In what would seem to be a quiet rural part of the central Texas hill country, the entire elections staff, including the director Angela Herrera, abruptly resigned this past week, leaving an empty locked office just 70 days before election day. In 2020 Donald Trump won the county, but many of his voters cried fraud because the results showed some votes for President Biden.
Since 2020, the election workers have received personal threats at their homes, been stalked, and called out on social media. This is not just the case in Gillespie County, but also in urban Tarrant County, home to Fort Worth. The elections administrator for the county reported a threat not just to him but to his children with “We should end your bloodline.”
This 21st century equivalent of Nazi brown shirts are threatening the elections process not just in states like Texas but in New Mexico, Georgia, and even Philadelphia. This is a far cry from the time that Al Gore went along with the Supreme Court decision in the 2000 election. Growing violence and threats of violence threaten the very foundation of our democracy. It is critical to put a halt to such violence now.
Prayer for the Day
Gentle God, we bring our long standing misgivings about ourselves
And our need for reconciliation when we are isolated from others;
You know how we have failed to live up to our own expectations,
As our thoughts, words, and deeds are barriers to your justice.
Enable us to look honestly at ourselves, experience your healing power
So we may repair damaged relationships with others.
We ask this in the name of the One who is your healing power,
Even Christ Jesus our Lord, Amen.
Thoughts for the Day
The right of voting for representation is the primary right by which all other rights are protected.
- Thomas Paine, English born American political activist (1737-1809)
Someone struggled for your right to vote. Use it!
- Susan B. Anthony, suffragist leader (1820-1906)
Ah, you, who make iniquitous decrees, who write oppressive statutes,
To turn aside the needy from justice and to rob the poor of my people of their right,
That widows may be your spoil, and that you make the orphans your prey!
What will you do on the day of punishment, in the calamity that will come
Isaiah 10: 1-3