Good morning, friends and fellow citizens. It’s Election Day in America. If you are a registered voter and haven’t voted yet by way of early voting or an absentee ballot, then today is the day.
From the early days of the Church, Mormons have been eager participants in the political process. Joseph Smith ran for president in 1844. While relations with the US federal government were strained during the balance of the 19th century after the Saints had migrated to Utah, LDS leadership continued to press for statehood. The image accompanying this post was one of the proposed flags for the State of Deseret, which would have included present-day Utah and Nevada, big chunks of Arizona and California, as well as pieces of Oregon, Idaho, Wyoming, Colorado, and New Mexico. Had the State of Deseret been approved for admission into the Union by Congress and its borders remained intact over the years, it would have been as large as Texas and eventually as populous as Florida.
In the 20th and 21st centuries, the Church has continued to support active participation in voting and in public service. Most recently, Mitt Romney stood as a candidate for US president and Harry Reid was the majority leader in the US Senate. This year, with a close presidential race in Arizona and Nevada, the LDS voting demographic in those states has received some targeted attention from both the Harris campaign and the Trump campaign. The Mormon Moment may have passed, but Mormon voters don’t fly under the radar anymore. We’re in the game.
I’m sure that some of you have some stories to share about participation in the election process that goes beyond just showing up at the polls to cast your vote. Let’s hear from you.
And God bless the United States of America on this highly anticipated Election Day.
- Have you ever worked as an election worker at a polling place? What was your experience like?
- Have you ever served as a campaign worker? What was it like knocking doors (as a political worker, not a missionary), answering phones, or flooding the zone with info about your candidate?
- Have you ever served in a local or state government office? Was your membership in the LDS Church while serving a positive feature of your service, an issue or problem that came up from time to time, or of no consequence?
- Any stories from visiting your polling place today? Long lines or short ones? Any commotion or incidents?
Wheat & Tares 
I worked in elections in the 2000’s and 2010’s as a site worker and an inspector running a polling site.
My eighteen year old voted last week during early voting. He has back deformities and has had 16 surgeries. He stands 4 foot 11 inches and weighs 80 pounds. He drives a car sitting in a car seat. He took the car to physical therapy and went to vote afterwards. He says that the poll workers made a huge fuss over it being his first time to vote.
I believe our elections are secure. I trust those poll workers. They are our friends and neighbors. They may vote differently than me (I think most of them do), but I still trust them.
As a Mormon that’s pretty much left the church, I will always commend the church for pushing people to vote regardless of affiliation. Prop 8 and individual wards aside, overall they highly encourage participation in voting and in hosting or working in polling places and I think that’s wonderful.
I have not gotten involved in election work yet. But it is my plan in a few years when my kids get a little older. Those involved in the elections have my deepest respect. It is truly a massive process that involves individuals from even the most remote communities to ensure that every person in the US is able to vote with some measure of convenience. It involves so many people who are servicing over 160 million voters that I don’t see how anyone or any organization could feasibly rig it on any large scale.
It’s crazy to see communities I didn’t ever think were important swing voters now up for grabs. Mormons in Arizona and Nevada and Muslim Americans in Michigan and Georgia. Even Trump visited a couple of Arab restaurants in Michigan.
No lines for voting in Salt Lake County that I see. I cast my ballot in a drop-off box a couple of weeks ago. It seems a large number of people vote by mail here.
This election cycle has shattered my remaining faith in humanity.
My 95% Mormon neighborhood has been engaged in a war of campaign signs and flags. One resident put up two Harris signs that were promptly stolen. Then another neighbor displayed a large Trump flag and sign. The next night his Ring cameras showed an individual dressed in all black low crawling into his yard in order to steal everything.
Even some of the local legislative candidates engaged in door to door campaigning have experienced slammed doors and obscene epithets.
It begs the question of whatever happened to civility….and does Mormonism do enough to encourage proper behavior?
Yesterday, I went to a retired teacher luncheon, and a lady asked me how I thought the election would go. I didn’t say who I voted for or get in any kind of discussion or argument, but I did say that I thought a lot of women, in particular, would come out and vote for Harris, which is not showing up in the polls, and that she would win. The look of terror or fear that came across her face and countenance as she explained to me how she thought Harris would destroy democracy and usher in a reign of evil kind of caught me by surprise. Yes, she was LDS, it was Orem.
Later in the evening, I went to a city council meeting in my small town and talked to a fellow councilman who is in the bishopric of our ward, and he asked me the same thing. I gave him the same answer, and he had a response about how the news media takes Trump’s gaffs out of context and distorts who he really is. Again, I didn’t say who I was voting for, nor did I get into an argument. But I was amazed at how Trump is given a pass for everything even when it is in context. If Harris did it, she’d be crucified but they feel they are being balanced and fair by saying everyone lies, and they only point out Trump.
I’ll be glad when today is over. We probably won’t know the results for a few days, and then they’ll be disputed for months. Let’s hope there is no violence like on Jan. 6. Overall, though, I do feel that there is hope in the air and people are tired of the division. I also think that many are waking up that the promise of America, as an idea, is that it is available for everyone, not just white men.
I have not gotten involved in elections or campaigns (besides endless hours of admittedly pointless debate with friends and family), but I respect those who do, especially election workers. I was able to attend Democratic party caucus in 2016 when I lived in Idaho. That was exciting and felt like democracy in action. (Bernie carried Madison county by a landslide btw). My current state makes voting early with mail-in/drop-box voting and asking eligible voters if they want to register to vote when they obtain their driver’s license.
lws329: thanks for sharing that. My 18 year old also voted for the first time after diligently researching each candidate and ballot initiative. Made me so proud.
