DETROIT — More than two dozen faith leaders from Metro Detroit held a blessing of election poll workers Wednesday in light of mounting concerns of holding safe elections for the Nov. 3 midterm.

The "Vigil for Voting" at the Gesu Jesuit Catholic Church in northwest Detroit was sponsored by the Religious Leaders Forum of Metropolitan Detroit, and it was the first event of its kind organized by the nonprofit. It's one of several groups calling attention to safeguard voting locations and election workers. The group is also seeking to train poll chaplains, who stand outside polling centers and offer support and protection to voters.

In a separate effort, Michigan is one of the battleground states where Faiths United in Saving Democracy, a nonpartisan coalition of interfaith and secular partners, is also helping to train and certify clergy members and lay persons for poll chaplains.

"I like to think of us as raising a single, unified voice to say yes, Detroiters are entrusted to one another, and we will protect this sacred, fragile thing called democracy," said Archbishop of Detroit Edward Weisenburger, one of nine religious leaders who spoke, including an imam, a rabbi and members of various Christian denominations.

"No doubt we have seen Detroit denigrated in national political discourse and misinformation campaigns," Weisenberger said. "We've seen polarization and fearmongering. We've seen threats and acts of intimidation at voting locations."

Detroit resident June Porter has been a volunteer poll worker for 13 years.

"This year is going to be a very difficult year, and we've all been informed" of potential intimidation efforts at voting sites, she said.

Republican U.S. Senate hopeful Mike Rogers of White Lake Township has said he wants off-duty or retired police officers to be recruited as poll watchers in Detroit to guard against fraud. Critics claim this would revive a strategy historically used to scare or intimidate voters of color. Rogers said in the audio that using retired law enforcement would guard against the intimidation of Republican poll watchers.

Federal law bans the intimidation or coercion of voters and prohibits U.S. officials from sending “armed men” to the vicinity of polling places.

A Pew survey following the assassination of conservative activist Charlie Kirk in September 2025 showed 85% of Americans, across political lines, said political violence is on the rise.

Polling places have been targeted by protesters in past elections. In 2020, a group attempted to storm into the Detroit Election Center where absentee ballots were being tallied, with some in the crowd chanting "Stop the vote." Detroit has been the repeated target of President Donald Trump, who continues to claim widespread vote fraud cost him the 2020 election he lost to Democrat Joe Biden. But the courts, a bipartisan canvassing board and Republican-led state Senate investigation have rebuffed these accusations.

In the August 2026 primary, Trump's U.S Department of Justice monitored the polls in Detroit, Hamtramck, Lansing and East Lansing because it had concerns about the way the cities handled provisional ballots and voter assist terminals in the 2024 election.

_____

©2026 The Detroit News. Visit detroitnews.com. Distributed by Tribune Content Agency, LLC.