Faith

Black & Latino Churches Across America Launch ‘Souls to the Polls’ to Rally Congregants to Vote

Black & Hispanic Churches Rally Congregants to Vote | Voter I.D. Laws

President Barack Obama (Photo Credit: FILE)

MIAMI (AP) — It’s not just the collection plate that’s getting passed around this fall at hundreds of mainly African-American and Latino churches in presidential battleground states and across the nation.

Exhorting congregations to register to vote, church leaders are distributing registration cards in the middle of services, and many are pledging caravans of “souls to the polls” to deliver the vote.

The stepped-up effort in many states is a response by activists worried that new election rules, from tougher photo identification requirements to fewer days of early voting, are unfairly targeting minority voters — specifically, African-Americans who tend to vote heavily for Democrats. Some leaders compare their registration and get-out-the-vote efforts to the racial struggle that led to the 1965 Voting Rights Act.

“In light of all this, we are saying just let our people vote,” said the Rev. Dawn Riley Duval, social justice minister at the Shorter Community A.M.E. Church in Denver. “The people are being oppressed by these measures. It has ignited a sense of urgency and collective power that we can take by engaging in the process.”

In key swing states such as Florida and Ohio, proponents of the new election rules deny they are aimed at suppressing the minority vote in hopes of helping Republicans win more races. Reasons for their enactment vary between rooting out fraud and purging ineligible voters to streamlining the voting process.

But to some African-American leaders like the Rev. F.E. Perry, a Cleveland-based bishop in Ohio’s Church of God in Christ, it’s as if the 1960s barriers to black civil rights have returned all over again.

“We’ve come too far to sit idly by and watch that happen,” Perry said. “We want to get souls to the polls. Whatever it takes to get them there, that’s what we’re going to do.”

With national public opinion surveys showing a close race between President Barack Obama and Republican nominee Mitt Romney, even a few votes either way in a state such as Florida — a mere 537 votes decided the 2000 contest between Republican George W. Bush and Democrat Al Gore — could prove decisive. In 2008, Obama won 95 percent of black voters and is likely to get an overwhelming majority again. He also won among Latinos, a rapidly growing constituency that also tilts heavily toward the Democrat in polls this year.

But any loss of votes would sting.

Black & Hispanic Churches Rally Congregants to Vote | Voter I.D. Laws

Republican presidential candidate Mitt Romney (Photo Credit: AFP/Getty Images)

To be sure, not all clergy are encouraging their flocks to turn out on Election Day: Some black pastors are telling their congregations to stay home, seeing no good presidential choice between a Mormon candidate and one who supports gay marriage. The pastors say their congregants are asking how a true Christian could back same-sex marriage, as Obama did in May. As for Romney, the first Mormon nominee from a major party, some congregants are questioning the theology of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints and its former ban on men of African descent in the priesthood.

Those pastors, however, are in the minority.

Many Democrats see a pattern of partisanship in many of the new election laws, which they contend are intended to hinder minority turnout and boost the prospects of GOP candidates.

“I pray it’s not politics, but I don’t know. It doesn’t look like anything other than politics,” said the Rev. Richard Dunn, pastor at Faith Community Baptist Church in Miami.

One organization, the faith-based PICO National Network, staged a “Let My People Vote Sunday” in September in which about 300 churches around the country held voter registration drives during services and recruited churchgoers to go out and register even more people. The goal was to sign up around 75,000 people, PICO policy director Gordon Whitman said.

“People are stopping in the middle of worship to have people pull out the registration forms and fill them out. It’s about the church saying, `We are going to participate in this process,’” Whitman said.

In many states with early voting, the Sunday before Election Day in 2008 was a church-based political event in which minority congregations went en masse to polling places and cast their ballots. That year in Florida, 33.2 percent of all African-American voters and 23.6 percent of Latino voters cast ballots on that final Sunday, according to the Brennan Center for Justice at New York University.

