NAACP launches drive to boost Black voter turnout in six key states
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[August 12, 2020]
By Makini Brice
WASHINGTON (Reuters) - The NAACP, the
largest U.S. civil rights organization, is launching a drive ahead of
November's presidential election to boost Black voter turnout in six key
states, it said on Tuesday.
The initiative aims to enlist the services of about 200,000
"high-propensity" Black voters, or people who turned out to vote in a
high number of recent local, state and presidential elections.
Those voters, in turn, will seek to mobilize so-called "low-frequency"
Black voters - people who were registered to vote, but who had not voted
in the most recent election cycle or several election cycles - in
Florida, Georgia, Michigan, North Carolina, Pennsylvania and Wisconsin.
The goal is to increase Black turnout by more than 5% compared to 2016.
That year, Black voter turnout declined for the first time in 20 years,
according https://www.pewresearch.org/fact-tank/2017/05/12/black-voter-turnout-fell-in-2016-even-as-a-record-number-of-americans-cast-ballots
to the Pew Research Center.
"We've seen the outcome of when we have a drop in voter activity in the
Black community," said NAACP President Derrick Johnson.
"We have racism germinating from the White House," he said, stressing
the urgency of getting African-American voters to the polls.
The voter turnout initiative comes during a national reckoning on race
after a summer of nationwide protests sparked by the killing of
African-American George Floyd by a police officer. A majority of
Americans said they were sympathetic with the protests, according to a
Reuters/Ipsos poll in June.
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South Cobb High School senior and NAACP Student Chapter President,
Malik Freeman, 17, gets help as he registers to vote during a
registration drive at his high school in Austell, Georgia, U.S.
February 6, 2018. REUTERS/Chris Aluka Berry
Earlier on Tuesday, presumptive Democratic presidential candidate
Joe Biden selected Senator Kamala Harris to be his running mate in
the 2020 election, the first Black woman to appear on the
presidential ticket for a major party.
Biden will face off against President Donald Trump, who has often
publicly stated that he has done more for African-Americans than
previous presidents. Polling has found his approval rating among
Black Americans remains low.
(Reporting by Makini Brice; Editing by Tom Brown)
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