by Susan Stephenson, Executive Director
“Vote early and often” is a famous tongue-in-cheek quote, winking at improper voting, but in fact we should vote often, as in (once) every single election, and early, as in today! It’s National Vote Early Day.
November 8th is just 11 days away, but why wait? This is a crucial election, with implications for many things we all care about, including our climate. And voting is the way we communicate our values to our elected officials.
For National Vote Early Day, IPL has partnered with When We All Vote to encourage people of faith and conscience and their faith communities to register to vote, get out early, and cast their ballots.
There are many good reasons to early vote. Here are three:
- Life happens. School, work, flat tires, bad weather, doctor’s appointments, and more are all reasons you may not be able to cast your ballot on November 8th. Making a plan to vote early helps ensure that when life happens, you’re still able to make your voice heard in our elections.
- In some states, it’s harder to vote. We can’t ignore that voter suppression is happening across the country, whether it’s closing polling locations, removing drop boxes, or long lines. We can avoid a lot of those headaches by voting early.
- This election is too consequential to risk not being able to make your voice heard due to some unforeseen last minute barrier.
Take action to ensure your vote is cast on or before November 8th:
- Check your voter registration using this portal: weall.vote/ipl.
- Check your state’s rules about Early Voting. Use weall.vote/voterhub to solidify your voting plan!
- If you encounter a problem when voting, please call this national nonpartisan hotline: 866-OUR-VOTE.
I cannot stress enough the importance of this election. It’s encouraging that some states are already reporting record turnout. Because when we all vote, we can change the future.
Let’s vote our values, to protect Creation, advance climate justice, and create a better world for generations to come.