In Ohio in 2008, Whitman said about 100,000 people voted during the last weekend before the election. A new Ohio law would have cut off early voting on the Friday before the election, but a federal judge declared it unconstitutional because some groups such as military personnel were exempted. The state is appealing that ruling.

This year in Florida, a new election law eliminated early voting on that last Sunday, although there is a Sunday for early voting about a week and a half earlier. Dunn, the Miami pastor, said he expects most churches will shift to that earlier day, which falls on Oct. 28 this year.

“Sunday in the African-American tradition is one of the biggest days historically in our community,” he said. “You have large numbers of people who go to church. Pastors aren’t saying who to vote for, but they are saying, `This is souls to the polls day.’”

Florida’s law was also challenged in federal court, but a judge ruled in September there wasn’t enough proof that the change would harm African-Americans’ right to vote. The judge also noted that, unlike the previous law, the new rules required at least one Sunday for early voting.

Meanwhile, from the pulpit, some churches are even using a litany that calls upon congregations to remember the fight to obtain the vote as well as other civil rights. One such script distributed by PICO (it stands for People Improving Communities by Organizing) mentions the Rev. Martin Luther King, the bloody march in Selma, Ala., and many other civil rights milestones.

“We remember thousands of little towns where countless, unnamed ancestors stood in their dignity to cast a ballot,” the script says. “In 2012 we will not be silent or denied the right to vote. For we have come too far by faith.”

In CONTROL, Glenn Beck presents a passionate, fact-based case for guns that reveals why gun control isn’t really about controlling guns at all; it’s about controlling us. Find out more HERE.

Comments (65)

  • breakobamanow
    Posted on October 2, 2012 at 9:40am

    Daniel 2:44
    And in the days of these kings shall the God of heaven set up a kingdom, which shall never be destroyed: and the kingdom shall not be left to other people, but it shall break in pieces and consume all these kingdoms, and it shall stand for ever.

    Gods will be done, despite the efforts of men. If the Churches of today were of the true Church of Christ they would not concern themselves with the government of lying men and women who exhalt themselves over and oppress the rights of the ones they are supposed to represent.

    Report this comment

    breakobamanow  
    • johnjamison
      Posted on October 2, 2012 at 11:03am

      The people in these churches need to also be told which candidate supports abortions in all stages of pregnancy and even supports the killing of children that survive abortions. THAT CANDIDATE WOULD BE OBAMA……Then ask them what would God want us to do support this man or remove him from a position of power.

      Report this comment

      johnjamison  
    • Prosecute_Constitutional_Treason_In_Washington
      Posted on October 2, 2012 at 12:19pm

      Your thinking is about as smart as raising your children focused on loving them but not providing guidance and rules to train them with. How simple minded are you? Christians need rules and guidance from the pulpits and pastors are handcuffed by their own doing joining with the gov. in a 501C3 tax exempt nonprofit that can not speak up and call DC leaders wicked. No, the only thing your church can do is provide paper forms to fill out so people register to vote. That’s sick. Churches today and pastors are perverted corporations with CEO’s. God has been demoted. The headship of the church is the pastor and the authority is the gov. regulations. Many pastors are pimps and it’s all about offerings and numbers. Numbers saved, baptisted, memberships, and growth. Jesus tells us to focus on spreading the seed of the gospel and leave the results to Him.
      How many churches are in debt up to their ears? These churches are slaves to bankers.

      Report this comment

      Prosecute_Constitutional_Treason_In_Washington  
    • Independent4233
      Posted on October 2, 2012 at 1:12pm

      “People are stopping in the middle of worship to have people pull out the registration forms and fill them out.”

      Just one more bit of evidence of the extent of non-white racism in this country today. They’re voting for Obama STRICTLY because he is black.

      I remember how pundits were warning us against just this sort of situation several years ago, and brainwashed white fools shouted them down as racists, as they have been conditioned to do by the social propagandists.

      If this black president had never gotten into office in the first place, this kind of non-white racism would still be ignored and denied.

