NAACP Partners With Vote.org To Boost Black Voter Turnout Ahead of Midterms

The non-partisan voting organization will help with training, voting registration, and mail-in ballot requests

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New Georgia Project canvasser Mardie Hill holds informational door hangers about the upcoming primary election on May 23, 2022, in East Point, Georgia.
New Georgia Project canvasser Mardie Hill holds informational door hangers about the upcoming primary election on May 23, 2022, in East Point, Georgia.
Photo: Elijah Nouvelage / AFP (Getty Images)

Ahead of one of the most crucial midterm elections in history, the NAACP is partnering with Vote.org to help register and boost Black voter turnout. NBC News reports the staff at the non-partisan organization will start training NAACP chapters around the country on how to use the site to check registrations and how to register. They will also check polling locations, request mail ballots in some states, and notify young people to register to vote on their 18th birthdays.

Republican-led states have increasingly led the charge of placing voting barriers that will adversely affect Black citizens after the 2020 Presidential election. ” The Brennan Center has pointed out that 19 states have passed some voting restrictions. States like Georgia and Florida have gone as far as to create their own “election police forces.” Gerrymandered maps upheld by conservative courts have diluted much of the voting power where Black and people of color live.

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Knowing these issues, the NAACP has more than 2 million activists across 50 states. NAACP President Derrick Johnson says engaging voters is an “essential” counter to “direct attacks on democracy.”

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From NBC News:

“There will be special emphasis in targeted states, because the barriers to access and capital effectiveness has been high,” Johnson said. “But overall, we want individuals to be involved, engaged. We want to increase the number of people who are voting and not allow those seeking to limit access to voting to succeed.”

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Black-led organizations like Fair Fight Action, Georgia-Stand Up, Working Families Party, and the Georgia Coalition for the People’s Agenda (GCPA) came together to help swing the presidential election and Georgia runoffs towards the Democrats. It’s a testament to Black voting power, which was recorded in 2020. With the balance of the House and Senate at stake and the lack of voting protections passed by Congress, this partnership strives to fill the gap as best as possible.

“We’re trying to use technology to make it so that underserved voters can have the access to the democracy that they need and deserve,” said Andrea Hailey, the CEO of Vote.org. “When you have large, high turnout, large numbers of people voting, the attacks on democracy become less likely to be successful.”