WASHINGTON – From Friday, September 13th through Sunday, September 15th, the Poor People’s Campaign: A National Call for Moral Revival mobilized thousands of poor and low-income infrequent voters as part of its National Canvassing Weekend.
In more than a dozen states, organizers with the Poor People’s Campaign state organizing committees – including poor and low-income people – hit the streets, conducting door-to-door canvassing, tabling, and other outreach to targeted communities ahead of this year’s elections. Additionally, the Poor People’s Campaign sent over 8.7 million texts to poor and low-wage infrequent voters – 1 million of these in Spanish – to support this effort.
The goal was to awaken the sleeping giant of poor and low-wage voters, who will make up many times the margin of victory in each of the battleground states this November. As a non-partisan movement, the Poor People’s Campaign does not advocate for any party or candidate but instead educates voters about where candidates stand on the issues while helping them make sure they have a plan to vote.
Poor and low-income people and their allies across the country spoke at press conferences held by the state coordinating committees.
Meredith Haider, a disabled rural voter from Great Barrington, Massachusetts shared testimony during a press conference in her state.
“I know what it’s like to feel forgotten. I am here today to take back my power! Because I know the importance of my vote! I have skipped voting in the past because I believed my voice didn’t matter,” she said. “But it does! I am here to encourage poor and low-income infrequent voters to join me. If we go to the polls at the same rate as higher-income voters we will have the power to swing elections so that we are not forgotten.”
Deborah Wallace, a member of the West Virginia Poor People’s Campaign and a disabled voter, encouraged people to make it to the polls in November.
“I’ve been voting since I was 18 years old because my family told me [it was] something that was a very very important thing to do….they told us make sure you vote because people died and gave their lives – sacrificed – our ancestors did it so we have the opportunity to vote,” she said.
She pointed to the power of low-income voters like herself.
“My parents voted so I could have some freedoms. I’m voting so my grandchildren and children and their children will have freedoms and enjoy this world,” she said.
Elaina Hurley, another member of the West Virginia Poor People’s Campaign, explained how her family history motivated her to vote.
“My father and my family members and my grandmother marched the streets of Birmingham, Alabama, so that we could have the right to vote….I honor my father and my mother and my grandmother and my grandfather and all of our wonderful predecessors that fought for the right for us to vote. ” she noted. “I think it is a dishonor if I do not participate in voting after the struggles that they went through for us to have this right to vote.”
Rev. Dr. Hannah Broome, National Director of Religious Affairs at Repairers of the Breach, and Members of the North Carolina Poor People’s Campaign gather in Winston-Salem, NC on Saturday Sept. 14th to kick off the National Canvassing Weekend. Photo courtesy of Repairers of the Breach.
In the battleground state of North Carolina, High Point resident Alex Ruth explained why he felt it was important to get involved in voter mobilization.
“Growing up I just [saw] a lot of people just kind of live and deal with the problems that they were given, and most of the time they feel like they don’t even have the right to ask for help and they feel like that it’s kind of just the way things are, and no one even gives them the information on how to change those things,” he explained. “And to me that’s really why I am here and why I would like to see change.”
Rev. Dr. Hannah Broome, who serves as the National Director of Religious Affairs at Repairers of the Breach, spoke at the same event, putting the stakes of the organizing weekend into context.
“Today in Winston-Salem and across this country we are not just launching a Get Out the Vote effort, we are igniting a beacon of hope and a call to action,” she said. “Our mission is clear, to demand that every candidate seeking office from local town halls to the national stage, acknowledge the harsh reality of poverty and low-wealth that claims 800 lives daily, a staggering 295,000 lives lost each year.”
Rev. Dr. William Barber, National Co-chair of the Poor People’s Campaign, shared at the North Carolina press conference why the mobilization effort will impact the election.
“In battleground states like North Carolina and Ohio and Michigan, Wisconsin, Pennsylvania, Florida, poor and low-wage persons represent over 40% of the electorate,” Barber noted, adding that there are 30 million poor and low-wage people who didn’t vote in the last election.
Rev. Dr. Liz Theoharis, National Co-chair of the Poor People’s Campaign, spoke at the press conference in New York.
“When we as poor and low-income people turn out and vote and vote for candidates that say we’re going to raise wages, vote for candidates that say we’re going to pass health care reform … .we have the power to change every election in this country,” Theorharis said.
In state after state, low-income voters emphasized the power of their vote in this election.
Members of the Wisconsin Poor People’s Campaign Coordinating Committee gather ahead of canvassing activities in Madison, WI. The campaign seeks to mobilize 15 million poor and low-wage infrequent voters to the polls. Photo courtesy of Repairers of the Breach.
“I am honored to raise my voice to wake the sleeping giant. The reality is that poor and low-income people have the power to fundamentally shift elections up and down the ballot,” said Amy Lester of the Vermont Poor People’s Campaign.
Reverend Joan Javier-Duval, one of the Tri-Chairs of the Vermont Poor People’s Campaign, emphasized the importance of making sure poor and low-wage voters are educated with everything they need to participate in the fall’s election.
“We want these voters to know how to get registered and how to cast their ballot and to be educated about the positions that their elected officials and candidates for office are taking,” she said.
In all, organizers in Arizona, California, Delaware, Georgia, Illinois, Indiana, Kansas, Maine, Maryland, Massachusetts, Michigan, Mississippi, Nebraska, New Jersey, New York, North Carolina, Ohio, Oklahoma, Pennsylvania, Rhode Island, Texas, Vermont, Washington, D.C., West Virginia, and Wisconsin took part in the canvassing weekend.
ICYMI
- NBC 10 WJAR: Poor People’s Campaign works to push low-income Rhode Islanders to vote, Sept. 15th
- Winston-Salem Journal: ‘Their voice should count’: ‘Poor People’s Campaign’ hits streets of Winston-Salem, Sept. 14
- MassLive: Campaign to mobilize poor and low income voters rolls through Holyoke, Sept. 14