RUBY:
Thank you! It is wonderful to be here tonight with all of you. Thank you. Thank you for… well, to get right to the point of it, for caring about what matters, especially right now.
The freedom to speak truth.
The freedom to stand up for what is right.
And to know that your steps are ordered by the Lord and walk right on through it.
It’s not easy. I had no idea what awaited when we, my daughter Shaye and I, signed up for a sacred civic duty: counting votes. Who could know what lay ahead? Who could imagine being singled out with threats by the then president of the United States, the person who is supposed to lead us all together?
Looking back on the 2020 election, I had no idea how steep the climb would be, how fierce the winds, how long the journey. How dangerous it could be. And lord knows the challenges continue. Every… single… day.
But I look towards the hills from which forth cometh my help. No other help I know. But in the natural I draw strength from you, knowing that you all are out there caring about what really matters.
Romans 5.3-5 says that “we rejoice in our sufferings, knowing that suffering produces endurance, and endurance produces character, and character produces hope, and hope does not put us to shame, because God’s love has been poured into our hearts through the Holy Spirit who has been given to us.”
And my gratitude is immense. Looking out over all of you right now, how could it not be.
Thank you all.
SHAYE:
Thank you. Thank you so much.
I’m so happy to be here with you…and with my mom, who is not an easy act to follow! But we’ve been through everything together. The lowest of the lows… all the way up to tonight.
I don’t need to tell you that the last few years have been hard, the hardest we’ve ever faced.
When a plot to overthrow an election plows through your family, the wreckage is everywhere and the pain is inescapable.
I still struggle with fear. It has a way of rearing its head and interrupting my life. I would love for it to stop, but what I want most is for people to understand the truth that has been buried beneath so many lies. I took enormous pride in making sure everybody’s vote was counted. It pains me that so many still don’t seem to understand how our elections work, or that the 2020 election was not “stolen.” The fact that people don’t understand election processes is how people were so easily swayed; if they’d understood how elections work they would never have been fooled by these kinds of lies– because they’d understand how secure our elections really are, how many safeguards there are in the life of a ballot to prevent against fraud.
But here tonight, with all of you, I’m filled with hope again.
It’s inspiring to know that you all are out there. Along with thousands upon thousands of anonymous, hard working Americans at election offices around the country working to staff our democracy and keep it chugging.
In elections offices large and small, in big cities and in the country, in Georgia and here in New York, and across the country, we celebrate their courage tonight, too. Democracy doesn’t work without them, or without all of us.
Make no mistake, they’re facing threats too. Just about everyone working on behalf of our democracy seems to be absorbing hate from those who can’t abide the will of the voters. But they will not win. Their hate is no match for courage.
