suggestions can be made about how people should register.
     •  Set up tables, with plenty of pens, registration forms, and instructions for volunteers. Volunteers should stand (rather than sit) at the tables—it's more engaging.
     
     
   • Follow up! Make sure all completed registration forms are returned to the election office. Keep photocopies of forms to use during your GOTV efforts. Thank your volunteers, minister, etc. for their cooperation.
     
     
   • Get Out The Vote! Use photocopied registration forms to call voters and determine their needs on election day (rides to or from polls). On the Sunday before the election, use order of service inserts, oral announcements, the homily/sermon, fliers, and other materials to encourage your congregation to vote. If you know of someone who may need a ride to the polls, arrange one by calling on volunteers and your voting task force.
     
     
   • Evaluate with volunteers and voting task force what worked and what didn't. Make notes and take suggestions for future registration drives and voting activities. Ask volunteers and task force members how they would like to continue working on voting issues. See the Advocacy and Poll monitoring sections of this guide for further resources.

ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS:

Many thanks to the National Conference of Catholic Bishops/United States Catholic Conference for providing the materials on which this document is based.

Voter Education:

Educate your congregation and the public about:

• Registration requirements.
• What is the voting process in your state and community? Who is eligible to vote? Can ex-felons vote? What are the registration deadlines? How can people register? Are national or on-line forms accepted? Where are forms available? Find your state's Board of Elections at www.nased.org/statelinks.htm.
• For state voter registration deadlines see: www.fec.gov/votregis/state_voter_reg_deadlines02.htm.
• You can download voter registration forms for many states from https://www.fec.gov. You can find other state information at http://www.vote-smart.org/voter_registration_resources.php .
• The religious/moral reasons for voting.
• See www.uua.org/voting Sermons and Theological Resources for discussion guides, sample sermons, and UU history and theology of civic involvement.
• See www.FaithfulDemocracy.org for interfaith resources.
• Candidate positions
• Project Vote Smart has a comprehensive website on thousands of candidates and their positions on various issues at http://www.vote-smart.org/ . Find your elected official in Presidential, Congressional, Gubernatorial, State Legislative races by entering your zip code.
• Use information on candidate positions to hold discussion sessions. Remember to be strictly non-partisan.
• Hold multi-issue, non-partisan candidate forums using the resource below.

How To Hold a Non-Partisan Candidate Forum

Preliminaries

• Determine whether your congregation will sponsor the forum alone or with another nonpartisan organization such as League of Women Voters.
• Consult The Real Rules on IRS guidelines for congregations and elections. www.uua.org/voting.
• Set the date and obtain a facility that is centrally located, if possible. Church buildings can be used when forum is attended by candidates of all political parties and is multi-issue.
• Draft invitations to candidates. Be sure to Include:
  • Complete information on date, item and place;
  • Rules of the forum (e.g., there will be only written questions, time allowed for candidates' responses);
  • Rules pertaining to campaign literature; Note: Campaign literature should be distributed only outside the facility.
  • A request for any information needed form the candidate for promotion of the forum;
  • Name, address, and telephone number of person to contact to confirm acceptance or to ask for further information;
  • Deadline for the candidate to respond.
• Obtain home addresses of all candidates and send invitations by certified mail with a return receipt requested. The signed, returned receipts should be kept on file.

Physical Arrangements

• Adequate seating for attendees.
• Seating for candidates should be in the form of a head table, preferably elevated so they are visible to the audience. The table should be draped.
• Adequate sound system with the microphones available to rotate between the candidates and a separate one for the moderator.
• Tables for any refreshments and for any literature pertaining to the forum such as agendas or programs. Note: Campaign literature should be distributed only outside the facility.
• Tables for the screeners of written questions and a podium/lectern for the moderators.

• Greeters for both candidates and attendees.
• Moderators: try to secure a moderator residing outside voting area.
• Screeners of questions: recommend one community person such as an attorney, one congregational representative with no personal ties to any of the candidates and one other person from the co-sponsoring organization or from the community.
• Timers: one to keep track of the time and one to hold up signs to signal candidates
• Person to open forum, lead prayer, may be the moderator or presented by the sponsoring organizations.

The Forum

• Begin forum - while candidates are giving their opening statements, screeners can begin sorting questions to be asked of the candidates. After the opening statements, the moderator asks the candidates the written, screen questions.
• Attendees should be given blank index cards as they enter to write questions for the candidates. Each index card should have only one question and indicated to whom the question is directed. A question may be directed to one or all of the candidates.
• Welcome, opening words and prayer.
• The moderator should state that there will be no verbal interaction between the audience and the candidates during the forum. No campaign literature is to be distributed inside the forum room, no buttons or other campaign promotions are to be worn, etc. The forum is neutral territory for a sharing of philosophy, ideas and information, not campaigning.
• Moderator should go over the rules:
  • Each candidate may have a one-to-two minute Opening speech and one (two) minute closing Speech.
  • All questions will be in writing.
  • All questions will be screened for appropriateness.
  • If a question is directed to a specific candidate, he/she will have two minutes to respond. All other candidates may have one minute to respond if they so desire.
  • If a question is directed to all candidates, each candidate will have one minute to respond. The moderator should vary the order in which he/she calls on the candidate.
• Timers should hold up signs to signal speakers.
• Green-Start
• Yellow-30 seconds left
• Red-Stop
• End of forum - moderator or other designee should close and thank everyone for attending, reminding them of the voting date.

ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS:

Many thanks to the Michigan Parent Teacher Student Association for providing the materials on which this document is based.

Voter Mobilization: