By Jane C. Timm
The NAACP is teaming up with Vote.org to register and mobilize Black voters ahead of the midterm elections to boost turnout at the polls and counter new voting restrictions in almost two dozen states.
The partnership will include training NAACP volunteers in the digital tools offered by Vote.org, a nonpartisan get-out-the-vote platform.
NAACP President Derrick Johnson said engaging voters is “essential” for both the organization and the U.S., in light of what he called “direct attacks” on American democracy.
“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.”
Last year, 19 states enacted restrictive voting rules, many of which disproportionately affect voters of color, according to an analysis by the Brennan Center for Justice at New York University School of Law. The analysis also determined that seven states made it easier for election officials to purge voter rolls.
The NAACP says it has more than 2 million activists across all 50 states.
“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.”
Staffers for Vote.org will begin training NAACP chapters this month in how to use the site to check registrations and register to vote, in addition to checking polling locations, requesting mail ballots in some states and notifying young people to register to vote on their 18th birthdays.
Vote.org says it helped more than 4.2 million people register to vote in 2020.
