We believe all human beings are made in the “imago Dei,” the image and likeness of God — it’s a core tenet of ours and many other faiths. So any strategy that would negate people’s votes because of the color of their skin is not just a partisan tactic, but rather a denial of their imago Dei, a theological, biblical, and spiritual offense to God. Protecting the right to vote affirms the divine imprint and inherent value of all of God’s children.

At a 2017 interfaith gathering, the two of us took these deep discussions on how voter suppression threatens the imago Dei within each of us and our neighbors and turned those ideas into the seeds of a campaign. The idea has grown over the years, was piloted in the 2018 election, and now is in full swing in seven pivotal states in the 2020 presidential election — the most important election in both of our lives. Let’s call it “2020 Souls to the Polls.”

In 2016 and 2018, voters faced extensive efforts that made voting more difficult, particularly voters of color and those who are poor. These voter suppression efforts happened after GOP state gains during the Obama administration and, perhaps most significantly, as a result of the Supreme Court’s 2013 gutting of a key provision of the groundbreaking Voting Rights Act of 1965, which required certain states with a history of discrimination to seek preclearance to change voting procedures.

Here's how they did it:

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