Hamilton County voters will have a chance to learn where local candidates stand on central conservative Christian issues using a local voting guide to be published later this month.
Church Voter Guides, originally launched in Colorado, involves surveying all candidates in local competitive races to learn where they stand on issues, such as critical race theory and COVID-19 protocols, said Rick Toner, county coordinator for the project.
Each candidate can write responses to the survey questions and those unedited responses, organized by race, will be available to download online on March 21. The project will publish Spanish versions of the guides on March 28.
The guides will help inform and mobilize Christians, Toner said.
(READ MORE: Hamilton County mayor candidates talk pandemic mandates, education at Calvary Chapel)
"Church Voter Guides started off as saying, 'Hey, we want to be able to get the body of the church to be able to see what candidates are thinking,'" he said. "We don't want to just sit on the outside and say, 'Hey, let's not be educated and make decisions that are random. Let's try to get questions out that deal with things that a Christian conservative may be asking.'"
Candidates in any race with competition - from the county sheriff to county mayor to city council to judgeships - received the survey.
The group used an online survey to gather questions from citizens for the candidates, Toner said. Those questions were distilled into categories or themes. The surveys also ask respondents to discuss the position they are running for and how they believe the values of the Ten Commandments should or should not be involved in governing, Toner said.
Local Christians have a role to play in government, and it is important people vote in local elections, Toner said
"Church Voter Guides is about getting the body of the church to understand that, as a citizen, it's important that your voice is still heard," he said.
(READ MORE: Debate schedule shaping up for Hamilton County mayoral candidates)
The project is gathering support from various denominations, including Seventh-day Adventists and the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, Toner said.
Silverdale Baptist Church helped sponsor the project. Evan Pierce, communications director for Silverdale, said the church was interested in supporting the effort to provide an educational opportunity to congregants, as well as the community.
"In no way are we supporting or endorsing any candidate," Pierce said. "It's just purely educational, and it provides everyone a chance to ask questions and hopefully get answers on things that they care about."
The voting guides project was launched in Colorado Springs in 2021 for the local city council election. Toner said he met the founder of the project during a Christian revival in St. Louis, and he felt called to bring the project to Hamilton County.
David Callaway, religious freedom specialist at the Freedom Forum, told the Times Free Press last month churches can encourage members to vote or support certain issues, but they cannot support a particular candidate or a particular piece of legislation.
A violation of the federal rule - called the "Johnson Amendment," which was established in 1954 by then-Sen. Lyndon B. Johnson - could result in a religious organization losing its tax-exempt status.
Toner said God is working miracles in the project and its participants, from people spreading the word about the guides to volunteers giving their time to make it possible.
Contact Wyatt Massey at wmassey@timesfreepress.com or 423-757-6249. Follow him on Twitter @news4mass.