Faith at the polls: Wisconsin poll chaplains are set to bear witness against intimidation tactics

As voters head to the polls on Election Day Tuesday, some will be greeted by poll chaplains.

Two local faith groups are partnering to place clergy and faith leaders as poll chaplains in certain polling places across the state. The goal is for faith leaders to be a calming presence for voters and to ward off any potential acts of voter intimidation during the midterm elections.

“There’s been talk nationwide about people who are being set up to be disruptive at the polls," said Rabbi Bonnie Margulis, executive director of Wisconsin Faith Voices for Justice. "We hope that doesn’t happen.”

“As I am constantly saying to my clergy, ‘I hope you have a very boring day.’ The purpose is to really be out there as people of faith,” she said.

Her organization is partnering with the Wisconsin Council of Churches to place 25 faith leaders from different religious denominations at polling places. Five poll chaplains will be in the Milwaukee area, including Shorewood and Waukesha. Other cities include Madison, Wausau, Fitchburg, Middleton and Green Bay.

The effort is part of the Wisconsin Interfaith Voter Engagement campaign and national group Faiths United to Save Democracy

The group first used poll chaplains in Madison during the 2020 general electionwith 12 faith leaders. That year was uneventful. Margulis hopes for a repeat this election. But she did recall one incident where an individual was yelling trying to disrupt the voting process.

Clergy members serving as poll chaplains receive de-escalation techniques and active bystander training which focus on intervention technics to calm certain situations. Margulis noted the clergy are not there to act as police or security and are told to report anything that looks dangerous to the chief election inspectors, who are trained to deal with those situations.

“We don’t want to put our clergy in harm’s way,” Margulis said.

She also stressed the faith leaders are not poll watchers and that they will be outside the polling stations adhering to the rule of standing 100 feet from the entrance. They must inform polling place officials of their presence and why they are there.

The poll chaplains will be visibly recognizable to the public, wearing attire representative of their faiths. They will also wear yellow caps and safety vests embossed with “clergy” or “faith leader” and have T-shirts that say “pray with your vote.”

“This is a natural extension for the care that we have for each other not only as clergy but for the greater community regardless of faith traditions,” said the Rev. Karen Hagen, retiring pastor of Tippecanoe Presbyterian Church in Bay View.

This is Hagen's first time serving as a poll chaplain. She will be working with another faith leader of the Buddhist faith on Election Day. She joined this effort to be an “assurance” for voters so they can feel safe and comfortable entering the polling place without any kind of harassment, fear or intimidation.

The political ads ahead of the election have the potential to ramp up tension or create a sense of stress that can be intimidating to the voter, Hagen said.

“Our sole job is to provide peace and calming care for those who are waiting in line and to be of assistance any way we can,” she said.

The effort is nonpartisan, but Hagen noted all faith traditions have a vested interest in ensuring the civil responsibility of voting.

“It just seemed a wise preventive kind of ministry to be involved in,” Hagen said of her poll chaplain assignment. “I’m not there to care for one side or the other, but for every individual who has chosen to be a voter.”

This initiative started as a pilot in Madison, but Margulis said the intention was always to take it statewide. Positive feedback from the clergy and voters showed the effort was welcomed, she said.

“To me and to our clergy, that was all that we had to hear. We just know this was an important thing to do,” she said.

It takes on more importance this year with reports of voter intimidation occurring in places like Arizona, where armed activists began monitoring ballot drop boxes. And in some states, election workers have resigned because of harassment and threats.

The effort, Margulis said, is also a show of support for elections workers – some of whom are unpaid volunteers.

“They really make sure our elections are safe and secure,” Margulis said. “They deserve all the help and support we can give them. If our presence out there helps them feel more safe and secure and comfortable, then that’s absolutely what we want to do.”