A new national initiative has launched to encourage Muslim Americans to vote ahead of the Nov. 3 midterm elections. The initiative, called Muslims.Vote, is a non-partisan civic engagement campaign to equip American Muslims with tools and resources to vote.

Background

The Council on American-Islamic Relations (CAIR), the largest Muslim civil rights and advocacy organization in the U.S., launched Muslims.Vote. CAIR has identified 12 states where concentrated Muslim communities are located and Muslim voters can make an impact: Arizona, Florida, Georgia, Michigan, Minnesota, Nevada, North Carolina, Pennsylvania, Ohio, Texas, Virginia, and Wisconsin.

CAIR is also working with mosques to register people to vote, as well as campus outreach and other initiatives. “Voting is more than a constitutional right – it is an amanah, a trust and responsibility,” CAIR Government Affairs Director Robert S. McCaw said.

Similar Initiatives

Similar voter registration and get out the vote initiatives have been launched by Christian, Jewish, and nonpartisan nonprofit organizations. American Renewal Project founder David Lane has been involved in encouraging evangelical Protestant Christians and pro-life Roman Catholics to vote.

Lane argues that if Christians stay home, candidates who oppose biblical values will win and then draft and pass legislation to codify into law their values. “We’re asking the living God to move into the public square of America,” Lane said.

The U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops maintains its position to not endorse or oppose political candidates but to “help Catholics form their conscience in the Gospel so they might discern which candidates and policies would advance the common good.”

Original reporting: KTBS 3 (Shreveport) — read the source article.