Young Black voters are dominating the Georgia midterms one student at a time
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By Char Adams, NBC News
Clark Atlanta University students shuffling through the campus promenade Sept. 20, going to and from their classes, were met by a group of their peers delivering a single directive: vote.
“We wanted to make sure we were in students’ faces,” said Janiah Henry, a Clark Atlanta University senior and the chair of its civic engagement initiative CAU Votes. “We had interactive tables. We had food trucks.”
The group partnered with Greek fraternities and sororities and local nonprofit organizations for the voter registration event on National Voter Registration Day. Clark Atlanta University is one of several historically Black colleges and universities in Georgia.
“We were educating them on the midterm elections and ensuring they were able to vote in the state of Georgia,” she said. “We were able to register over 500 students and got them to pledge to vote!”
Henry, 20, said she has been supporting civic engagement since she was 13 years old, and she couldn’t have imagined just how much young Black voters would step up to transform Georgia’s political position.
Something changed in 2018. After Stacey Abrams’ failed bid for Georgia governor that year, Black college students knew they had to do something to improve Black voter turnout in the state — especially with the 2020 presidential election right around the corner. Between 2012 and 2016, Black student voting dropped by 5.3%, with young voters historically accounting for some of the lowest turnout in the country.
Read more about this campaign.
By Char Adams, NBC News
Clark Atlanta University students shuffling through the campus promenade Sept. 20, going to and from their classes, were met by a group of their peers delivering a single directive: vote.
“We wanted to make sure we were in students’ faces,” said Janiah Henry, a Clark Atlanta University senior and the chair of its civic engagement initiative CAU Votes. “We had interactive tables. We had food trucks.”
The group partnered with Greek fraternities and sororities and local nonprofit organizations for the voter registration event on National Voter Registration Day. Clark Atlanta University is one of several historically Black colleges and universities in Georgia.
“We were educating them on the midterm elections and ensuring they were able to vote in the state of Georgia,” she said. “We were able to register over 500 students and got them to pledge to vote!”
Henry, 20, said she has been supporting civic engagement since she was 13 years old, and she couldn’t have imagined just how much young Black voters would step up to transform Georgia’s political position.
Something changed in 2018. After Stacey Abrams’ failed bid for Georgia governor that year, Black college students knew they had to do something to improve Black voter turnout in the state — especially with the 2020 presidential election right around the corner. Between 2012 and 2016, Black student voting dropped by 5.3%, with young voters historically accounting for some of the lowest turnout in the country.
Vice President Harris recently visited Milwaukee to encourage voters.
ABHM will cover the midterm elections on our breaking news page.
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