Constitutional Amendments explained

WISCONSIN FAITH VOICES FOR JUSTICE:
MOVING FROM CHARITY TO JUSTICE

E-News for March 1, 2024

Constitutional amendments on the April 2 ballot explained

Wisconsin goes to the polls again on April 2 for the Presidential Preference primary. In addition to voting for your preferred primary candidate, there also will be two referenda on the ballot, both of which will amend the Constitution in regard to election administration. These referenda have already passed the legislative process, so if they get majority votes on April 2, they will become part of our state Constitution.

The two referenda are (from Ballotpedia:)
Question 1 Prohibits any level of government in the state from applying or accepting non-governmental funds or equipment for election administration

Question 2 Provide that only election officials designated by law may administer elections

The League of Women Voters of Wisconsin is urging people to vote no on both of these amendments. Elections need to be fully funded, but unfortunately our legislature has not seen fit to budget sufficient funds. So election officials need to look for outside funding to help make up the difference. In 2020, funding from non-profit organizations helped to pay for recruiting and paying poll workers, to provide PPE for poll workers, and for educational campaigns to raise awareness about upcoming elections and the registration and election process.

The second ballot question restricting who can be an election official is duplicative of existing provisions regarding who can be an election official. Some analysts are concerned that adding this amendment to our constitution could be construed to prohibit outside consultants, volunteers, and non-profit voting rights organizations from helping with the efficient administration of elections, educating the public about upcoming elections, and providing other needed help and support.

You can read more about the pros and cons of Question 1 here and Question 2 here

For an in-depth look from a Christian perspective on these amendments and the Wisconsin process to amend our Constitution, read this article by Doug Poland, Partner at Stafford Rosenbaum LLP, Ruling Elder at Covenant Presbyterian Church in Madison. Stay tuned for similar articles from a Jewish and other faith perspectives.

Spring Elections: What I Should Know
Webinar on March 4 - Please Join Us!

Wisconsin’s presidential preference primary will be held on April 2. Also on the ballot will be two referenda calling for constitutional amendments that will affect the administration of our elections. In addition, some local municipalities will have school board elections.

As people of faith, we believe in the sacred power of the vote and that our elected officials should be accountable to the needs and the values of those they represent.

Please join Taking a Faithful Stand for Equity on March 4 at 6:30 for a webinar featuring Dan Lenz, staff counsel at Law Forward, who will brief us on the constitutional amendments and their implications for our democracy. Also joining us will be Peggy West-Schroder, Executive Director of FREE, who will acquaint us with What’s On Your Ballot. Finally, we will get an update from the Wisconsin Public Education Network on school board races to watch.

This webinar is jointly sponsored by the Creating Beloved Community team, the Wisconsin Interfaith Voter Engagement Campaign, and the Wisconsin Public Education Network.

Please register here to join us on March 4!

Interfaith Intersections - Join us March 7!

Wisconsin Faith Voices for Justice is excited to announce our 2024 Interfaith Intersections events. This program brings people together to hold intentional conversations on a variety of topics related to faith.

An important aspect of this program is that our panelists are lay people, not clergy or academics. Therefore, panelists will address the topics speaking from their own understanding of their faith but not speaking for their faith.

Please join us for our first event on March 7, where the topic will be 'sin/wrongdoing'. Our panelists that night come from Christian, Jewish, and Baha'i traditions. We meet at Madison Christian Community, 7118 Old Sauk Road, Madison, and also online. Please rsvp here.

Future events: (all events are Thursday nights, 7:00 to 8:30 in person and on Zoom)

April 11 - fasting/self-denial; at Good Shepherd Lutheran Church, 5701 Raymond Rd, Madison

May 9 - forgiveness - person to person; person to God; at the Bahai Center, 324 W Lakeside St, Madison

Sept. 12 - what is your faith’s "high holy day" - People's United Methodist Church, 103 N. Alpine Parkway, Oregon

Oct. 17 - cycle of times/seasons in different traditions; location TBD

Nov. 14 - giving thanks; Sugar River United Methodist Church, 415 W Verona Ave, Verona

PLEASE RSVP HERE

If you would like to be a panelist for any of these events, email Rabbi Bonnie Margulis

WFVJ Annual Celebration June 10 - SAVE THE DATE!

Wisconsin Faith Voices for Justice is thrilled to announce that Rachel Laser, President and CEO of Americans United for the Separation of Church and State, will be our keynote speaker at our Annual Celebration. Americans United works tirelessly to protect everyone’s right to worship as they please, free from government interference. We will hear from Ms. Laser about current threats to religious liberty, including a new law in the state of Texas (coming soon to a state near you!) that allows public schools to replace social workers with untrained, unlicensed clergy. These clergy will be allowed to proselytize and to meet with students without their parents’ knowledge or consent. Similar laws are making their way across the country.

This will be an important presentation – mark the date on your calendars so you don’t miss it!

Please save the date, June 10, 2024 from 7:00 to 8:30. More information on purchasing tickets, sponsorships, and ads will be coming soon!

Building a Healthy Community for All-Greater Watertown Health Equity Workshop

On Feb. 4, 2024, twenty-two people of different faiths gathered at the Ebenezer Moravian Church in Watertown for a half-day workshop - Building a Healthy Community for All: Watertown Health Equity Workshop, co-sponsored by Wisconsin Faith Voices for Justice and the Wisconsin Council of Churches.

Participants heard presentations from Dr. Geof Swain, Founding Director of the Wisconsin Center for Health Equity, on the social determinants of health; and from Angela Acker and Jed Amurao from the UW Population Health Institute Narratives for Health program, on how to change the narrative around public health and the social determinants of health.

