If you can't pray in a voting booth, where can you pray? And where would you need more to pray?
This prayer is not a prayer about winning or getting other people on your side, like some others I've seen. It's a prayer that we learn to work together to create a better future. It incorporates a pledge to do one thing for healing the world, for tikkun olam, that will make this future a reality. (Want to learn some of the many many traditional sources on social justice tikkun olam? Click here.)
Behold, I am intending through my vote | my prayer today
to seek peace for this country,
as it is written (Jer. 29:7):
"Seek the peace of the city
where I cause you to roam
and pray for her to YHVH (Adonai/God),
for in her peace you all will have peace."
May it be Your will, YHVH, that votes
be counted faithfully
and may You count my vote
as if I had fulfilled this verse
with all my power.
May You give a listening heart
to whomever we elect today
and may it be good in Your eyes
to raise for us a good government
to bring justice and peace
to all living in this land
and all the world, and upon Jerusalem,
and to honor the image of God
in all humanity and in Creation,
for rulership is Yours.
Just as I have participated in elections
so may I merit to do good works
and to repair the world through all my efforts,
and through the act of. . .[fill in your pledge]
which I pledge to do today
on behalf of all living creatures,
in remembrance of the covenant of Noah's waters,
to protect and to not destroy
the earth and her plenitude.
May You give to all the peoples of this country
the strength and will to pursue righteousness
and to seek peace as unified force
in order to cause to flourish
throughout the world, good life and peace
and fulfill for us the verse:
"May the pleasure of Adonai our God
be upon us, and establish
the work of our hands for us,
and make the work of our hands endure." (Ps. 90:17)
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Last updated for the 2016 election.
The synchronicity in 2006 of the election with the end date of Noah's flood inspired me to write a voting prayer that focused on the covenant after the flood, which was a covenant with all living creatures. 
Each person has their own way of understanding tikkun olam, so please change those lines according to your own vision of a perfected world. What is important is that we need both to vote and to take action to make our prayers a reality. What can you personally commit to doing? Pick something you can fulfill
and incorporate it into your prayer.
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The version I wrote for inauguration 2008:
May it be good in Your eyes to give a wise heart to this government
to bring justice and peace to all the inhabitants of the world and to Jerusalem,
as it is said, "The one who rules through justice upholds the land" (Prov. 29:4),
and may its rule be for good and blessing
for rulership is Yours!
As I stand in witness of this inauguration and in prayer,
I also pray that I may seek peace for this country,
and I pledge to..[fill in your pledge]...
on behalf of all living creatures and in remembrance of the covenant of Noah's waters
to protect and to not destroy the earth and her plenitude.
May it be Your will that I do good deeds and repair the world with all my actions...
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Download a pdf with interlinear English and Hebrew (with vowels)
You can also download just the English, and both are available above in PDF and editable format. If you distribute a modified version, please keep the name neohasid.org and please keep it non-partisan.
YHVH and Adonai are Hebrew names for God.
The first is usually translated as "The Lord" and is the source of the name "Jehovah", but it is actually derived from the verb "to be". It means something like "Source of Being". The second means "my Lord", and is the word we traditionally say when we read YHVH, which is considered too holy to pronounce. But Adonai is also a name of God in its own right.
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