This past Sunday, during social hour, the topic of UU the Vote came up. UU the Vote is the UUA’s initiative to take back our democracy this next election. The goals are to increase voter turnout, increase awareness of key issues among the electorate, and to support the election of candidates in line with our UU Principles. Racial Justice, Climate Change, GLBTQ Rights, Economic Justice– these are just a few of the issues that Unitarian Universalist have supported for decades. In the last decade, we’ve seen a systematic erosion of our democratic principles. Through voter suppression, gerrymandering, unlimited campaign contributions, and out-right grabs for power and the dismantling of our system of checks and balances– we’ve seen our democratic ideals slipping away. This election is more important than any in my lifetime– and probably in yours. So, our efforts are needed.

The UU the Vote website (UUtheVote.org) has resources, strategies, and ways to get involved. You can donate money or join text or phone banks. Though the strongest way to help is to pick one of the swing states and partner with some organization doing good work in that state.

Personally, Cheryl and I signed up with Vote Save America (VoteSaveAmerica.com) the action arm of Crooked Media, the producers of Pod Save America, and other political podcasts. (They are a team of people that used to work for President Obama. After the last presidential election, they decided to work towards saving our democracy– and created one of the most popular podcasts in the country.) We have adopted our state of origin, Wisconsin, and have donated money to organizations there and made phone calls as part of a phone bank. I also signed up to donate money through Defeat by Tweet (DefeatByTweet.org). Every time our president tweets, we donate .5 cents to the fund. So far, they’ve raised over 2 million dollars for Black-led organizations in the nine swing states.

There are a lot of ways to get involved and support this work. These are just a few examples. You probably have your own that you’ve been doing. If so, let me know– I’d love to highlight them in a future e-blast. And if you haven’t jumped in– well, now is the time. The election is less than 50 days away. Make sure you are registered to vote. Get your absentee ballot, if you can. And make a voting plan.

We can do this. We have to. It’s time to UU the Vote.

Cooperatively,

Rev. Craig