Less than two weeks out from the midterm elections, Archbishop Edward Weisenburger of Detroit offered a sobering reminder about the importance of participating in and preserving democracy.
“We’ve seen threats and acts of intimidation at voting locations. We have seen gerrymandering and voter suppression like closing polling locations in communities of color,” Archbishop Weisenburger said, addressing a group of parishioners and visitors at Gesu Catholic Church in Detroit on Oct. 21. “And while some might say, ‘Well, that’s just politics,’ I say, ‘It’s an affront to God.’”
“Just as the Catholic Church stands with immigrants, so too are we called to stand against racism and voter suppression,” Archbishop Weisenburger said.
The archbishop joined the event, a “Vigil for Voting,” with other faith leaders from southern Michigan—four Protestant pastors, a rabbi, an imam and a Sikh community leader—to call out divisive political rhetoric and voter suppression while encouraging attendees to make a stand for democracy.
“What does faith have to do with elections?” Archbishop Weisenburger asked. “Pope Leo wrote in ‘Magnifica Humanitas’: ‘Faith invites us to see … we are not merely neighbors to one another, but entrusted to each other so that each of us may take responsibility, as best we can, for the lives and wounds of our brothers and sisters.’
“Even in my short year and a half here, I have seen Detroiters taking care of each other just like this,” Archbishop Weisenburger said. “And we know voting is a critical way that we care for each other.”
Polling sites across the country saw an increase in threats and harassment during recent election cycles. Detroit was no exception. In 2020, supporters of the losing candidate President Donald Trump attempted to storm the Detroit Election Center where absentee ballots were being counted, motivated by false claims of election fraud and chanting, “Stop the vote.”
Detroit City Clerk Janice Winfrey testified before Congress in 2021 that she had received death threats and struggled to maintain staff because of the harassment that occurred during the 2020 election.
The federal Department of Justice announced on Oct. 22 that it would be sending federal election monitors to polling sites at seven cities in Michigan on election day, Nov. 3, including Detroit. Federal monitors have been present in Michigan for several recent national elections.
“No doubt, we have seen Detroit denigrated in national political discourse and misinformation campaigns,” Archbishop Weisenburger said, citing increases of violence at voting locations, congressional gerrymandering aimed at neutralizing the political influence of targeted communities and polarization on the national scale.
“Every voter should be able to fully participate as a matter of human dignity and the common good.”
A study from the Brennan Center for Justice found that communities with more people of color have experienced higher rates of voter harassment and suppression efforts. It noted that harassment of election workers in Michigan during the 2020 election focused narrowly on Detroit, where the population is more than 75 percent Black, rather than nearby predominantly white counties where Joe Biden also won with significant margins.
The “Vigil for Voting” occurred not only with midterms on the horizon, but also during an election season fraught with tensions over voting accessibility and the counting of ballots.
A group of Democratic lawmakers and campaign committees filed a lawsuit on Oct. 21 to call a halt to efforts by the federal government to disqualify registered voters, among other moves the group said are being engineered by the Trump administration to suppress votes.
The lawsuit also asked the court to order the Trump administration to cease threatening state or local election officials with prosecution for maintaining their duties.
It came just days after the Department of Justice charged 28 California residents with violating election laws, and another D.O.J. lawsuit last week seeking to temporarily block California from counting mail-in ballots of voters it claims are likely noncitizens.
Archbishop Weisenberger urged attendees to do their part by considering volunteer work as poll chaplains. Poll chaplains are stationed at polling sites to de-escalate tense situations that may arise and act as peacekeepers.
The Franciscan Action Network, a Catholic public policy group, has been recruiting poll chaplains in preparation for this midterm season.
“These poll chaplains may cast different votes, but they stand united against intimidation and for democracy,” Archbishop Weisenburger said. “That’s an example to us all.”
He encouraged attendees to sign up to volunteer at a table in the back of the church.
“Detroiters are entrusted to one another,” Archbishop Weisenburger said. “And we will protect this sacred, fragile thing called democracy because it gives us our best chance at protecting each other.”
He also encouraged attendees to be conscientious about the content they consume online as Election Day draws closer.
“Be careful of how you feed your mind with news from media sites,” he said. “Have the wisdom and fortitude to see through any effort of manipulation and to seek only the truth.”
He encouraged attendees to uproot “the weeds of misinformation, dehumanization or domination,” but also to sow seeds of love.
“No matter how inflamed the climate becomes, we tend the soil and plant the seeds of compassion and hope,” Archbishop Weisenburger said. “We invest in our common ground, even when the earth seems scorched and dry. For we know the rain will come again, and we will be ready when it does.”
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