RABBINICAL ASSOCIATION URGES STATES AND FED

TO PROTECT VOTER RIGHTS

OHALAH Association of Rabbis for Jewish Renewal, representing 200 rabbis and cantors, from around the globe, has issued the OHALAH VOTER RIGHTS RESOLUTION below urging the protection of voter rights in the upcoming election.

"As a rabbinical association, we feel strongly that every voice must be heard in the upcoming election. This is a matter of tikkun olam, the repair of the world," says OHALAH President, Rabbi Yocheved Mintz, citing the Jewish idea that every human being plays a role in creating a more just and peaceful world.

We have been advised that Democratic and Republican Party officials have raised concerns about improper activity that each party alleges have been committed by supporters of the other party, including:

•Improper addition of voters to the voting rolls,

•Improper removal of qualified voters from the voting rolls,

•“Vote caging," by which a political party entraps voters into circumstances that the party then uses to challenge voting status on Election Day,

•Disseminating incorrect information such as informing voters that they can be arrested at their polling place if their mortgage payments are in arrears or if they have outstanding parking tickets, and

•Other forms of intimidation and thwarting or preventing qualified voters from exercising their right to vote.

We have issued the resolution below in response to these concerns:

OHALAH VOTER RIGHTS RESOLUTION

We urge the federal government and all state governments in the United States of America to be impeccable in ensuring that all registered voters are allowed to vote on November 4, 2008, to reverse any and all improper purging of voters from the voting roles, and any and all improper addition of voters to the voting roles, whether inadvertent or otherwise, and to prosecute all those found to be engaging in vote caging and other activities that would intimidate or otherwise thwart or prevent voters from exercising their right to vote.

This resolution has been endorsed by the Network of Spiritual Progressives and the following individuals:

Rabbi Chava Bahle, Suttons Bay, California

Rabbi Pamela Frydman Baugh, San Francisco, California

Rabbi Howard A. Cohen, Greensboro, North Carolina

Rabbinic Pastor Shulamit Kate Fagan, St. Petersburg, Florida

Rabbi Zev-Hayyim Feyer, Clarement, California

Rabbi Jack S. Gabriel, Sonoma, California

Rabbi Dan Goldblatt, Danville, California

Rabbi Chaya Gusfield, Oakland, California

Rabbi Raachel Jurovics, Raleigh, North Carolina

Rabbi Michael Lerner, Berkeley, California

Rabbi Paula Marcus, Aptos, California

Rabbi Jeffrey Marker, Brooklyn, New York

Rabbi Yocheved Mintz, Las Vegas, Nevada

Jan Salzman, Rabbinic Student, North Pomfret, Vermont

Rabbi David Shneyer, Rockville, Maryland

Rabbi Steve Silvern, Auburn, Alabama

Ed Stafman, Tallahassee, Florida

If you or your organization wish to add your voice to the OHALAH VOTER RIGHTS RESOLUTION, please send title (if any), name, city, state to Rabbi Pamela Frydman Baugh at pbfrydman@yahoo.com and request to be added to the Voter Rights Resolution.