FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE: Thursday, August 4, 2016

CONTACT: Kawana Lloyd, PICO National Network
Heather Cabral

TOGETHER WE VOTE Launch! Major Religious Organizations Announce Multi-Faith, Multi-Racial Voter Education and Turnout Program Focused on Racial Justice

Goal of One Million Conversations with Voters Bypassed by Campaigns and Parties

Washington, DC — On Tuesday PICO National Network, launched what is expected to be the largest volunteer-led voter registration and education turnout program this year. Coming just days after the close of both the Republican and Democratic National Conventions, PICO joined national and state-based faith leaders with the United Church of Christ (UCC), the National Latino Evangelical Coalition (NaLEC), the Religious Action Center of Reform Judaism (RAC), the African Methodist Episcopal Church (AME), Bread for the World, Sojourners and several additional groups. PICO leaders laid out the details of the multi-faith, multi racial voter program called Together We Vote.             

Denise Collazo, chief of staff of PICO National Network, opened the press conference laying out the plan for Together We Vote, urging “There’s too much division. We’re being divided across race, across geography, and across religion. We’ll be talking to over one million voters in conversations with people who have been regularly bypassed by conventions and parties and candidates. We want to lay the groundwork for policy change, including ending mass incarceration, reducing gun violence, raising wages and benefits for our families and keeping immigrant families together.

Collazo later added, “In the face of hate-filled rhetoric, an immoral economy that excludes working families, and policies that criminalize our Black and Brown communities through detention and deportation, faith groups are laying the groundwork for an aggressive racial and economic agenda in 2017. We will be asking voters and candidates to support issues such as paid family leave and a $15 minimum wage, ending predatory payday lending, closing privately run immigration detention centers, and withholding federal funding from cities and states that refuse to hold police accountable or take steps to reduce mass incarceration.”

Pastor Traci Blackmon, leader of the UCC’s Justice and Witness Ministries, one of PICO’s greatest allies on racial justice and a leader in Ferguson, Missouri, urged, “We are suggesting that the theological mandate that those of us who follow Jesus have is that we must care for the hungry, we must care for those that do not have shelter, we must care for those that others turn their backs on, that must be the center of our narrative and everything we do from the polls to the pulpits to the pews must line up on this accord.”

Bishop Dwayne Royster, PICO’s Political Director, offered additional details, explaining, “We believe every person of faith should exercise their right to vote as an act of faith in co-creating the beloved community we all desire here on earth. We’re going to train 15,000 volunteers and leaders within our federations and allied organization to go and do the work of knocking on doors and having phone conversations to make sure they vote this season.

Barbara Weinstein, Associate Director of the RAC, reminded the crowd “There has been a systematic silencing of individuals and communal voices at the ballot box in the form of closed polling stations, limitation on early voting and onerous voter ID laws.”

The Together We Vote program is expected to be the largest volunteer-led voter registration, education and turnout program in the United States this year.

Quotes from additional faith leaders who participated in the event:

Rev. Jose Arce, National Latino Evangelical Coalition (NaLEC): “We believe that all are made in the image of god and deserve to be treated with dignity and respect. That’s why we’re mobilizing Hispanics on the issue of immigration reform. Voter registration is a key component to ensuring our voices are heard.” 

Bishop Adam J. Richardson, Jr., African Methodist Episcopal (AME) Church, FL: “We’re focusing on early voting because it has a terrific impact on election impact. Souls to the Polls is one of those strategies. Social justice is a part of the DNA of the AME Church. We are pushing for 100% voting participation in our congregations.” 

Pastor Michael H. Harrison Sr., Ohio Baptist State Convention, President and the Ohio Organizing Collaborative: “Christ has taught us the importance of living our faith in the public arena. We’re going to register over 200,000 voters in Ohio. In fact, we already have 138,000 registered.”

Lisa Sharon Harper, Sojourners: “Jesus said what you do the least of these you’ve done to me and voter suppression this year is targeting the least of these.  And so it is essential that the church stand in solidarity with the least and march to the polls with the least, ensuring their capacity to help steward the nation we love so much.”

Rev. Dr. Lindsay Andreolli-Comstock, #WeStandWithLove: The We Stand with Love Campaign invites people to overcome evil with good by equipping people with courageous constructive and creative responses rooted in love, to overcome divisive and destructive messages this election season.

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PICO National Network is the largest grassroots, faith-based organizing network in the United States. PICO works with 1,000 religious congregations in more than 200 cities and towns through its 45 local and state federations. PICO and its federations are non-partisan and do not endorse or support candidates for office. PICO urges people of faith to consult their faith traditions for guidance on specific policies and legislation. Learn more at www.piconetwork.org