      Some people can be manipulated any way a propagandist wants to turn them. Just look at Elizabeth Warren. She’s been programmed to hate being white, so she tries to pass herself off as an indian in spite of her blue-eyes and blond hair.

      “In an age of universal deceit, telling the truth is a revolutionary act.”

      Further proof of that will be when Obama is re-elected.

      Report this comment

      Independent4233  
  • NatTurner
    Posted on October 2, 2012 at 9:12am

    The rethuglican plan to re-impose poll taxes and bar African americans from the voting booth is backfiring bigtime. President Obama will win an even higher percentage of the African american vote than in 2008. We will never vote for anyone who is a member of the racist mormon cult. Every African american member of my church is not only voting for President Obama, we are registering tens of thousands of African american who were not eligible in 2008 to vote in 2012! We will always support OUR President, no matter what you do. We have taken our country back & will never let you control things again. OBAMA 2012!

    Report this comment

    NatTurner  
    • iamsaved
      Posted on October 2, 2012 at 9:28am

      Your church sounds like it’s misguided in who they should follow – God or the Democrats. Which tenet of the Democrat Party is your favorite? Removing any reference to God in their Party’s platform? The part where they support the practice of homosexuality which God calls an abomination? The part where all abortions are to be encouraged even though God says thou shalt not murder?

      I guess if I walked into your church or the thousands of black churches that think like yours does, I’d wonder who it is you are worshipping. Maybe you should have scripture reading of Joshua 24:15 (BTW, that’s a book in the Holy Bible).

      Report this comment

      iamsaved  
    • Obama Snake Oil Co
      Posted on October 2, 2012 at 9:40am

      Good luck with you little tiny theory there….koolaid is on sale at Sams club, stock up!

      Report this comment

      Obama Snake Oil Co  
    • rcbCAL
      Posted on October 2, 2012 at 11:13am

      “I wouldn’t call it fascism exactly. but a political system nominally controlled by an irresponsible, dumbed down electorate who are manipulated by dishonest, cynical, controlled mass media that dispense the propaganda of a corrupt political establishment can hardly be described as democracy either.” — Edward Zehr (1936-2001) Columnist

      Report this comment

      rcbCAL  
    • Female
      Posted on October 2, 2012 at 12:12pm

      “We have taken our country back & will never let you control things again.”

      African-american and what country are you taking back? According to all the whiney about discrimination it can’t be the American part…..are you returning to Africa?

      Really, what is the big ID deal? I use my credit card for over $20 at the grocery store…photo id please. Not only do you have to show id for govt services but to receive food stamps or cash aid in CA, they FINGERPRINT you! How is that for id? I am sure their are still plenty of falsifying pictures but fingerprints.

      Hmmm, maybe that is the way to go? And it won’t cost the minorities any money to put their thumb on a computer screen!

      Report this comment

      Female  
    • Angeltoo
      Posted on October 2, 2012 at 2:01pm

      I’m sorry, take your ‘country back’ from what? Obama is the current president.

      Report this comment

      Angeltoo  
    • crz2bhappy
      Posted on October 2, 2012 at 5:44pm

      that’s ok. the godly people of chicago (not ) are taking care of the offset

      Report this comment

      crz2bhappy  
  • Thetruthhasnoagenda
    Posted on October 2, 2012 at 9:07am

    I’d like to be a fly on the wall when, on Judgement Day, Jesus asks each Obama supporter, “So, you voted for a guy who favors abortion AND gay marriage?” That’s gonna be a tough sell.

    Report this comment

    Thetruthhasnoagenda  
  • Detroit paperboy
    Posted on October 2, 2012 at 9:02am

    It sounds more like ” keep the freebies Rollin day “…………………..

    Report this comment

    Detroit paperboy  
  • Dismayed Veteran
    Posted on October 2, 2012 at 9:02am

    Maybe the pastors should remind their congregation that MLK was a Republican and the Republican Party has supported civil rights since the Civil War.

