Dear Friend,

I grew up mesmerized by the Student Nonviolent Coordinating Committee (SNCC) and its Freedom Summer campaign. In a climate of violence and intimidation, the campaign helped to register thousands of disenfranchised African Americans across the South as they boldly pushed to secure voter protections that culminated in the passage of the historic 1965 Voting Rights Act.

But, as the great abolitionist Frederick Douglass once said, “there is no progress without struggle.” The struggle for racial justice and full voting rights continues, half a century later.

Our partner organization, the Brennan Center, reports that, from 2010 to 2018, 23 states enacted tougher voter registration or hyper-partisan gerrymandering. Blatant voter suppression, intimidation, and harassment — aimed at suppressing the black and minority vote — are all expected to increase. And the pernicious and often-covert voter suppression tactics that we experienced in 2018 are only expected to scale up in 2020.

That’s why, leading into the new year and the 2020 elections, I’m asking you to chip in and strengthen our voting rights work today.

In 2020, Sojourners is committed to building upon and strengthening our Lawyers and Collars initiative, which we piloted in 2018, in partnership with the National African American Clergy Network, to equip and mobilize clergy in key states to push back against voter suppression efforts and hold their election officials accountable for a free and fair election.

In preparation for the pivotal 2020 elections, this November and December we co-hosted prayer breakfast trainings and recruitment events in Ohio, Michigan, and Pennsylvania — and we have additional training events planned in the new year, in Georgia, Alabama, and Florida, all key states where voters are at risk.

Lawyers and Collars, and all our voter protection work, is rooted in and motivated by our understanding and commitment to imago dei: that every person is made in the image of God, and that this confers upon each of us equal worth and dignity. Protecting the right to vote affirms the divine image and inherent value of all God’s children.

In this theological context, protecting the right to vote of every citizen is a sacred commitment that is essential to the legitimacy and health of our democracy and the credibility of our Christian witness and faith.

In 2020, we want to expand this critical voter protection program to additional states and go deeper in our existing states. And we can’t do that without your support.

Support our Lawyers and Collars program and all our work by giving a year-end gift to Sojourners today.

Thank you for your support, and I can’t wait to work with you to protect the vote in 2020.

In solidarity,

Adam Taylor, Sojourners

P.S. Thank you for your support of Sojourners this year. With your gift of $100 or more, I'd love to send you a copy of Christ in Crisis: Why We Need to Reclaim Jesus, by Jim Wallis, to support your advocacy in your church and community.