By Jordan Meadows
Staff Writer
Bishop William J. Barber II and a coalition of civil rights, faith, and voting rights organizations started an early voting mobilization effort Thursday, leading marches to polling places across North Carolina.
The marches marked the first day of in-person early voting in North Carolina, with members of Barber’s Love Forward Together Voter Mobilization Initiative gathering in northwest Charlotte on Thursday for a “March to the Polls.”
Organizers are supplementing the marches with text messaging campaigns, phone banks and door-to-door canvassing designed to reach voters where they live and make sure they know when, where and how to vote.
Dr. Hannah R. Broome, Repairers of the Breach’s director for religious affairs, said the effort is particularly important in a state where changes to voting rules can leave people uncertain about the process.
“In this state, the rules keep changing, and confusion is its own kind of suppression,” Broome said. “When people aren’t sure of the rules, some of them stay home. We are here to interrupt the confusion.”
Repairers of the Breach, the organization Barber leads, is coordinating a nationwide initiative known as “1,000 Marches to the Polls,” encouraging people to march, drive, and gather at polling places during the early voting period.
In Durham, Barber returned to North Carolina Central University, his alma mater, where voters and organizers marched from St. Joseph’s AME Church to the Turner Law Building, one of Durham County’s 10 early voting locations.
Barber spoke with gatherers outside the university’s law school, where early voting was underway, and encouraged students to understand how their ballots connect to the policies that affect their education, families and communities. He said the march was intended to inspire students and other voters while reminding them that the right to vote was not won through silence or inaction.
“We marched for it. We fought for it, mobilized,” Barber said.
North Carolina voters have fought to preserve access to same-day voter registration and early voting, Barber said, making participation especially important now that those opportunities are available. He urged voters not to treat their political power as something to hold onto but as something to put into action.
“Now that we’ve held onto the power, it’s no good if we don’t use it,” Barber said. “One of our mantras is, it’s time to get our power out of our pocket. Don’t hold on to it. Get it out of your pocket.”
Barber also challenged students to consider how elected officials influence issues that may appear far removed from the voting booth but directly affect their lives. Healthcare, funding for historically Black colleges and universities, and wages for working families, he said, are all shaped in part by the decisions of people elected to public office.
“Everything is on the ballot,” Barber said. “Any issue you pick — if you’re concerned about healthcare, if you’re concerned about whether or not HBCU’s are going to be funded equally and equitably, if you’re concerned about your moms and dads making a living wage — politicians who get elected determine all of those matters.”
In Wilson, Barber and the Rev. Della Owens-Barber joined St. James Christian Church and Repairers of the Breach for another march to the polls Thursday afternoon. About 50 participants gathered before walking and shuttling the three-block stretch from the First Christian Church parking lot to the Wilson County Board of Elections.
The mobilization also brought together voting rights organizations in Raleigh, where Barber was scheduled to join Forward Justice, Democracy North Carolina, Common Cause North Carolina and Brava NC for an early morning march and news conference at Fulfilled Promise Tabernacle.
The event featured remarks from Barber, Broome and representatives of participating organizations, including Caitlin Swain of Forward Justice, Joselle Torres of Democracy North Carolina, Sailor Jones of Common Cause North Carolina and Illiana Santillan of Brava NC.
North Carolina’s in-person early voting period ends Oct. 31 at 3 p.m.
