Volunteers in Texas conducting door-to-door canvassing, tabling, and outreach to mobilize poor and low-income voters during the second National Coordinated Weekend of Canvassing to engage 15 million voters ahead of the 2024 Elections.
Dear John,
During the first weekend of this month, the Poor People’s Campaign held its second National Canvassing Weekend, where we worked to get out the vote before this year’s critical November elections.
In more than two dozen states, organizers with the Poor People’s Campaign state organizing committees – including poor and low-income voters – canvassed, tabled, and did outreach in neighborhoods with high concentrations of poor and low-wage infrequent voters.
These voters are the sleeping giant of this election – they make up many times the margin of victory in each of the election’s so-called “battleground” states. This means they have the power to decide the outcome.
Here’s what some of the organizers said about why they decided to participate.
Zade Evans, a tri-chair in the Arizona Poor People's Campaign, spoke about why as an impacted person they want to make their voice heard in the upcoming election.
As a disabled trans veteran, 4th generation faith leader with the Christian Church, DOC, and tri-chair in the Arizona Poor People's Campaign, I canvass because my lived experiences of marginalization fuel a deep, unwavering commitment to justice and equity. Voting as an impacted person is a civic duty and an act of defiance against systems that have long silenced us. In Arizona, a battleground state, I am dedicated to awakening the sleeping giant of poor and low-income voters to build a future where all voices matter and where there's always room at the table, a deeply held conviction from my faith tradition as a Disciples.
Tammy Rosing, a Pennsylvania Poor People’s Campaign Impacted Tri-Chair, described having conversations with poor people in the state that centered not on party but on the big issues.
This weekend's canvassing felt really good. Looking out upon my community of Lancaster, seeing the different dynamics, the diversity and where everyones at...there was no intensity or hate around any conversations we had, even here in the Bible Belt of Pennsylvania. We took the time to have really in-depth conversations with the poor, hearing their thoughts and their struggles. We shared our PPC statistics-- that there are 135 million in poverty. It wasn't about Democrat or Republican, it was about meeting people where they were at.
Sangria Noble, a North Carolina Poor People’s Campaign Tri-Chair, spoke about how they were motivated to take part by their own experience of living in poverty and being incarcerated.
As a Justice-impacted, formerly incarcerated tri-chair for the North Carolina Poor People’s Campaign and coordinator on the organizing committee for the North Carolina Poor People’s Campaign, I am honored and inspired to canvass because of the issues and barriers the hand of life has dealt me – my lived experiences. The pressures of childhood poverty combined with a powerless feeling as a child not having enough or barely enough to survive – leading to the impacts of the North Carolina injustice system with adult incarceration – I truly believe as a survivor of the silent killer of poverty, I have been commissioned by God to wake folks up.
These are just a few stories from leaders on-the-ground across the country.
As we approach this year’s election, it’s important to make sure you have everything you need to vote.
To that end, we’ve put together a voting education page to support you as you make preparations to vote. The page offers a variety of resources to prepare for this year’s elections, including:
A Voting Record: This voting record graphic will help you see where candidates and parties on the ballot in every state stand on the big issues of the day, from raising the minimum wage to $15 an hour to lowering prescription drug prices. It offers detailed information about how they’ve voted on these issues in the past.
Voter Protection Resources: These resources include voter protection hotlines and websites for help if you face any issues voting in this year’s elections. Trained experts will ensure you are able to cast a ballot.
Everything You Need to Vote: This graphic includes clickable links to essential resources, such as important deadlines for voting in your state, registration checks, absentee ballot requests, ballot previews ahead of time, finding local polling place locators, election reminders, and registration to vote.
We encourage you to share this page with your friends, family, and social networks. These resources will help guarantee that we can mobilize many poor and low-income infrequent voters during this year’s elections.
JOIN THE MOBILIZATION
Contact your state Poor People’s Campaign to join our mass mobilization effort.
Click here to visit Vote.org/ppc to check your registration, register to vote, request an absentee ballot, check what’s on your ballot, and get election reminders to make sure you’re where you need to be on election day.
You can also help spread the word among your friends, family, and social networks.
Forward Together, Not One Step Back
Bishop William J. Barber, II, DMin
National Co-Chair of the Poor People’s Campaign: A National Call for Moral Revival
President & Senior Lecturer of Repairers of the Breach
Founding Director, Center for Public Theology and Public Policy at Yale Divinity School
Rev. Dr. Liz Theoharis
National Co-Chair of the Poor People’s Campaign: A National Call for Moral Revival
Executive Director of the Kairos Center for Religions, Rights, and Social Justice
