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Head of US Election Assistance Commission Tells Christians to 'Rise Up' and Vote: 'We Can Decide Just About Every Election in This Country'

Christy McCormick(link is external) is the head(link is external) of the U.S. Election Assistance Commission(link is external), an "independent, bipartisan commission," which serves as a national clearinghouse for election administration information and is(link is external) "charged with administering payments to states and developing guidance to meet [Help America Vote Act] requirements, adopting voluntary voting system guidelines, and accrediting voting system test laboratories and certifying voting equipment." The commission is "also charged with developing and maintaining a national mail voter registration form."

On Monday, McCormick appeared(link is external) on a YouTube program hosted by Intercessors for America(link is external), a right-wing organization dedicated to mobilizing conservative "prayer warriors" on behalf of President Donald Trump and Republican candidates. IFA is also closely affiliated with Trump's spiritual adviser, pastor Paula White.

During the call, McCormick declared that if Christians "rise up" and vote, "we can decide just about every election in this country."

McCormick, who was a member(link is external) of Trump's bogus voter fraud commission(link is external), used the program to spread fears about the integrity of the upcoming election, before declaring that the most important thing is for Christians to pray and vote.

"The most important thing is to pray," McCormick said(link is external). "The second most thing is to make sure you vote. ... The third thing is to get your co-workers, your family, your friends, your neighbors, your church members, get them to vote. One of the things that we've seen over the years is that Christians don't vote. Millions and millions, tens of millions of Christians do not vote. And if we did vote, if we did rise up and then voted, we can decide just about every election in this country."

Later in the broadcast, McCormick went through a list of "prayer points" for the upcoming election, including that women will not be put off by a candidate's "integrity issues"—which is the standard(link is external) way(link is external) in which Trump's Christian supporters justify(link is external) overlooking(link is external) his various personal failings—and will vote as "the Lord would want us to."

"I think we need to pray for women and how they vote," she said. "They're very confused this year for some reason, I think it's the integrity issue ... and I think it's important to realize that we aren't voting for the man, we're voting for the platform. We're voting for life. We're voting for Israel. We're voting for marriage. We're voting for the nuclear family, teaching our children laws and decrees, freely worshiping, speaking the name of Jesus publicly without being silenced. So, it's important that we realize that we need to vote the platform, and we need to look at what we think the Lord would want us to do."