By Nancy B. Greer
President & CEO
Washington State ballots will be arriving any day now. Voting is the single most important way that we can make our voices heard, influence the direction of our government, and hold elected decision-makers to account. We encourage every registered voter to complete your ballot and return it by mail or in an official county drop box by November 3. (You can find information about returning ballots and other 2020 election resources on our website here.)
Members of our community just responded to the 2020 Public Policy Survey, which tells us what matters most to Jewish Puget Sound. While in recent years the Federation brought an event to the community (with wine!) to hear from many of the candidates first-hand about the issues, we’re not able to do that under the current circumstances. Instead, please join us for a two-part, nonpartisan conversation to hear from two experts about what the outcome may mean to our Jewish community, using the survey as the roadmap. During the Federation’s “What’s at Stake?” we’ll hear from Jessyn Farrell and Rabbi Doug Kahn, who will discuss races of significance and how they relate to the Jewish community. They will lead an exploration of the results of our 2020 Public Policy Survey on the issues that matter to you and how the election’s outcome will affect those issues.
The first part of the conversation will be a pre-election discussion on Monday, October 19 and the second will take place after the election, on Tuesday, November 10. If you’d like to submit a question in advance of either of the two events or both, please send it to Aliza Mossman, our JCRC and Advocacy Associate, at alizam@jewishinseattle.org.
One of the topics for the October 19 discussion will be identifying the races that will impact our community the most. The presidential and other federal races have consumed a great deal of our attention. The outcome of local and state races matter too, because of the direct impact that local and state decision-makers have on our lives. On November 10, the discussion will focus on what the election’s results mean for your high-priority issues and how they’re likely to play out in the Legislature and Congress in 2021.
Our speakers will bring valuable perspectives to the conversation. Farrell formerly served in the Legislature and now leads key projects on social and economic issues as senior vice president of the public policy institute Civic Ventures. Rabbi Kahn has been an important adviser to Jewish Puget Sound over the past several years in guiding Federation’s work on the Community Convening Initiative and, most recently, the launch of the Federation’s Jewish Community Relations Council. The generous support of our donors made possible both of these important initiatives for building a more cohesive Jewish Puget Sound.
Please join us on October 19 and November 10. Both events begin at 12 pm and will last for one hour.
And please vote. You make a difference and your voice matters!
