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Black Florida Pastors Lead 'Souls to the Polls' During Early Voting Period

With early voting now in full swing, whole church congregations across Florida are planning to cast their ballots together. Photo: Urban Faith.
With early voting now in full swing, whole church congregations across Florida are planning to cast their ballots together. Photo: Urban Faith.

Black pastors and their congregations will head to the polls on buses, in vans, and on foot this coming Sunday and next. That is to make sure minorities who can vote in the presidential and local races, do vote.

Bishop Victor Curry with New Birth Baptist Church in Miami is working to make sure everyone who is eligible can cast a ballot before Election Day: those without transportation, those with busy work schedules, and those who simply don’t know how the process works.

He says this is a chance to preserve the progress made so far in race relations.

“All that we’ve won—health care, criminal justice reform, we have the opportunity to continue building a more fair economy, not just in one race, but in many races.”

This will be the first major push of its kind since the legislature shortened early voting in 2012, a move that hurt minority turn out. That period was later restored to 14 days.

“There are those who want to limit those who can vote. By going to vote together, we can overcome these barriers, as so many of our forefathers overcame their own barriers to the polls,” says Curry.

More than ten events are scheduled to take place in cities across the state, including Orlando and Miami.