Congregations: Sign this pledge if you are a congregational leader (Clergy, President or Social Action Chair) and want your congregation to be listed as a Nitzavim congregation. Nitzavim congregations need to complete at least one of the actions below between now and election day.
Individuals: Sign this pledge if you want to join Nitzavim as an individual. We have many opportunities for individuals across the country to protect and promote the right to vote.
California Residents: Sign up to participate in Tikkun Tikvah, a statewide racial justice and voter engagement campaign to increase participation in the election and help pass Prop 57 for fewer young teenagers in adult prisons and earlier parole for nonviolent offenders.
You can learn more about the many ways you can take action, as an individual or as part of a Nitzavim congregation, below.
What can I do to participate in Nitzavim?
As a congregation or as an individual, you can increase and ensure full access to the ballot by strengthening voter protection and voter participation. This list is not comprehensive. As the RAC continues to work with partner civil and voting rights organizations, more opportunities to participate in Nitzavim will be developed and shared on this page. If you pledge to participate in Nitzavim, you will receive emails informing you of updated opportunities to take action for voter protection and participation.
Voter Protection
Volunteer with the Election Protection Coalition as a non-partisan poll monitor on Election Day—you will be on site at a polling place answering voters’ questions and looking out for any problems that might disenfranchise voters.
Since the 2013 Supreme Court’s decision in Shelby County v. Holder that gutted the Voting Rights Act, multiple states with long histories of racial discrimination have rushed to introduce voter ID requirements and a maze of other obstacles that often make it more difficult for people of color, the elderly, and young people to register and vote. Oftentimes these voters who lack photo ID or are missing from the voter rolls still have options once they get to the polls—but they need your help to navigate these processes and help ensure their ballot counts.
1. Travel to Cincinnati, Ohio (one of only two states in the country with strict non-photo ID and where our partners have historically had too few volunteers to cover all polling places) or Macon, Georgia (a state with a strict photo ID law that has proposed or passed almost 20 discriminatory election changes) to protect the vote with the Lawyers’ Committee for Civil Rights Under Law on November 8. This option is available to both lawyers and non-lawyers. You will receive information in the coming weeks about how to sign up for poll monitoring spots in Georgia or Ohio, depending on your preference. Online training to monitor polling places and sign-up information for specific locations and time slots will be available in October.
2. Work locally to protect the vote on election day in your area. This option is available to both lawyers and non-lawyers. Training to monitor polling places and sign-up information for specific time slots will be available in October.
Voter Participation: Registration, Mobilization and Education
3. Register voters with your local NAACP between now and the end of registration in your state.
4.Hold a voter registration drive in your congregation. For more information about how to do this, follow the easy steps outlined in the RAC’s Get Out The Vote Guide. You can also find regulations on voter registration drives at Electionary.info. Click on your State, then click “Voter Registration,” then “Voter Registration Drives.” We encourage any congregation with community and/or interfaith partners to host a drive together.
5. Commit to get 100% of your congregation’s eligible voters to vote. If you make this pledge, the RAC help you follow up on your congregants’ commitments.
6. Have meaningful conversations with potential voters by joining PICO National Network’s deep canvassing efforts in Colorado, Minnesota, Ohio, Texas, Massachusetts, Florida, Pennsylvania and New York. Please only pledge to do this if you live in one of the above states. RAC staff will connect you with local partners. (To learn more about the technique of “deep canvassing,” the Huffington Post has a piece about its use in a different context.)
7. Host a candidate forum on issues of racial justice in your community. We encourage any congregation with community and/or interfaith partners to co-host a candidate forum together. The RAC’s Get Out The Vote Guide has helpful tips.
8. Hold an issue night on criminal justice reform, voting rights or another racial justice issue. We encourage any congregation with community and/or interfaith partners to host an issue night together. You can also find tips for this in the RAC’s Get Out The Vote Guide.
9. Convene a group of leaders to participate in our Election 2016 webinar series. Read more at RAC.org/Nitzavim.
Your pledge is a chance to put your values into action. Please sign up for as many or as few of the above opportunities as you believe you will be able to accomplish. Know that whatever you contribute to Nitzavim, no matter how large or small, it will count as part of the collective work of the Reform Movement. Together as a Movement and with our partners, we will ensure the protection and participation of hundreds of voters in the 2016 election.