    Report this comment

    Dismayed Veteran  
  • iamsaved
    Posted on October 2, 2012 at 8:57am

    One doesn’t have to be a Rhode’s scholar to figure out it’s the Democrat Party passing these voter registration cards out in the offering plates of black and hispanic churches. Blacks and Hispanics are so shackled to the Democrat Party, they know nothing else, and follow like lost sheep.

    Those in a Christian church should know better. They don’t need a voter’s guide to tell them what they should do. They have the Word of God to guide them. Any candidate that goes contrary to that Word, either by word or by deed, should not get their vote.

    A quick reading of Joshua 24:15 should be their guiding message for this election. To do otherwise is to follow the father of lies (and I’m not referring to Obama, but he’s close).

    Report this comment

    iamsaved  
  • woodyee
    Posted on October 2, 2012 at 8:56am

    Wherever evidence is shown of Churches violating the rules of their tax-exempt status, those churches should lose that status.

    If it’s happening in your church, video-record the instances with date/time stamps; record the response of the pastor/priest/Bishop when confronted; record the people as you talk to them about it.

    This CLEARLY evidence of Gaybama’s desperation. Hey, Lefties/Libs, are you condoning this? This is your “side”! Are you proud of the fact you’re ideas are so bereft of mainstream support that you have to stoop to this level? Why aren’t you screaming for your twisted version of separation of church and state?

    “A new Ohio law would have cut off early voting on the Friday before the election, but a federal judge declared it unconstitutional because some groups such as military personnel were exempted. The state is appealing that ruling.” STILL?!? Four efen years later? That is a travesty of justice!!

    Report this comment

    woodyee  
    • ENIGMA28724
      Posted on October 3, 2012 at 10:10pm

      Won’t happen, even with videos with Eric Holder and Obozo in office. My Baptist preacher in a predominately white church is afraid to remind the congregation to register to vote, much less compare the candidates in a Biblically based manner. Might lose his tax exempt gravy train. We’ve come a long way from the “Black Robe Regiment” of revolutionary war days who were not afraid to speak the truth even though they risked summary hanging by the British.

      Report this comment

      ENIGMA28724  
  • Gonzo
    Posted on October 2, 2012 at 8:46am

    We have a voter I.D. law in my state. So, according to the D.O.J., blacks and latinos won’t be able to vote here anyway.

    Report this comment

    Gonzo  
  • Jackal7130
    Posted on October 2, 2012 at 8:42am

    Vote ROMNEY RYAN vote vote vote vote vote vote vote vote vote vote vote ROMNEY RYAN VOTE ROMNEY RYAN tell all the LAZY WHITE A$$ holes you know to get off there a$$ es and VOTE FOR ROMNEY if they enjoy their FREEDOM ( if you consider word censorship amongst other things freedom?- but its better than whats coming). Thats what I do EVERY DAY.

    Report this comment

    Jackal7130  
  • davetrav
    Posted on October 2, 2012 at 8:34am

    All this does is to show you how stupid they are. These people are mind less to let others take you by the hand and say sign here—GET they get at least a piece of candy.

    Report this comment

    davetrav  
  • Jackal7130
    Posted on October 2, 2012 at 8:34am

    And I cant say the N word? lmfao

    Report this comment

    Jackal7130  
  • Jackal7130
    Posted on October 2, 2012 at 8:33am

    Make no mistake they will go to hell. As soon as the Russian troops with al Quida embedded with them start taking out churches full of em.The movie Red Dawn comes to life………INCREDIBLE. Remember all the jokes about how a black guy couldnt keep a job more than 3 years and all that when he got elected? Well I guess it was WAY WORSE than all these WHITE GUILT C***K SU***ERS and stupid RACIST black F**KS that voted him in could ever imagine. I almost want to see them get wiped out.

