Philadelphia (KYW Newsradio) — Advocates are holding “Pop Up and Vote” events to recruit poll workers and register people to vote all summer long ahead of the November midterm elections.
Right now, they’re anticipating a shortage of roughly 2,500 poll workers in Philadelphia, alone.
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Abu Edwards, the political action chair of the NAACP’s Philadelphia branch, is planning all the summer’s events, and emphasized that the right to vote is among the most important rights we have as Americans.
“Your vote can change your whole entire community,” he said. “Your vote is the power to create generational wealth.”
Registering to vote, though, is not always enough. If polls are lacking workers, issues can arise that make it harder for people to exercise that right to vote.
“When we have no poll workers at polling locations we have confusion and long lines,” he said. “We have polling locations closing, but we also have the opportunity for people to provide disinformation at our polling locations to prevent people from voting.”
The first of nine events is running from 12 - 2:30 p.m. on Saturday at Fred's Water Ice in West Philly, but if you can’t make it,
Those interested in becoming poll workers can register at any of the upcoming events to be trained by the city commissioner’s office.
Edwards said it’s even more imperative for Black Americans to exercise their voting rights, given the history of the nation.
“We have to pick up where our ancestors left off—where Rosa Parks, Dr. King, Malcolm X, W.E.B. Dubois,” he said. “That's making sure that we are emphasizing every single day that your vote is more important than you know.”
And if that’s not enough incentive, there will be free water ice, along with youth art activities centered around voting.
The last day to register to vote in this year’s midterms will be Monday, October 24.