by Rev. Dr. Kristina “Tina” Campbell
My friend, Ron, registers people to vote in Arizona. He approaches this patriotic task with humility and a sense of determination. The ravages of COVID did not deter him from making sure that people were equipped to exercise their fundamental American right to have a voice. Ron registers people to vote.
Ron’s efforts won both my respect and admiration, and prompted me to recall that when I was a child my family would make a ritual of the act of casting one’s vote. My parents, my brother, and I would dress up and walk to the polling place with the same reverence one might approach an altar for holy communion. My brother and I would stand outside of the booth as my parents pulled the curtain to cast their votes.
Politics were part of my family history. My grandfather and most of my paternal uncles were in the state legislature, and at the time of my birth, my father served as Secretary of State of Iowa. Voting was considered part of living, part of being part of a community, part of being a citizen.
However, not everyone in our country has always been afforded the opportunity to vote, and some have been prevented from voting by unfair laws and unjust interference. Some people need an advocate like Ron to assist them in casting their vote.
Last night I went to see Stacey Abrams at the Mesa Arts Center. Stacey is big on voting. Stacey is also a woman after my own heart. She has lived life on a broad canvas, dipping her toe into everything from acting to writing romance novels to running for public office. She has won elections, and she has lost elections, but she keeps going with justice as her north star.
Instead of adopting a defeatist attitude in our current social and political climate, Stacey challenges us to imagine we can do something, to try to fix things, to do the work. She challenges us to focus on what we can do, and to write it down. Stacey learned early on in her career that she was going to lose at times, and this keeps her centered in a forward momentum.
Stacey would applaud the efforts of my friend, Ron, and says that voting is a continuum of people knowing their rights, being registered and educated, and then becoming part of a coalition where they are repeatedly reminded of the process. People need to hear the message “You matter and we want to hear your voice.” At times Stacey becomes theological, and suggests we need to build relationships by doing for others what we would want them to do for us.
Stacey warns us that the biggest myth is that the political system is magic, and with a poof can fix our societal woes. She suggests that politics is more like medicine. We have social diseases, and voting is our medicine. The medicine does not always cure, but can stave off the symptoms, and provide containment. Stacey advises us to temper our expectations, and realize that we are not always going to get a neurosurgeon. Progress is never permanent, and people who disagree with us will always win elections. Stacey keeps her own equilibrium by voracious reading and watching lots of tv. She feels no guilt about her pleasures!
I am grateful to my friend Ron who quietly performs what I consider to be a profound ministry. As he registers people to vote, I surround him with light and utter many prayers on his behalf. He equips people to exclaim “I get to have a say in who we become.” Many thanks to Ron and Stacey for encouraging us to claim our voice.