Election Protection
Across the country we continue to witness barriers that can make it harder for people to cast their ballots - from polling place closures and restrictions on mail in voting to limited voting hours and long lines at the polls. And we know this is especially impacting communities we in the Kairos Center Survival Network are organizing in - poor and low-income voters, communities of color, and voters with disabilities.
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Poor and low-income people account for nearly one-third of eligible low-income voters, or approximately 70-80 million people. In 2024, it is estimated that roughly half of voters - and nearly 70% of non-voters - were in households with incomes under $70,000. Despite their significant numbers, voter engagement and voter protection efforts rarely focus on reaching this population, especially around their common interests.
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This election season, Songs in the Key of Resistance, a cross-movement project hosted by the Kairos Center for Religions, Rights and Social Justice, is seeking to train song leaders and equip communities with music, songsheets, and collective practices that can strengthen courage, solidarity, and nonviolent public witness during the election season.
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The Election Protection Album
vol 1-3
As we approach election day, we know that those in power will do anything to maintain that power. With approval rates down and prices on the rise, they are using trickery, rule-breaking and intimidation to try to prevent us from voting.
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These threats to our democracy are connected to multiple, intersecting crises - the detention and deportation of immigrant communities, mass incarceration, an economy that serves the billionaires and steals from the rest of us, the destruction of our planet and climate chaos. More and more of us are hungry, uninsured, underemployed and facing endless debt. To prevent these conditions and crises from getting worse, we need to protect and strengthen the democratic systems we still have and build the people power it will take to transform our economic and political systems.
These songs on vol 1-3 are a heartfelt offer to our communities and our movements to empower and invigorate our election defense efforts everywhere across the country. They were made in partnership between Singing Resistance and Songs in the Key of Resistance (SKOR). We envision these songs being used in the streets, at our polling places, in our living rooms, and in the places we gather with community in defense of our democracy and rights. As Lu Aya of the Peace Poets and SKOR says,
We won't ever let go of that hard won freedom to vote!
This album is also a teaching album: it includes a teaching track and a story track for each song so that you can intentionally learn the song and tell its story. Sharing the artist’s story and the song’s connection to social movements is an essential practice in our organizing that carries lessons from one place to another to build a stronger movement ecosystem. There will be 3 volumes with cascading releases on Sept 29, Oct 6, and Oct 13. Gather with friends, strangers and neighbors now to learn them, so that we can be prepared to use them when it most counts.
Songs in the Key of Resistance (SKOR) is a cross-movement project, hosted by the Kairos Center for Religions, Rights, and Social Justice, for artists, organizers, faith leaders, and community members to come together in song.
Singing Resistance mobilizes people to take action through song to protect what we love, while building a culture based in belonging and solidarity. Find out more how to get involved in election defense with Singing Resistance here.