    Report this comment

    Jackal7130  
    • willingtoupe
      Posted on October 2, 2012 at 9:21am

      Thanks for the soul searching reminder of good reasoning why I never joined the Military to fight for or taking orders from the likes of someone like you and use my fighting energy for my children and my money. You and many other Average people here in this comment room have no clue that Whites benefit mostly from handouts, be it corporate, hedgefunds, welfare, loans, stock fraud, ponzi scemes, housing frauds, collaps, retirements that bankrupts small cities, unions, and most importantly regular jobs. 1st hired last fired. SO on an average scale, if you are unhappy is because you didn’t take advantage on the full potential. You’re just a beer belly colestrol having, gun toating hate filled biggot It’s called White Trash and thats below average and you are getting screw by your average counter parts that were mentioned above.
      Because they figured out that they have 99 regular problems, but their skin color isn’t 1.

      Report this comment

      willingtoupe  
    • Jackal7130
      Posted on October 2, 2012 at 10:17am

      And if you wee intelligent enough you would have figured out I am saying HE”S NOT AMERICAN, hence he’s NOT Afro American——-dick

      Report this comment

      Jackal7130  
    • Jackal7130
      Posted on October 2, 2012 at 10:19am

      Yeah and dey all da white mans waaw anyway huh? Typical

      Report this comment

      Jackal7130  
    • Jackal7130
      Posted on October 2, 2012 at 10:26am

      Yeah F*** it let the White boys DIE for MY freedom my great great great granpappy was a slave……..yeah, and I was here ownin a plantation too. Dont think so skip, my ancestors were in EUROPE fighting their own freedom fights.

      Report this comment

      Jackal7130  
    • Jackal7130
      Posted on October 2, 2012 at 10:49am

      One more thing clown, I was a UNION BA and I put up with ALL of you lazy “union boys” that thought the company should just pay you for showing up. Black and whites, and THATS 90% of the reason companies are going belly up left and right now, paying pensions and getting NOTHING in return for 30 years…………..btw I dont drink beer. FAIL try again

      Report this comment

      Jackal7130  
  • SLAPTHELEFT
    Posted on October 2, 2012 at 8:31am

    It is very hard for blacks to admit when a black man is inneffective and not qualified for the job.

    Need proof? Matt Ryan of the Atlanta Falcons was booed and the fans said they wanted their black QB back. Look at the Falcons now.

    Report this comment

    SLAPTHELEFT  
  • termyt
    Posted on October 2, 2012 at 8:22am

    Forcing people to actually register to vote and then a simple step to verify their identity is akin to not letting people vote because of skin color?

    Ridiculous and outrageous. That spits in the face of all those who fought for true equality and rights for all. Shameful.

    Report this comment

    termyt  
  • RightUnite
    Posted on October 2, 2012 at 8:13am

    Time to start taxing these churches I guess.

    Report this comment

    RightUnite  
  • JUSTANOTHEROPINION
    Posted on October 2, 2012 at 8:13am

    The only effect Voter ID laws could possibly have on the election process is to slow Voter fraud. You have to have ID to cash a check, open a bank account and get a job. Hmm…let’s take a quick look at this. The extreme poor black people obviously have ID in order to cash welfare checks and the black people that have a job have an ID to cash their paychecks. Hmm…the people peole even close to being discriminated against is fraudulent Voters(which by the way rightfully should be kept from Voting in our elections anyway). In sumerization, the attempt to link Voter ID with discrimination is hogwash and anybody trying to make this connection is simply in support of Voter fraud and is anti-America.

    Report this comment

    JUSTANOTHEROPINION  
  • steve-in-pa
    Posted on October 2, 2012 at 8:05am

    Sounds some churches should be taxed when they spend their tax free resources to promote voting for a politician. I have never been to church on a Sunday where they promoted politics in a sermon.

    Report this comment

    steve-in-pa  
    • SLAPTHELEFT
      Posted on October 2, 2012 at 8:21am

      If the rules are the same for everybody how does that discriminate against minorities? Do we need a seperate set of rules for blacks and hispanics? Im hispanic. I get to the polls just fine. Im proid to show my ID. I vote once.

