Whether it is immigration, gun control, or reproductive rights on the table for the midterm elections. To move the needle, one must vote.
Gerald Griggs, the second vice president for the NAACP’s Atlanta Branch, said a citizen’s voice starts with their vote.
“Voting is so important. It is how you voice your belief and your power in your government. It’s really hiring people to do a job to represent your interests on all levels,” Griggs said.
But voting has become increasingly difficult for some. Last year, Georgia canceled more than half a million voter registrations to clean up the state’s voting rolls. Georgia’s Secretary of State, Brian Kemph has since then been accused of those cancelations. He is also the Republican candidate for Georgia’s gubernatorial race.
Cheryl Synamon Baldwin, the president of Clayton County’s NAACP, sees the impact of the cancelations on her community.
“A half a million have been purged in Georgia. 7,381 have been purged in my county alone which is Clayton County. So we came up with an aggressive launch to get these people back on the rolls,” Baldwin said.
And they are not staying silent, Griggs said a team has started to contact canceled voters.
“So we have the purged list. We have all 1.5 million, and we are calling, and we are mailing postcards, and we are trying to get in contact with each and every person that has been removed from the rolls. We have contacted at least three hundred thousand at this point,” Griggs said.
Their work does not stop there. Griggs said they are also suing Kemp.
“We’ve also sued the secretary of state four times and plan to sue him again a fifth time to make sure people have access to the right to vote,” Griggs said. “So we are very concerned, and we’ve turned that concern into action, and we are placing people back on the roles that have been removed.”
Students are also making a mark on the ballots and say civic engagement starts with encouragement. Nurah Abdulhaqq, a gun reform advocate, takes action while in high school by registering voters.
“I’ve registered like two hundred and fifty voters, and I think we’re really going to make a difference this election if we keep telling young people how important their vote is,” Abdulhaqq said.
Anthony Jones, a college student at Georgia State University, said it is important to get youth mobilized to vote.
“On a daily basis, from when we’re out here. Whether we are here at Library Plaza or at our partner at Ebrik Coffee we get about fifty people a day,” Jones said. “It’s important to do tabling on a college campus because students are not aware as older people are of how important voting is so getting the youth mobilized to vote is extremely important.”
Because of the limitations, voting is not just showing up to the ballot box, Griggs ensures it is your voice.
“But I think we have to ground it in what people value. If you value your education, you value the hope scholarship, that was voted on by elected officials,” Griggs said. “So it comes down to who do you value and where do you want the money you spend on taxes spent.”
Note: This article was written for PRN, the student-led news station at Georgia State University.
