(RNS) — Yates was charged with eight felony counts after a relative allegedly found a stash of child porn on a hard drive in his office.
Jason Yates, former CEO of My Faith Votes. Images courtesy of myfaithvotes.org
Bob Smietana
November 5, 2024
(RNS) — The former president of an evangelical get-out-the-vote nonprofit, which seeks to motivate Christian voters to promote family values and “biblical truth” in the public square, was charged Monday (Nov. 4) with eight counts of possessing child pornography.
Jason Yates, former CEO of My Faith Votes, was charged during a video court hearing in the District Court of McLeod County, Minnesota. State officials allege that from February 2023 to July 2024, Yates possessed a hard drive with digital pornographic images of minors under 14 years of age.
The Minnesota Bureau of Criminal Apprehension began investigating the 55-year-old Yates at the end of July after a relative, identified in court documents as “Witness #2,” accidentally discovered a hard drive containing over 100 images of child porn in Yates’ office, according to a statement of probable cause filed in the case. That relative told a second relative, identified as “Witness #1,” who turned the hard drive over to law enforcement. According to court documents, the hard drive allegedly contains both still images and videos of pornography involving minors under 14.
During an interview on Sept. 13, Yates allegedly confirmed that the hard drive did not belong to Witness #2 but declined to give law enforcement a password for encrypted files on the hard drive.
“Defendant stated that he had a prior conviction, which had been expunged, related to CSAM/child pornography,” the complaint filed against Yates alleges.
An attorney for Yates declined to comment.
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For much of its history, Jason Yates was the CEO and president of My Faith Votes. He was still listed as CEO on the group’s website as of Aug. 19 but his name and image were removed sometime after that date.
“In early August 2024, the My Faith Votes board of directors separated Jason Yates from My Faith Votes and board member Chris Sadler assumed the position of Acting CEO. Over the last three months Chris has been working with the dedicated My Faith Votes team to encourage millions of Christians to vote, pray and think biblically about this election in America,” a spokesperson for My Faith Votes told RNS in an email.
The group’s website blames Christians for failing to stand up against “secular progressives” — which the group faults for a host of social ills.
“As a result of apathy at the voting booth and in public life, we’ve suffered devastating moral decay, declining religious freedom, immoral national debt, and the erosion of traditional family values,” the group’s website reads.
In early July, a few weeks before the hard drive allegedly containing child porn was turned over to police, Yates wrote an op-ed for The Washington Times, urging Christians to fight “sexually deviant” messages aimed at children, mainly about LGTB issues.
“This infernal programming is being downloaded into our children, and it becomes far easier when it finds no resistance in our public square — when it is allowed to fill the void left by the absence of our faith,” he wrote.
A biography of Jason Yates from April 2024 describes him as having left a corporate career in 2015 to become CEO of My Faith Votes. Along with promoting voting among Christians, he served on the board of several other ministries.
Yates’ hearing on Monday occurred just a few hours before My Faith Votes held an online pre-election prayer event, urging listeners to vote for candidates who support Christian values.
Founded as the Vision Charitable Trust in 2007, My Faith Votes began spending millions starting in 2016 to motivate Christian votes. The group was founded by Sealy Yates, an influential Christian literary agent for best-selling authors such as Chuck Swindoll, John Maxwell, Mark Driscoll and Ben Carson — with Carson serving as an honorary chairman when the nonprofit began focusing on voting. Former presidential candidate turned conservative talk show host Mike Huckabee currently serves as the group’s honorary chair.
Sealy Yates did not respond to a request for comment. His relationship to Jason Yates is not clear.
Wired magazine recently described My Faith Votes as one of a group of nonprofits aimed at rallying support for former President Donald Trump through get-out-the-vote efforts. My Faith Votes is also one of the partners of the “Letter to the American Church” film based on a book by pro-Trump radio host Eric Metaxas, which claims America is being overtaken by secular forces.
Jason Yates expressed concern in an interview this past summer that evangelical Christians might sit out elections and said, as a result, My Faith Votes was asking Christians to sign a pledge to vote in every election.
“As a Christian, I commit to voting for candidates and policies that uphold the sanctity of life, the traditional family, religious liberty, and justice for all,” the pledge reads. “I believe that my biblical values should guide my choices at the ballot box, ensuring that our nation’s laws and leaders reflect God’s truth and righteousness.”
My Faith Votes also produced a series of videos, called “Think Biblically,” aimed at educating church small groups about social and political issues. Launched this past summer, the video series features speakers such as Albert “Al” Mohler, president of Southern Baptist Theological Seminary; Texas pastor and author Voddie Baucham; and former Planned Parenthood staffer-turned-anti-abortion advocate Abby Johnson.
“It’s time Christians let their faith guide their politics — aligning their views with God’s Word and boldly confronting today’s cultural challenges,” Yates said in a video announcing the series. “It’s critical that we reject apathy and think biblically about the issues in front of us, and this series is the ideal resource to help Christians navigate every political issue through the lens of the Word.”
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