As hundreds of thousands of pro-lifers gather in the nation’s capital next week to protest the stain of legal abortion in our nation, tens of thousands more will come together in cities across the country at local marches and walks for life.
And we in this movement know that these events are meant to galvanize people into pro-life action for the whole year. The rallies and marches need to be marked by practical calls to action. Otherwise they risk becoming exercises in wishful thinking.
And making it practical also means paying attention to the fact that we are in a critically important election year. These rallies and marches can easily serve as an opportunity to register voters for the critical midterm elections in November.
We must regain the House and Senate if we hope to stop the abortion extremism of the Democrat party. We must vote out every abortion ideologue who is standing for re-election, a group that includes the 222 pro-abortion Democrats currently in the House of Representatives. We must vote in pro-life candidates on every level of government. What pro-lifers can accomplish on the state level has been amply demonstrated in places like Mississippi and Texas.
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The problem is that an estimated 15 to 40 million Christians either are not registered to vote or are registered but do not show up on Election Day. For the 2020 election, the Faith and Freedom Coalition reached out to 5.2 million Christians who don’t regularly vote.
Given the chaos of that election, more people might be planning to sit out the midterms because there is more distrust in the system than ever before.
But giving in to that temptation would simply be handing power to the enemy, and rewarding those who do wrong. It would be a catastrophe politically, strategically, and morally.
Providing voter registration forms to participants in pro-life events – no matter how “non-political” the organizing group may be — is entirely appropriate because no one party is being singled out for registration. Anyone can register. It is non-partisan, and every group, Church, and individual has the right to do that.
At the same time, the reality is that signing up people at a pro-life march means you are signing up pro-life voters. That’s a win-win.
There are some things to keep in mind when planning a registration effort.
- Voter registration rules differ from place to place. Check with your local board of elections. They can give you the voter registration forms for your state, and explain the different options of how to conduct voter registration.
- It can be as simple as just giving people the voter registration form, encouraging them to fill it out then and there, and having them take it and mail it themselves.
- Alternatively, your local board of elections can explain what is necessary for you to be the designated person to collect and mail the voter registration form.
- In communication with the event organizer – or if that is yourself – make sure the voter registration opportunity is announced to all the participants and is easily accessible for everyone at the event.
- Point out that many people think they are registered, but may have forgotten to update their voter file after a change of address, of name, or of party. You can encourage people to check for themselves on their voter registration status at CheckYourVoterRegistration.com.
- Emphasize that registering to vote in no way determines how or for whom they will vote come Election Day. Everyone should be encouraged to continue collecting information on the candidates as Election Day approaches.
Something important to emphasize as you have discussions with potential voters is that should the Mississippi abortion case now in the hands of the U.S. Supreme Court turn out in our favor, state elections this year could be more important than ever.
The Court could uphold the law that protects babies from abortion after 15 weeks, or it could go further by overturning Roe v. Wade entirely and returning to the states the opportunity to protect unborn babies throughout their development. Voting for pro-life state legislatures and governors would become an important priority for the pro-life movement.
If your city is hosting a march for life or walk for life, these events provide a golden opportunity. When they are over and the crowds disperse, it will be much harder to sign up these reliably pro-life voters.
So let’s rally and march for life! And let’s make sure that means that every pro-life American who is eligible to vote is ready and equipped to cast a ballot in the 2022 midterm elections.
