From the Pews to the Polls, Black Churches Are Mobilizing Voters

Rev. Dorothy S. Boulware, Word in Black

In Lancaster, Pennsylvania, seven churches are turning Sunday worship into a grassroots campaign to educate and energize Black voters.

At Bethel African Methodist Episcopal Church in Lancaster, Pennsylvania, preparing for the November election continued after Sunday worship. Organizers shared voting information, helped congregants address registration concerns, and encouraged them to bring another voter to the polls on Election Day.

For John Maina, founder of the Black Voter Outreach Network, those post-worship conversations represent something larger than an election-season registration drive. They connect the organizing strength of Lancaster’s Black churches to their communities’ political power.

We have the bones for some strong organizing,” Maina said. “We just haven’t always connected the dots together.”

Now, his network and local pastors are strengthening those connections through a hometown version of “Souls to the Polls,” the church-based mobilization effort that links faith, civic participation and voting access.

Seven churches in the Inner City Progressive Pastors Coalition signed on to the initiative. Organizers are scheduling Sunday outreach through Oct. 18, the day before Pennsylvania’s voter registration deadline for the Nov. 3 election.

The campaign launched at Bethel AME, where state Rep. Ismail Smith-Wade-El, a Democrat who represents the Lancaster area, spoke during the service, Maina said. Outreach is scheduled for Bright Side Baptist Church and Ebenezer Baptist Church on Oct. 11.

Read the full article here.

Read about the fight to vote in our article on Bernard Lafayette, an unsung hero and Civil Rights activist.

ABHM Breaking News.