Voting — Finish Strong

For decades, the NC Council of Churches has encouraged full and unfettered access to the polls for North Carolina’s citizens.

As recently as 2013, the Council’s Governing Board approved a statement which read in part:

The ability of those who have traditionally been unheard or unheeded to have a voice is a core concern of Christianity. The North Carolina Council of Churches has long supported equal legal rights for all. Nowhere is this more important than in suffrage, the right to vote.

The right to vote of every citizen is fundamental to democracy, rooted in the principle of consent of the governed, a core concern of Christian ethics as it is of American political history. It is a primary means in a republic to allow the dispossessed, the poor, and racial and ethnic minority groups a voice in the public square. Indeed it is what guarantees that there is a public square for all citizens.

All elections are important, and the choices before voters this year are especially critical. To those who have already made their voices heard at the polls, we say thank you and ask that you encourage others to do the same. To those who have not yet cast your ballot, we hope you will do so and that you will take a friend or family member who also needs to vote.

Some important information for those who will vote in the coming days:

Early voting in North Carolina ends on November 5. Election day is November 8 with polls open from 6:30 a.m. to 7:30 p.m..

Answers to many questions you might have about voting are available from our friends at Democracy North Carolina.

And rides to the polls are available through election day. Drivers are particularly needed in Nash and Edgecombe counties. If you are able to help with driving, you can contact Cheryl Ellis of Democracy NC directly at 919-908-7931.

Let us do all that we can to encourage our sisters and brothers who are still recovering from the devastation of Hurricane Matthew in exercising their right to vote even as they work toward a return to normalcy. The state NAACP has Get Out the Vote events scheduled across the east as this election cycle enters its final days.

May we show all who sacrificed, suffered, and died so that we could vote that their efforts are valued and appreciated.