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WASHINGTON – Faith leaders from across Michigan joined a group of more than 1,100 faith and community leaders representing communities in all 50 states today as a part of a joint call for federal, state and local public officials to do everything in their power to guarantee that Americans are able to cast votes free of fear and intimidation and that every vote cast in the 2020 elections will be counted.

"The values of our faith traditions inform our dedication to this cause," the leaders wrote in a joint letter to government officials demanding clear commitments to support election integrity. "All of the constitutional freedoms that we enjoy, including our religious freedom, depend on the integrity of our elections – the foundation of American democracy."

Faith Leaders United, which organized the letter, is a bipartisan, multifaith coalition that bridges political, theological and denominational divides. The coalition is calling on public officials to make four specific commitments, including:

Our leaders must ensure a free and fair election in which all eligible Americans can safely cast their votes without interference, suppression or fear of intimidation.

Leaders and election officials must count every vote in accordance with applicable laws before the election is decided, even if the process takes a longer time because of precautions in place due to COVID-19.

Leaders should share timely, accurate information about the election results and resist and avoid spreading misinformation.

Leaders must actively and publicly support a peaceful transition of power or continuation of leadership based on legitimate election results.

"The right to vote and people's ability to exercise that right is fundamental to the health and integrity of democracy," said Galen Carey, vice president of the National Association of Evangelicals. "Voting is a sacred right and commitment, particularly given our nation's long struggle to extend the right to vote to every eligible citizen. As we enter the final week before Election Day, every state must do all in their power to ensure a free, fair and safe election, and that includes counting all of the millions of votes cast early and by mail and ensuring a democratic, fair press following the election."

"With its broad sweep, the COVID-19 pandemic has forced us into an unprecedented national emergency, and yet, people are voting early, they're voting by mail, in record numbers. Every vote must be counted, anything less is voter suppression," said the Rev. Dr. William Barber, pastor of the Greenleaf Christian Church in Goldsboro, North Carolina, and former distinguished professor of public theology and public policy at Union theological seminary. "To suppress the vote is to suggest that you have entered a 'God Space' and you can determine other peoples' reality and to suppress the vote is to suggest that other people do not have the same Imago Dei, the image of God in you. Suppressing the vote is a form of political and theological idolatry and sin, and it has no place in this democracy."