'An awakening': the George Floyd protests spur surge in Black voter registration

[babylonsister]

'An awakening': the George Floyd protests spur surge in Black voter registration

Activists say enfranchisement effort has not been seen at such a scale since the civil rights era
A voter registration effort in Cincinatti. Across all its affiliates, HeadCount registered 14,898 new voters in June, compared to only 1,204 in June 2016.
Megan Botel and Isaiah Murtaugh
Published on Fri 7 Aug 2020 08.00 EDT



Gregory Sarafan spends most election years assisting team leaders with registration events at concerts, where they target young, unregistered voters. But Sarafan, regional coordinator for the voter registration organization HeadCount, knew that this summer, he was more likely to find that demographic marching through the streets to protest against police brutality after the deaths of George Floyd and Breonna Taylor.
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So he had an idea. He pasted a 12x12in QR code on his protest sign. Then – from a socially distant six feet away – protesters could scan the sign from their smartphones and immediately register to vote. “The protests were an awakening across all different strata of society,” Sarafan said. “People who might not otherwise engage in civic discussions were there.”

It worked: across all its affiliates, HeadCount registered 14,898 new voters in June, compared with only 1,204 in June 2016. Now Sarafan’s effort is part of a wave of voter mobilization initiatives that have emerged nationwide. Many of those are particularly focused on Black voters – an enfranchisement effort that some activists and historians say hasn’t been seen at this scale since the civil rights era.

Veteran voter mobilization groups like HeadCount, Rock the Vote, Voto Latino and When We All Vote were already planning for a big year, but seized the moment to launch new projects and to reframe messaging around the surging police reform and racial justice movements. The energy has also inspired high-profile Black celebrities like Beyoncé and Solange Knowles, LeBron James and Whoopi Goldberg to step into the fray with PSAs and a number of new initiatives to engage Black voters.

“This has been the story of multiple generations,” said Jennifer Lawson, a veteran civil rights activist who marched in the Children’s Crusade in Birmingham, Alabama, in 1963. “I have a profound appreciation for what the younger activists are doing in the streets today in terms of building awareness and trying to create change in this country.”

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https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/2020/aug/07/black-voters-mobilzation-surge-voting-rights

[SheltieLover]

1. Good!!!!

In my experience talking to neighbors & folks in stores:

People of color in the Memphis region are unaware they can register to vote online & that the DMV will (usually) provide a free photo ID for non-drivers wanting to vote.

They are beyond shocked when I tell them.

Memphis has a very large Black population that is pretty much untapped for voting!