I too have been disappointed – though not necessarily surprised- by the undying support of Trump by most Mormons around me. It has been interesting to see the national attention on the Mormon vote in Arizona and Nevada during this election. Maybe I’m cynical, but I see most Mormons in those states holding their nose (or not holding it at all) and voting for Trump. If Trump wins by just a handful of electoral votes and America sleep-walks into fascism, Mormons are going to be as complicit as evangelicals.
I haven’t gotten involved in elections here, but I thought about it. Thing is, Arizona is full of gun-toting nut jobs, some of whom will shoot Gabbi Giffords in the face, and there are plenty of election deniers here. The closer the election, the more dangerous it feels. However, there’s been a lot of hope that the East Valley Mormons will come out for Harris (Jeff Flake and John Giles have famously endorsed her). In my part of the valley, though, my yard is the only one with a Harris sign, and it was stolen last Friday (and replaced on Sunday thanks to Amazon Prime quickness). I noticed that the Trump signs were unmolested.
I voted weeks ago by mail, along with my adult kids. We always do our ballots together, although not in lock step on votes. We just review what the ballot initiatives mean and do dramatic readings of the judicial reviews on The Robing Room–some of these are truly insane.
My best friend is an election worker in Lancaster County, PA, where I grew up. She’s fielded some wacky questions about election integrity, but things are very secure there. As she pointed out, you can’t come in and vote under a fake name because everyone knows everyone. That is definitely not the case here in Maricopa county, another swing county to watch.
I also noted that the Deseret News asked both candidates for a statement to the voters. Harris returned a response which they published. Trump ignored them, so they wrote up a response for him, doubtless much better than his incoherent ramblings and creating coffee mugs and beer coozies that said “Mormons for Trump,” which shows just how much they care/understand the LDS vote. The Deseret News doing his homework for him is about as emblematic of this election as you can get.
The only campaign work I ever did was as a kid. My dad took me door knocking when I was about 11 or 12 for some guy running for the US House who lost. Later in my teen years my parents made friends with our state representative and assembled signs in our garage for the campaign. I know little about either candidate but I’m fairly certain I would not be working for them now.
I voted a week ago. I had to wait in line for 40 minutes, which surprised me, given that early voting in Texas lasts for 2 full weeks. Maybe everyone came at lunch time like me.
i live in AZ, and knocked on doors for Senator Kelly in 2022, and VP Harris this year. As an introvert, I really don’t like doing it. But democracy is not going to save itself.
My county has done solely vote by mail for the past several years. The shift was made pre-pandemic. I dropped my ballot in the ballot box more than a week ago. My oldest son voted for the first time in this election. I showed him how to fill out the ballot and where to sign, but I didn’t see who he voted for, nor did I ask.
I’m in Utah. I’ve had a Harris sign in my front yard for at least a month and no one has bothered it. Just driving around the neighborhood, I have noticed that three of us have Harris signs, and I have seen three Trump flags. Are we evenly split? I have no idea, but those of us who put politics in the yard were 3 and 3.
I also add my greatest thanks to election workers.
Many people don’t know this, because it doesn’t get picked up by news services, but the Department of Justice Civil Rights division regularly sends observers to monitor compliance with Federal voting rights laws. I just googled it and the justice.gov press release says that there are monitors in 86 jurisdictions over 27 States today. It doesn’t say how the jurisdictions were chosen for monitoring. Just scrolling through the list, it looks like Massachusetts and Texas are tied for the most observers.
We had a state election last Saturday. I am usually a Labor voters, but labor have been in power for 10 years, and were replaced by the LNP, which are coalition of the liberal and national parties. They have promised to keep public transport fares at 50c, and to put lots of money into the public health system to employ more doctors and nurses to reduce waiting times for elective surgery. They are also going to put more children in detention. Adult crime adult time. But claim the time will be used productively.
Most of our polling stations are schools. The school P&C BBQ sausages which go on a slice of bread with tomato sauce and mustard, and sold to voters waiting. These are called democracy sausages.
Hoping not trump and that he quietly disappears.
I remember when Trump and Clinton were running and there was serious speculation that Utah might actually cast its electoral votes for a Democrat. What happened between then and now leaves me stunned. Utah voters no longer care about character and integrity. All I can think, seeing Utah go for Trump, is the scripture I learned at church, “by their fruits ye shall know them.” It’s getting harder and harder to think that the people at church are my people.
MadiW: That’s exactly what I feel.
I hoped hope would conquer fear and the LDS people would choose the right. It seems that all that matters is money and putting people in their place. Truth doesn’t matter anymore. Our country, as an ideal of freedom, only exists for the privileged. The emperor will have no clothes and we lose friends when we point it out. Will we have another election to correct things, I think half the country doesn’t even care anymore.
Dark days ahead. This can’t be. I refuse to just unite. I demand justice. I demand what’s right. I will never stop demanding Trump’s resignation, criticizing his policies, and pointing out how he and his foolish supporters are dangers to the very principles upon which America stands.
Thanks for the comments, everyone.
Rather than let this become the “let’s talk about the election results” thread, I’m going to close comments. There should be two or three posts in the next week or two processing the election results and voting patterns, and considering what this means for America, for the world, for the Church, and for you.