Tucson Jewish Museum & Holocaust Center has been awarded an Ignition Grant from A More Perfect Union, making it one of only 50 Jewish organizations nationwide, and one of only two in Arizona, selected to lead nonpartisan work protecting the 2026 midterm election.
The grant funds TJMHC’s Faith in Fair Elections campaign, through which the museum has been recruiting poll workers and poll chaplains, partnering with local election officials, and offering nonpartisan education about Arizona ballot propositions. This work is not about influencing election outcomes: it is about helping ensure that every eligible voter can participate in every election, that voters have the tools to make informed decisions, that every valid vote is counted, and that election results are administered accurately, quickly, transparently, and lawfully.
Most Pima County voters cast their ballots by mail. On October 7, the county sent out more than 477,000 ballots to start early voting, and 126 vote centers will be open on Election Day. Voters this year will also decide eight statewide propositions on issues including how Arizona’s elections are run, school funding and taxation, along with local measures for Pima County and the City of Tucson. With most ballots coming in by mail and a long list of measures to decide, voters need to understand how their ballots are verified and counted, and what they are voting on.
That’s where trusted community institutions can help. As part of this campaign, the museum has hosted Pima County Recorder Gabriela Cazares-Kelly and County Elections Director Constance Hargrove to explain the journey a mail-in ballot takes from when it’s filled out to when it reaches the County Elections Office. Learning about the many safeguards that are in place and the bipartisan efforts to maintain election security helps build voter confidence in the election process.
This initiative has been instrumental in bringing Jewish and multifaith partners together to strengthen democracy and foster respectful dialogue across the community. The museum’s interim executive director, Lynn Davis, says, “The lessons of Holocaust history remind us that democratic institutions cannot be taken for granted. They depend on public trust, civic participation, and people willing to uphold them. When those institutions are weakened, minority communities are often among the first to feel the consequences.
“Protecting our democracy is one way we protect our community. By helping ensure that every eligible voter can cast a ballot and every lawful vote is counted, we strengthen the institutions that have allowed Jewish life—and so many other communities—to flourish in America.”
The campaign will continue through Election Day, Nov. 3. Upon its conclusion, the museum will convert this project into a short playbook other Jewish institutions can use for future election cycles.
Through Ignition Grants, A More Perfect Union turns national pro-democracy investment into local action, putting resources directly into the hands of the community organizations doing the work. Since launching in 2023, the Ignition Grant program has funded 239 grants totaling more than $360,000. An initiative of A More Perfect Union’s Jewish Partnership for Democracy, the program identifies the highest-impact democracy work a Jewish institution can take on, builds the tools to make it achievable, and funds partner organizations to run it in their own communities. All funded projects are strictly nonpartisan.
