WASHINGTON (RNS) — At the headquarters of the National Council of Negro Women Inc., about midway along Pennsylvania Avenue between the White House and the U.S. Capitol, the Revs. Barbara Williams-Skinner and Jim Wallis sat in a briefing room to get a noontime update Tuesday (Nov. 5) from state faith leaders working with some 900 poll chaplains across the country.
Most of the poll chaplains, all volunteers for Faiths United to Save Democracy, an organization convened by Williams-Skinner, Wallis and Sojourners President Adam Russell Taylor since the last presidential race to keep peace at the voting sites, reported a relatively problem-free election so far.
Not far from downtown, at Washington National Cathedral, some 300 people had stopped by to pray during an Election Day vigil before the cathedral’s clergy, with other Christian, Jewish and Muslim leaders, shared prayers and sacred readings from their traditions at a service that began at noon.
It was a quintessentially Washington day, as, five miles apart, people focused on prayer and the polls after a fraught lead-up to a historic Election Day.
Prayer was not limited to the cathedral, and some did not wait for Election Day. On Monday evening, several houses of worship in the District held an in-person vigil, lining portions of 16th Street with candles. The Washington Interfaith Network held a Sunday afternoon service at a United Methodist church.
Washington Natio …