POLL WORKERS ARE everyday people, who are well trained in the process, who step up and serve their communities. Poll workers and election officials at all different polling locations have very strict guidelines on how to handle the equipment and the ballots. You can see these people, in real time, handling these things effectively and following the rules.

Both as a democracy advocate and as a Christian, I put a big value on honesty and on the truth. A democracy needs well-informed people who understand what the truth is, and we need leaders who make decisions based on the truth. I see this, especially for Christians involved in politics: We have to be committed to the truth and to being honest. In the 2020 election, we saw a lot of people abandoning a commitment to the truth for political gain. I found that especially disheartening because Christian leaders in our politics should be committed to the truth. If the people they are leading believe a lie, they have an obligation to correct it, not to accommodate it.

I care about democracy because I think democracies have proven to be the form of government that best protects human rights and human dignity. I also think every freedom we care about — including our religious freedom — rests on a foundation of democratic ideals [and] pluralism. And that, in turn, rests on free and fair elections and other pieces of democratic institutions.

In Catholic social teaching, we value participation and having people participate in building their own future. Building the future of their neighbors is valuable as well. Being a poll worker intersects with Christian values like hospitality. There’s a role that poll workers can play in recognizing the image of God in every voter that’s coming forward, the human dignity of that person, and to treat them as valuable.

Editor’s note: Crawford spoke with Sojourners’ Ezra Craker for The Reconstruct.