Spiritual leaders unite to help keep the peace on Election Day

Amna Nawaz:

A minister, a rabbi, and an imam walk into a polling place. No, it's not the beginning of a joke. It is a coordinated effort to train clergy to help keep the peace on Election Day.

Deema Zein has that story.

Deema Zein:

In the final sprint to the midterm elections, a different kind of volunteer is getting ready in Arizona.

Rev. Katie Sexton, Arizona Faith Network:

So that the voters' vote is counted.

Deema Zein:

These clergy and faith leaders are training to stand outside polling places as poll chaplains and peacekeepers, a calming presence for voters on Election Day.

Rev. Katie Sexton:

They keep the peace, they help people with any voting questions they might have.

Deema Zein:

The Reverend Katie Sexton leads the Arizona Faith Network.

Rev. Katie Sexton:

There has been a huge rise in political violence and partisanship and concern over being able to vote in safety. So we have really mobilized our people of faith and our clergy to get out and make sure that folks can vote safely and securely on Election Day, that their voice is not compromised.

Deema Zein:

Many Americans share that view. In a PBS News/NPR/Marist poll this summer, 37 percent of respondents said violence may be necessary in order to get the country back on track, a share that had nearly doubled in the past two years and included more than a third of Republicans and Democrats.

Arizona has seen tension at the ballot box before. In the 2022 midterm elections, a federal judge ordered members of a group monitoring drop boxes in Maricopa County to keep their distance after complaints that people in masks and carrying guns were intimidating voters.

Rabbi Shmuly Yanklowitz:

At some polls, we expect to see routine election activity, but at other polls we expect to see intimidation, people who are trying to scare away exactly the people who were already scared to show up in the first place.

Deema Zein:

The training is part of a national campaign by Faiths United to Save Democracy, a nonpartisan coalition of faith and secular groups.

Rev. Katie Sexton:

It is absolutely an interfaith effort. Like, today, we're here in a Jewish synagogue. We work with our Muslim communities. We work across the Christian traditions, and we work throughout the state as well.

Deema Zein:

The organization is recruiting poll chaplains in nine states this year. They're trained on skills including de-escalation in case ICE agents are spotted at polling places. Some who showed up for training say it's a way to get involved.

Cindy Weiser, Training Participant:

This election feels really, really important. And I wanted to find a space where I could contribute something. There's -- often, we can feel powerless. And this is one way to feel that we're supporting our community.

Deema Zein:

On Election Day, the volunteers will wear identifying vests and badges outside polling places, answering questions and watching for potential trouble.

Medina Moore, Arizona Faith Network:

I'm expecting all good things, but we have seen not-so-great things. So I'm just putting the good things out there so that they happen.

Deema Zein:

When polls open on November 3, these volunteers plan to be there.

For "PBS News Hour," I'm Deema Zein.