Voter Suppression: One More Round The Ground Game – Getting Out the Vote
by Kathy Grear 10/02/2014Educate, organize and mobilize — Around 30 days and counting, this election season is in the home stretch. The highest profile race is for US Senate between Kay Hagan and Thom Tillis. Although most polls show Senator Hagan with a slight lead, without a massive turnout of Black voters and wall to wall Election Day coverage of Black precincts, voter suppression will win the day. If we don’t turnout, Tillis will win and Republicans will have succeeded in disenfranchising Black voters.
I’m trying to sound the alarm and hopefully help create the massive turnout that we need. I hope I’m wrong, but if Blacks don’t show up at the polls in big numbers, the political and economic interest of our communities will be set back for years to come. Our vote is really the only protection that we have for our communities and we must use it more with more sophistication.
As both parties are mobilizing their bases, endorsements are being made to give tactical advantage to designated candidates. The races that are most difficult to understand are the statewide judicial races. Several weeks ago I wrote an article endorsing Judge Ola Lewis, for Chief Justice of the NC Supreme Court. There are no Democrats in that race and Judge Lewis’ opponent has been handpicked rubber stamped the Republican anti-Black political agenda. Democrats must make a choice in that race and protect Black Voters, their most loyal and threatened voting bloc. (See link below).
There are other judges running for statewide seats and they are also important to the well being of our communities and for our protection. Because these other judges are Democrats, they will receive party support but are really threatened without a massive Black turnout. However, there is one statewide judicial race with an expected endorsement forthcoming. I suggest that local operatives await and follow that endorsement or risk losing a winnable seat with a divided vote.
During the ground game leading up to the General Election, you’ll be receiving phone calls, email, snail mail and other contacts from candidates, partisans, non-partisans and others. Please join in and let’s fight “one more round.”
As another statement of caution, I’ll reiterate what I’ve said in the past: Nothing that happens in the courts between now and November will negate the need of our Black community for a massive voter turnout on November 4th.
GENERAL ELECTION SCHEDULE
Friday, October 10, 2014
Voter registration deadline
Thursday, October 23, 2014
One-Stop early voting begins
Tuesday, October 28, 2014
Last day to request absentee ballots by mail
Saturday, November 1, 2014 (1:00 p.m.)
One-Stop early voting ends
Tuesday, November 4, 2014 (5:00 p.m.)
Last day to return an Absentee Ballot by Mail
Tuesday, November 4, 2014
General Election Day
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Peter Grear, Esq. writes for Greater Diversity News with a primary focus on voter suppression. To join the campaign to defeat voter suppression please “Like” and follow us at www.facebook.com/votersuppression, “Share” our articles, and your ideas and comments on Facebook or at our website www.GreaterDiversity.com. Also, to promote the campaign to defeat voter suppression, please ask all of your Facebook “Friends” to follow the above-referenced recommendations. Additionally, please follow us on Twitter at @yourrighttovote: (https://twitter.com/yourrighttovote)
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