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Temple Beth El Blog

Fall Voting Wrap-Up, Spring Elections Coming Right Up

12/15/2022 01:34:42 PM

Dec15

The TBE Voter Engagement Action Team had a busy election season. This campaign was part of a national effort, grounded in our Jewish values and commitment to racial justice, to strengthen our democracy by encouraging and protecting voter participation.

  • We participated in a nonpartisan canvass of low-turnout neighborhoods in Madison, sharing information and encouraging voting as part of an effort by the Wisconsin Interfaith Voter Engagement Campaign.
  • Our volunteers assisted the League of Women Voters in a new effort to offer two weeks of voter registration at the Department of Motor Vehicles. This program was very successful and will be expanded next year.
  • With the Dayenu Circle of Madison, a Jewish climate action group, we provided voter registration and information at an open house at Hillel in September. 
  • TBE members helped the Madison city clerk prepare a mailing and served as poll workers on Election Day.
  • In August, 19 TBE members gathered at Temple and on Zoom for a postcard party, sending postcards to voters in low-turnout areas of Virginia. The postcards noted some of the key social justice issues that were at stake on the ballot and gave the recipients the information they need to vote. We did this as part of the “Every Voice, Every Vote” campaign of the Union for Reform Judaism. Nineteen TBE volunteers sent over 1,000 postcards!
  • Nationally, the “Every Voice, Every Vote” campaign resulted in a record-high level of engagement. They formed a network of 600 leaders, organizing 6,500 members of the Reform movement, making a total of over 650,000 voter contacts through phone calls, postcards, text messages, and canvassing. 

Although the national midterm elections brought out the volunteers, our work isn’t done. Elections for the Wisconsin Supreme Court and many local races are coming right up, with the primary on February 21 and the general election on April 4. Our team will continue its efforts to register voters and get out the vote. 

Related news:

  • In early February, Reverend Jennifer Butler will be in Wisconsin on a “Faith and Democracy Tour,” where she will speak about countering the threat of the rising White Christian nationalist movement. 
  • Please join us at the Social Action Shabbat on March 31, where the topic will be protecting our fragile democracy. 
April 26, 2024 18 Nisan 5784