2 MS Coast groups help register voters for 2020 election. ‘We have to use that power.’
As an unprecedented election season begins to heat up around the country, two community organizations held a drive-in voter registration drive in Gautier on Saturday, aiming to reach young people in particular.
Many of the members of CORE (Community Organization Responsible for Engagement) and Empower Jackson County said they hoped to maintain the momentum of protests for racial justice that took place nationwide over the summer by registering and turning out new voters this fall.
Gabrielle Scott, president of Empower Jackson County, said the killing of George Floyd by a Minneapolis police officer and the subsequent protests helped spur her to establish the organization in July. The voter registration drive was Empower Jackson County’s first community event, Scott said, because voting is a key first step in efforts to bring about change.
“I wanted to be sure everyone in my community, Black and Brown people, has the power to vote,” Scott said. “We do have the power to elect officials to represent us, but we have to use that power.”
CORE was founded in 2019 to create opportunities for Black teenagers and young adults in Jackson County to serve their community, plan for their futures and imagine a more just society. Since the pandemic began, they’ve held meetings over Zoom and organized a giveaway of masks and hand sanitizer last month.
On Saturday, volunteers stood along Ladnier Road in Gautier, waving signs saying “Your Vote Matters” and “Register to Vote Here.” Two food trucks, The Gulf Cart and Keepin’ It Tasty, offering significant discounts, were also a draw. People could fill out registration forms in their cars to avoid contact, and the group handed out bags with hand sanitizer, a mask and safety information.
By 2 p.m., they had registered 24 people, including several first-time voters and at least one person who had previously thought he was permanently ineligible to vote.
Saturday’s drive was Empower Jackson County’s first-ever community event, and CORE’s first project related to the 2020 election. They were particularly targeting young voters like 18-year-old Randy Gaines Jr., who left work to get registered during his lunch break.
“I think we’re going to have to make a lot of changes,” he said.
Queen Brown, one of the co-founders of CORE, said their aim is to help young people make voting a habit.
“Especially for young adults, let’s go ahead and get you registered now,” Brown said. “I need you to keep this active for years to come.”
But it wasn’t only young voters who were first-time registrants. A man in his late 50s was among the first people to register at the event, organizers said. He’d mentioned that he’d been watching the news and decided to do his part to change things, said CORE member Jarroid Rudolph.
The importance of information
Ladarrion Payton, 24, was driving by and decided to stop when he saw the food trucks. His cousin, Seneca Hampton, was one of the CORE members volunteering at the event. Come get registered, Hampton called as Payton walked toward the taco truck. Payton replied that he couldn’t, because he was a felon.
Hampton showed him the flyer organizers had prepared, listing the felonies that lead to disfranchisement in Mississippi. The offense Payton had been convicted of wasn’t on the list. Payton was “in disbelief.” He thought anyone convicted of a felony in Mississippi lost their right to vote forever.
Thousands of Mississippians convicted of 22 felony offenses have permanently lost their right to vote under the state’s Constitution. Thousands more, however, have been convicted of felonies that don’t trigger disenfranchisement. But many of them, like Payton, don’t know that they’re still eligible to vote.
He said he was looking forward to voting in the presidential election, but hadn’t given much thought to other races, because he never thought he’d be able to participate in the process.
“When you think you can’t vote, you don’t really keep up [with politics],” Payton said.
A very unusual election
Across the country, the 2020 election will look very different from years past. Many states will heavily rely on mail-in voting to avoid crowding at the polls. But the state Legislature has declined to expand that option in Mississippi. It’s one of just four states that hasn’t made voting by mail an option for everyone.
Scott said she’s concerned confusion and anxiety about voting during a pandemic will keep people away from the polls. It could even keep people from registering, if they think doing so will require them to leave their homes or risk infection.
That’s why it was important to give people the option of staying in their cars, and to combine voter information with coronavirus supplies.
“I wanted people to know they can have a safe outlet,” she said. “I just want to ensure people use that right.”
The organizations are planning another voter registration drive for Sept. 8. The deadline to register to vote in Mississippi is Oct. 5.
