The right to vote is essential to democracy.
The Rev. Jesse Jackson, who now rests in power, spoke that truth on the eve of primary elections five years ago.
Our ancestors — including one of our namesakes — literally fought for our right to vote. As religious leaders, we consider that right to be a sacred rite and the ballot box the altar of democracy.
March 17 is election day for primaries in Illinois. and early voting is underway. Two years ago, turnout for the primaries was discouragingly low: Even though it was a presidential election year, only 19% of Illinoisans voted. That means 4 out of every 5 fellow citizens of our state abdicated their civic responsibility.
Stakes are too high for Americans to cede their power of the vote. There are so many issues demanding urgent action here in Illinois as well as nationally. We encourage our readers to learn where primary candidates stand on key issues and to vote for the change we need in our time.
Here at home, gun violence continues as a civic scourge. We advocate asking General Assembly candidates where they stand on two important matters.
The first is the Responsibility in Firearm Legislation (RIFL) Act, a bill currently under consideration in the Illinois House. The RIFL Act holds gun manufacturers responsible for the harms caused by their products by creating a financial incentive to reduce the association of their products with injury and death. If enacted into law, the bill would require firearm manufacturers to obtain a license to operate in Illinois. State retailer would be restricted to selling only from licensed manufacturers. Those fees collected would be directed towards a state treasury fund and would be used to support survivors of firearm injuries and boost gun violence prevention efforts.
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The bill is estimated to bring significant financial benefit to Illinois, with projections suggesting $297 million in year one and over half a billion dollars by year three. The RIFL Act is supported by survivors, advocates and faith leaders. Ask your candidates where they stand on the RIFL Act before casting your ballot.
Also, ask your statewide candidates if they are committed to continued funding for community violence intervention (CVI) in Illinois. As we have documented often in this section, CVI has proved to be incredibly effective in mitigating the effects of gun violence. Statewide CVI efforts have benefited from the incredible cooperation of government, philanthropy and business leaders. However, with significant federal funding for CVI at risk — and federal funding for Illinois already being reduced — we need to make sure that our state continues, and hopefully increases, our financial commitment to CVI.
Ask your candidates where they stand on maintaining and expanding Illinois’ financial commitment to the lifesaving work of CVI and to the needed community healing resource centers that address violence-related trauma. Our votes in March will not only affect the direction of Illinois but also of America. We faith leaders are horrified and disgusted by the inhumane and murderous operation of Immigrations and Customs Enforcement, better known as ICE. While at our #FaithAgainstFear rallies, the four of us have used the language of “melting ICE.” We believe that stronger action is necessary for this government body, which is veiled in secrecy and steeped in racism; it needs to be eradicated and its agents be held accountable so that a new, humane agency to regulate borders might be created. We encourage voters to ask their candidates if they support abolishing ICE. We also encourage voters to find out which candidates have taken donations from companies such Palantir, which benefits from lucrative federal contracts to surveil citizens. Likewise, we believe candidates must commit to pursue accountability for federal officials and employees for unlawful action taken during recent ICE raids; it has been documented that ICE-initiated violence has worsened by 290%. More than 400 judges across the United States have ruled that the administration is detaining immigrants unlawfully. From Border Patrol Cmdr. Gregory Bovino, who led Operation Midway Blitz here, to Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem, ICE and the Department of Homeland Security must be held to account. Our elected officials must ensure this happens. Painfully, we know that the very integrity of our elections, our very right to the free franchise, is under threat. The perversely titled SAVE America Act really intends to disenfranchise minority voters. This bill is opposed by the Leadership Conference on Civil and Human Rights and 130 other organizations. It is a scary time when the president calls for the nationalization of elections and sends the FBI to Georgia’s Fulton County to seize voting records. Alarmingly, Noem has stated that DHS has the authority to identify “vulnerabilities” in election systems and implement “mitigation measures” to ensure state and local elections are “run correctly.” Instead of the SAVE Act, which undermines democracy, any candidate for federal office should endorse the John Lewis Voting Rights Advancement Act. Lastly, we want to share that Illinois and America need ranked choice voting, which would make it likelier that broadly liked candidates would be elected. Not only would this voting method give voters greater choice, but it also would mitigate the polarizing effects of extreme voices in primaries and reduce the risk that minority candidates will wind up splitting votes, thereby reducing representation in government. Some municipalities have already established ranked choice voting, and Illinois should do the same statewide. Learning where our candidates stand is fundamental to our voting power. Our right to vote is essential to our democracy. Our American democracy is essential to the preservation of human life and human liberty. May we each fulfill our civic duty, our sacred duty, and vote in this primary for a better America. Chicago faith leaders Rabbi Seth Limmer, the Rev. Otis Moss III, the Rev. Ciera Bates-Chamberlain and the Rev. Michael Pfleger joined the Tribune’s opinion section in summer 2022 for a series of columns on potential solutions to Chicago’s chronic gun violence problem. The column continues on an occasional basis. More Top Picks Best Hiking Watches With Maps Submit a letter, of no more than 400 words, to the editor here or email [email protected].