The Harris-Walz campaign is helping students rock the vote with a massive voter registration initiative at 60 HBCUs to celebrate National Voter Registration Day and National Black Voter Registration Day, according to a press release shared with Black Enterprise.
In collaboration with the Democratic National Committee and media conglomerate Revolt, the plan is to launch an all-hands-on-deck campaign to mobilize, push, and encourage young potential Black voters to commit to exercising their right to vote — regardless of their selected candidate. Across 60 HBCU campuses in states including Virginia, North Carolina and battleground states such as Georgia, Pennsylvania, and Michigan, the Harris-Walz team will be overtaking the Revolt homepage as well as other major Black media platforms in hopes of meeting young voters where they are and encouraging them to be at the polls in November.
As part of the push, Vice President Kamala Harris will participate in a moderated conversation with the National Association of Black Journalists as students from Lincoln University and Cheyney University look on. Working with National HBCU Week, the Harris-Walz team will create an ad campaign targeting in-person events in battleground states and North Carolina, home to the second-highest number of HBCUs.
The team also created the National Voter Assistance text line to provide easy-to-access information in English and Spanish so voters can register with the DNC’s IWillVote.com platform.
The Harris-Walz team has outsiders pushing for voter registration just as hard as them. According to Greenville News, coalition partners in South Carolina are doubling up on efforts to engage young voters. The League of Women Voters of Greenville County scheduled 19 voter registration drives at area high schools, colleges, and universities, including Clemson University, Furman University, Greenville Technical College, and Tri-County Technical College.
In 2023, the group secured more than 500 new voter registrations at 15 high schools and colleges.
Political action chair for the Greenville branch of the NAACP, Lawson Wetli, highlighted the low number of voters within the Black community. Within the state’s 46 counties, 16 are below average for Black voter registration and voter turnout. More than half of those counties are in South Carolina’s Upstate, but she is confident that will change. “That needs to change,” Wetli said.
“We know that our vote is our voice, and we know that Black voices should be represented in our civic conversation. So it is particularly important for South Carolina’s Black community members to have access to voter registration information and the opportunity to vote.”
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