Overview:
Pennsylvania faith leaders who have worked to mobilize voters worry federal election monitoring could discourage participation in Black and Brown communities. Their coalition is urging county officials to protect polling places while encouraging voters to turn out.
Getting people to the polls takes work. Making sure they know their rights. Helping them find their polling place. Reminding them that their vote counts.
Pennsylvania faith leaders are doing that work. Now they say they must also confront something that could undo it: Fear.
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POWER Interfaith and its partners in Hands Off Pennsylvania are urging county election officials to keep U.S. Department of Justice monitors outside polling places. They argue that potentially heavy-handed involvement by the Trump administration could intimidate the very communities clergy has been encouraging to vote.
The nonpartisan, multiracial, multifaith alliance brings together community organizations and labor unions around a shared commitment: protecting voters and respecting their decisions.
Federal Monitors on the Ground
The Justice Department has notified Pennsylvania officials that it plans to send monitors to Philadelphia, Allegheny, Lehigh and Luzerne counties to observe polling places during the Nov. 3 election.
Federal election monitoring has occurred in Pennsylvania in the past under Republican and Democratic administrations, largely to assess compliance with voting rights protections. But coalition leaders say the current administration has given Black and Brown communities reason to worry about its intentions.
The Rev. Gregory Edwards, executive director of POWER Interfaith, said in the coalition’s news release that FBI raids, investigations and threats of federal interference at the ballot box “have targeted new Americans and Black and Brown communities in a clear attempt to prevent voters from voting and consolidate power.” But the tactics, he added, “only prove how powerful our votes really are.”
Edwards urged county leaders to reject DOJ monitors inside polling locations and encouraged Pennsylvanians to vote, help their neighbors vote and resist intimidation. His message connects the ballot to something faith communities understand well: responsibility for one another.
We aren’t going to let federal posturing intimidate our communities or distract from the real work of democracy,
Sara Melton, managing director of organizing, POWER Interfaith
Sara Melton, POWER Interfaith’s managing director of organizing, said in a statement that they exercise that responsibility “every single day making sure every eligible voter in their congregations and in their communities knows their rights and has a clear path to the ballot box.”
“We aren’t going to let federal posturing intimidate our communities or distract from the real work of democracy,” she says.
The coalition says its preparation has included advocating for more ballot drop boxes and satellite election offices, training community poll monitors and securing pledges from clergy, elected officials and union leaders to help eligible voters participate.
The DOJ, however, describes its assignment differently.
In its letter to Pennsylvania officials, the DOJ says federal monitors will simply observe voting procedures and report potential problems. They will be unarmed and will not speak with voters inside polling places.
‘Our Ancestors Struggled and Died’
Pennsylvania officials have emphasized that state law keeps federal monitors from entering polling places. Luzerne County Manager Romilda Crocamo has said monitors can observe but cannot go inside, according to the Pennsylvania Capital-Star.
For coalition members, the concern goes beyond where a monitor stands: whether an eligible voter hears about federal involvement and decides staying home feels safer.
Rosslyn Wuchinic, president of UNITE HERE Local 274, invoked the sacrifices behind the franchise.
“Our members know that our ancestors struggled and even died to make sure that we have the right to vote,” she said.
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The Rev. Daniel Eisenberg, a POWER clergy leader and pastor of St. John’s Evangelical Lutheran Church, called on county officials to protect voters and choose integrity over political pressure, grounding the coalition’s response in scripture.
“Scripture reminds us that justice and dignity belong to every person, without exception,” he said.