Participants also heard from local health care experts on issues facing greater Watertown residents; lived experience from three local Watertown residents from the immigrant community; and presentations on how to write an effective letter to the editor and a great sermon. You can watch the presentations from Dr. Swain and UW Population Health here.

We are grateful to the Greater Watertown Community Health Foundation for funding this project!

Annunciation House Migrant Center
Sued by State of Texas

Rabbi Jonathan Biatch from Madison recently visited the border at El Paso with HIAS and T'ruah. Among the places they visited was Annunciation House, a non-profit organization that provides shelter, food, and other aid to migrants at the border. The day he was there, the state of Texas announced it was coming after Annunciation House for 'smuggling' migrants. Read Rabbi Biatch's article below about his experiences at Annunciation House and the good work they do:

Annunciation House
By Rabbi Jonathan Biatch
2-22-24
It is Tuesday, February 20th, 4:00 pm, and I am sitting in the Chapel of Annunciation House in El Paso, Texas. Ruben Garcia, the Executive Director of the facility, has introduced us to Olivia, (not her real name), a Central American asylum seeker who entered the United States in an unorthodox way. She was severely injured on her journey, and Annunciation House was the only resource in El Paso that was able and willing to care for her. Custom and Border Patrol routinely refer people like Olivia to Annunciation House because of its 46-year record of service to newcomers to El Paso.

Olivia, from Guatemala, just celebrated her 34th birthday. Both the immense poverty in her country, as well as the psychological and physical abuse she suffered at home, led her to attempt to enter the United States. A single mother herself, Olivia left behind – with her mother – her 13-year-old son.

Her journey from Guatemala was uneventful until she came to Juarez, Mexico, just across the Rio Grande River from El Paso, Texas. On the evening she crossed the border wall, she had the assistance of coyotes – smugglers – who signaled her when to climb. She passed through the razor wire at the top of the wall, dropped to the other side, ran in the direction given to her . . . and then she remembers nothing, except waking up in an El Paso hospital.

She recalls seeing a lot of blood and discovering a severe leg injury above her right knee. She remembers being told by the hospital staff that she needed an amputation. She remembers feeling completely alone. She deferred the amputation for the moment and found a foster home where she could try to recuperate.

After spending some time in that foster home, she found her leg injuries were not improving, and again sought medical help. In the taxi which she took to return to the hospital, it was inadvertently revealed to her that she had also been raped the night she had entered the United States.

Following the amputation, she spent 12 more days in the foster home, fighting a serious blood infection. During that time, she tearfully recounts, she received notice that her grandmother had died, and although she desperately wanted to return to Guatemala, she knew this was not possible.

The foster home was not able to deal with her injuries and they called Annunciation House, who was more than willing to accept her. She has spent five months there, learning to walk and recuperating from both the physical and psychological injuries of her attack the night she entered the United States. She has nothing but gratitude for Ruben and all the staff and supporters of Annunciation House.

It is Tuesday, February 20th, 5:15 pm, and I am sitting in the Chapel of Annunciation House, still attending to the story of Olivia, when Ruben’s cell phone rings. He must attend to this call, he tells us, because it concerns the lawsuit against Annunciation House that was launched that day by the Texas Attorney General, accusing the facility and its staff of smuggling immigrants and serving as a so-called “stash house” for undocumented newcomers to the United States.

Little did we know the import of that mobile phone call. But when Ruben told us of the ongoing litigation and the danger in which he finds himself, he announces that he is resigned to fight the lawsuit and continue the job of helping newcomers to the United States in their rightful search for safety. That’s just what he does.

If Ruben and Annunciation House are in danger, then everyone who provides care to the newcomers – cab drivers, doctors, nurses, teachers, physical therapists, pastoral care givers, and more – are in danger. But if Ruben is any example of the work that must be done, then we all can take courage and pursue with one another the same goals as he: providing dignity and respect to any of God’s creatures who wish to make life meaningful and important.

Governor Evers Signs Fair Maps into Law

On February 19, 2024, Governor Evers signed a historic piece of legislation that gives Wisconsin voting district maps that are more fair and balanced than the extreme gerrymandered maps we have had for the last ten years.

These new maps are the result of years of hard work by organizations such as the Wisconsin Fair Maps Coalition, the Wisconsin Democracy Campaign, the League of Women Voters, and many others. WFVJ Executive Director Rabbi Bonnie Margulis was privileged to be standing next to the Governor as he signed the legislation.

The new maps will allow for whichever party gets the most votes in the general election to take control of the legislature. The maps we have had for the last decade were declared unconstitutional in December by our state Supreme Court, because of the very partisan nature of the maps that gave an advantage to one party over the other.

With these new maps, our elected officials will be more accountable to the voters and more responsive to the needs, values, and wishes of their constituents.

The next hurdle Wisconsin needs to cross is to institute a system of drawing maps every ten years in a fair, open, and non-partisan manner, without the involvement of a partisan legislature or the Court.

Wisconsin Faith Voices for Justice Welcomes Our New Treasurer!

Volunteer Opportunities -
WFVJ is Seeking Nominations for Board Members

Wisconsin Faith Voices for Justice has open positions on our Board of Directors. We meet monthly via zoom and once or twice a year in person for a half-day retreat. We seek a diverse board in terms of age, geographic reach around Wisconsin, faith traditions, ethnicity, gender identify. If you are committed to justice and building bridges among faiths, please be in touch to learn more!

If interested, or to learn more, please contact WFVJ Executive Director
Rabbi Bonnie Margulis at wifaithvoices4justice@gmail.com or 608-513-7121.

Our mailing address is: