Motivating Diverse Religious Voters in Milwaukee and Madison

Frederica Freyberg:
Churches and faith-based organizations across Wisconsin lead efforts to get more people to vote and engage with elected officials. Reporter Murv Seymour tells us more about the historical connection between the church and voter engagement.

Martin Luther King, Jr.:
Then after getting people registered, that is another even greater responsibility.

Murv Seymour:
Echoes in the fight for the right to vote during the civil rights era have long rung out.

Martin Luther King, Jr.:
And that is to go out to vote in the primary.

Murv Seymour:
More than a half a century later…

Martin Luther King, Jr.:
Let us march on ballot boxes.

Murv Seymour:
…the urge to march on continues.

Greg Lewis:
In some areas you see three churches on one block.

Murv Seymour:
It rings from the one place some consider the catalyst for community engagement.

Greg Lewis:
I don’t care where you go, the church is the most powerful entity that we have in our grasp.

Murv Seymour:
The church.

Choir:
Oh happy day, oh happy day.

Murv Seymour:
Reverend Greg Lewis not only preaches…

Greg Lewis:
When I get to heaven, it’s going to be a happy day.

Murv Seymour:
…he also leads the nonprofit, nonpartisan organization Souls to the Polls.

Greg Lewis:
Church, you have work to do.

Murv Seymour:
Its goal…

Greg Lewis:
Talk to your friends, neighbors, relatives. Call them. Tell them. Listen, involve yourself in the process. We have power. We have the numbers. We just need the energy.

Murv Seymour:
Get everyone in his community who’s eligible to vote.

Greg Lewis:
This is something that we can really make home for early voting. Amen?

Crowd:
Yeah.

Angela Lang:
We always intentionally went to the early vote location at midtown.

Murv Seymour:
When the midtown early voting site in Milwaukee unexpectedly shut down…

Greg Lewis:
Let’s work harder to get out and vote early even more than before.

Murv Seymour:
…Souls to the Polls united with more than a half dozen community groups and some of the 400 pastors Lewis says he has in his contact list.

Greg Lewis:
We’re going to make sure that we really push early voting.

Murv Seymour:
The goal: keep an early voting site in this neighborhood.

Greg Lewis:
This is important. This is where we have to start.

Murv Seymour:
In what feels at times like an outdoor sermon, Reverend Greg Lewis preaches the importance of early voting.

Greg Lewis:
This is how we get economics. This is how we get housing. This is how we get jobs. We have to put people in place who will help us do the things that need to be done in this community, and voting is number uno.

Woman:
It’s great to register people, but if they can’t vote, it really hasn’t accomplished much.

Murv Seymour:
A few miles to the south in a residential neighborhood…

Reirin Gumble:
This is the Milwaukee Zen Center, which has been here in this place for over 30 years.

Murv Seymour:
…sits a Buddhist temple.

Reirin Gumble:
We meditate here in the mornings and we take classes.

Murv Seymour:
On this day, it’s a meeting place.

Woman:
Anything the system needs to know, it’s going to ask for.

Murv Seymour:
To learn about registering people to vote.

Reirin Gumble:
Today, we are going to do a voter registration training.

Woman:
To use the online system, someone has to already be 18 years old.

Reirin Gumble:
Every vote counts and it is important that we take care of that.

Murv Seymour:
Organized by Buddhist priest Reirin Gumble and presented by the League of Women Voters…

Woman:
In order to vote, you have to prove who you are but when you’re registering, you have to prove where you live.

Murv Seymour:
…people here anxiously learned about how to best prepare themselves as election workers. Guided by faith, this nonpartisan, nonprofit spiritual center also sends out thousands of written letters before Election Day encouraging people to vote.

Reirin Gumble:
We ask people to very carefully look at the agenda that certain people have and then make a vote according to their own values. And I think, you know, everybody needs to do that for themselves.

Michael Burch:
The vote is one piece of the whole advocacy picture.

Murv Seymour:
In the heart of the University of Wisconsin-Madison campus

Michael Burch:
Faith communities have had a role in advocacy for a long time.

Murv Seymour:
…Reverend Michael Burch at Crossing Ministries looks to educate this college community about political activism.

Michael Burch:
Listening to the students, that’s my main role.

Murv Seymour:
He does so by bringing together students with and without faith.

Michael Burch:
It’s not all about really being on one end of the spectrum or the other but learning to be versed in what you’re advocating for and understanding it and also being willing to move your position.

Bonnie Margulis:
What is it that you want them to do? Be really clear in your ask.

Murv Seymour:
On this night…

Bonnie Margulis:
If you’re on the mailing lists for different organizations, I’m sure you’ve gotten asked to sign this petition, put your signature on this letter.

Murv Seymour:
Rabbi Bonnie Margulis of Wisconsin Faith Voices of Justice schools a small group of students on how to engage with their local politicians and communicate with their voice and their vote.

Bonnie Margulis:
Students really need to understand the power of their voice, and that they really have, not just the right, but also the responsibility to vote, to learn about issues, to look into things that they care about that are important to them, and to build relationships with their elected officials.

Murv Seymour:
Benjamin Dorava listens from the front row with a purpose.

Benjamin Dorava:
Tonight, I hope to learn, sort of, how to take my first few steps in being more active politically aside from just voting in elections.

Bonnie Margulis:
Ask the students to come up with the questions that they want to have asked, have a moderator. Choosing not to vote is a choice as much as choosing to vote and if you don’t vote, then the person who did vote gets to choose for you who your elected official is. So if you want your values and your beliefs to be reflected in who gets elected, then you need to exercise your right to vote.

Greg Lewis:
We picked up folks here at the church and took them out to vote. We had folks who they went to their homes and they took them to vote.

Murv Seymour:
Without a doubt…

Bonnie Margulis:
All of these faith communities have long histories of speaking truth to power.

Murv Seymour:
…this election cycle, influence from faith and church groups will likely play a huge role.

Greg Lewis:
We can’t let anybody take care of our business, y’all. It’s got to be people we can trust.

Murv Seymour:
And who wins and loses at the ballot.

Bonnie Margulis:
Clergy and faith leaders are trusted messengers. Whether you’re at temple on Friday night or the mosque Friday afternoon or church Sunday morning, clergy have kind of a captive audience.

Michael Burch:
Without faith community involvement in these issues, the entire picture is different.

Murv Seymour:
Reporting for “Here & Now,” I’m Murv Seymour.