By John Mai
In Minnesota, more than 48,000 residents are not allowed to vote in elections due to the fact that they are currently on probation or parole. Even though these citizens have finished their prison sentences, they are not able to share in one of the fundamental aspects of participatory democracy. The Minneapolis Area Synod has worked with a group of congregations that seek to return voting rights to those citizens who have completed their prison sentence and are re-entering life within the community.
Brenda Blackhawk, director of communications for Central Lutheran Church in Minneapolis, has spearheaded this effort for the synod. “In the state of Minnesota, it is illegal to vote if you have a felony on your record and you are still on probation, [on] parole, or incarcerated,” she states. Blackhawk has played a large role helping Lutherans understand why this is problematic when she staffed the Strategic Organizing Against Racism (SOAR) initiative for the synod.
She continues, “Folks of color make up a smaller percentage of the population in the state of Minnesota, but they make up a much higher percentage in our criminal justice system. That’s what makes [voter disenfranchisement] a racial justice issue.”
Blackhawk and the synod’s SOAR Team are a part of the larger Restore the Vote Coalition. This connects SOAR Team to other organizations like the American Civil Liberties Union, League of Women Voters, and Minnesota Second Chance Coalition.
“Prisoners are a forgotten group of people.”
Lindsay Turner, co-chair of Minnesota Second Chance Coalition’s Legislative Affairs Committee, has fought for the marginalized her whole career, including the disenfranchised. Turner agrees that Minnesota judicial system unjustly strips Minnesotans of their rights when they are convicted of felonies, while allowing powerful and wealthy Minnesotans to commit harm that goes unpunished. Rape, wage theft, and fraud are just some examples of this harm, she explains.
Turner concludes that “no government has the omniscience necessary” to justly enforce voter disenfranchisement, and “the only fair way to deal with those injustices [is to] make it so nobody ever loses their right to vote based on criminal conviction.” “Restoring the vote” is the solution that Turner, The Minnesota Second Chance Coalition, and SOAR Team are all working towards.
FOR WORD OF PEACE Lutheran Church’s Pastor Rick Skare, it’s common sense. “If you’re coming out of the prison system or if you’re on parole and rights are taken away from you, that doesn’t make sense. Aren’t we trying to rebuild peoples’ lives and restore rights for people?” Word of Peace is a Minneapolis Area Synod congregation in Rogers, Minnesota.
Kay Swanson, SOAR Team member and lay leader at Advent Lutheran Church, Maple Grove, Minnesota, joined the fight against voter disenfranchisement when her brother went to prison. “I have seen the struggle that he’s been through, and I have seen how it’s affected his re-entering society,” Swanson says. 
The synod’s Ballots Beyond Bars event at Advent Lutheran Church is what connected Swanson to SOAR Team. “Prisoners are a forgotten group of people,” Swanson continues. The event focused on educating the community with a letter writing campaign, petition, and with the sharing of personal experiences.
“If I believe no one cares about me, I’m going to live a life that’s going to reflect that.”
As a formerly disenfranchised Minnesotan, Rico Morales has carried the emotional weight that comes with having your civil rights stripped away. Morales, Our Saviour’s Lutheran Church lay leader and SOAR Team member, describes it as a snowball effect: “If I believe I’m not being heard, if I believe I’m not being counted, if I believe no one cares about me, I’m going to live a life that’s going to reflect that.” Conversely, “It’s important for me to believe and to hear and feel the fact that my voice and my life is being heard… and that my life matters.”
“We’ve always been called into the public square,” says Bishop Ann Svennungsen. Martin Luther set this example for Lutherans centuries ago. Drawing on his teachings, Bishop Ann elaborates: “When your core ethic is to love your neighbor as yourself, that active love often will put us in places where we see [that] what is hurting our neighbor is not something we can simply fix by showing compassion. We see that there are systems that hurt our neighbor.” To that end, it is wholly Lutheran to change systems for the sake of the disenfranchised.
SOAR Team member Joe Davis sees the connection between those who were marginalized in the gospels and those who are marginalized today. “Throughout Jesus’ entire ministry, he was always liberating people and bringing them deeper into community,” says Davis. A strong supporter of voter re-enfranchisement, Davis believes that Lutherans should adopt a Christ-like response to the injustice Minnesotans currently face. When talking about restoring voting rights, he says, “I think it’s important that we do everything we possibly can to actually make that happen.”
THE SYNOD’S SOAR Team is raising awareness about voter disenfranchisement to try to offer a sense of hope and meaningfulness for those formerly incarcerated that are looking for ways to re-enter society. The return of their voting rights can be done through legislation, and two bills about re-instating voting rights were offered in the most recent legislative session (SF 1010; SF 422).
There bills in the Minnesota Senate have not received hearings in recent years. State Sen. Warren Limmer (Senate District 34) is the chair of the Senate Judiciary Committee, which has the authority to hear bills pertaining to the criminal justice system. He was the subject of the synod’s letter writing campaign at Ballots Beyond Bars. As of this reporting, Sen. Limmer has not responded to SOAR Team’s campaign to re-institute voting rights for those living in communities on parole or probation.
Members of Advent Lutheran and Word of Peace Lutheran, as well as a few other congregations, writing letters to restore the vote.
“It is wholly Lutheran to change systems for the sake of the disenfranchised.”
“We are starting to see a way forward now in a real way that we haven’t before,” says Jerod Freeberg, SOAR Team member and pastor at St. James Lutheran Church. “Right now, we have a real opportunity to be community influencers – to say ‘This is what we care about as Christian people.’ It’s our opportunity to construct a narrative.”
Blackhawk and the Minneapolis Area Synod are releasing an online video series to educate further congregational members about this organizing campaign. This series paints a fuller picture of the synod’s involvement in the Restore the Vote Coalition, using impassioned storytelling and a bit of humor. Follow the Minnesota Area Synod on social media – Facebook, Instagram, and YouTube – this week and next to view the videos.