I attended a workshop on election violence prevention led by Emily Provance at the recently concluded New England Yearly Meeting Sessions.
From the description of a similar workshop held at Philadelphia Yearly Meeting:
Most people don’t want violence in our 2024 election cycle, but many believe the “other side” does. The team for nonviolence is much bigger than we think. We just need to expand the definition of “we.”
Politics are important, but peace is non-partisan, so this conversation is not a political one.
Leaving the workshop, a simple connection stood out to me; a people who do not trust their government are more likely to see violence as a solution.
In what ways have we seen election violence already in this cycle?
How do we build trust in our government?
Braver Angels has conducted 26 workshops in the past 3 years, each with a balanced number of politically Red and Blue participants. The purpose: to find ways to build confidence in our elections. The 194 participants agreed on 727 values, concerns, and solutions, with every word agreed upon unanimously.
That is 727 agreements across the political divide about elections.
The result of these workshops is compiled in the Trustworthy Elections Report which describes 23 specific solutions. The report focuses on these principles:
“Voting should be easy. Cheating should be hard.”
“Every citizen should have an equal say in who will govern them; this is done through free and fair elections.”
“The American government will fail if candidates refuse to accept any outcome other than victory.”
If you are interested in how these principles are captured in concrete solutions, the report is worth the read.
I am hopeful.
I see the spectrum between trust and violence. I don't want election violence to gain a more prominent role in our 2024 elections and seeing this work in trust-building has me hopeful that we may still yet see a positive shift.
If any part of this site interests you and you have my contact, feel free to reach out and maybe we can talk over food!
If you don't have my contact but are looking for more, definitely check out the resource links below and maybe share this website with someone you know to start a conversation.
~ Stefan