      Is it the voting once that is discriminatory? Or having to have an ID, which is nevessary to function in society? These black preachers are not men of God. They disgrace MLK. They disgrace Frederick douglass. They disgrace Booker T. Washington. Yet they herald Al sharpton and jesse jax.

      Blacks will get what they deserve after they vote based purely on race. Maybe theyll vote 95% for Allen West too.

      Report this comment

      SLAPTHELEFT  
  • HOOT_OWL
    Posted on October 2, 2012 at 8:00am

    I call BS to the…Do not vote for the Gay or Mormon argument .
    Anyone with eyes can see not only is Obama pro-gay ..He’s Anti -Christian TOO..!
    He’s also ANTI ISRAEL and PRO-MUSLIM ..!

    These black religious leaders , just cant bring themselves to tell their congregation to
    NOT VOTE FOR THE BLACK MAN..

    Their a bunch of racist hypocrites..!
    Hell will welcome them with open arms..!

    Report this comment

    HOOT_OWL  
    • 4truth2all
      Posted on October 2, 2012 at 8:16am

      Yo Hoot:

      You forgot abortion, the murder of babies.

      I don’t know about the hell thing, but they sure could use a “spiritual smacking”.

      Report this comment

      4truth2all  
  • florida123
    Posted on October 2, 2012 at 7:59am

    Sitting in the Pews on Sunday and Tuesday Voting for a Guy who embraces Gay Marriage and Partial Birth Abortion…………….God Have mercy on their souls………………

    Report this comment

    florida123  
  • Fla.Patriot
    Posted on October 2, 2012 at 7:57am

    I wonder if these tools realize that if it had been left up to the Democrats they never would have been given the right to vote. As for the voter registration laws being political…you’re damn skippy it is. It’s political in the sense that we are painfully aware of the level of voter fraud that has gone on by leftist organizations like Move On, Acorn, etc. We Constitutional Conservatives want everyone with a “Legal” right to vote to have the opportunity to vote…once. we don’t want corpses, K9s, kids, felons, Illegals, or cartoon characters to vote…especially since all the aforementioned seem to be Democrats…go figure.

    Report this comment

    Fla.Patriot  
    • loriann12
      Posted on October 2, 2012 at 8:03am

      I just went to apply for more services for my handicapped adult son…I had so show a picture ID of him. And yet I don’t have to prove who I am to vote? You have to show a photo ID in order to get in to any Democrat rally, but you don’t have to show ID to vote? You have to show ID to buy alcohol, unless you’re like me and OBVIOUSLY over 21 C: but you don’t have to show an ID to vote?

      Report this comment

      loriann12  
  • 4truth2all
    Posted on October 2, 2012 at 7:50am

    First off nobody is being denied their right to vote …
    Second … I’m going with the story and pastors that were calling members of the church to come out of the demoncratic party because of it’s godless position of removing Him, it’s position on abortion, homosexuality, and not to forget Israel. I don’t see how a God fearing person could associate to that and not have their conscience pricked . I would say it is impossible!

    Report this comment

    4truth2all  
  • SurgeUSA
    Posted on October 2, 2012 at 7:46am

    Sell your souls at the polls? Go ahead, vote for the guy who imposes his policies on Christians against their wills, abandons Israel, and apologizes to Muslims for offending them when they kill us. Sure sounds like a principled proposition. Go see the movie 2016 and wake up. What has this administration done to actually make your life better, rather than more subservient? Is a life of servitude to government really the outcome you fought for in the civil rights movement, or is this just a new form of tyranny to overcome if you really believe in individual rghts and freedom?

    Report this comment

    SurgeUSA  
  • jackact
    Posted on October 2, 2012 at 7:44am

    What is happening nationally in black liberation ideology churches, most of which ate located in our inner cities, that are virulently opposed to gay marriage?
    We don’t hear from them.
    Are they holding their ground and emboldening their committed faith or are they voting, in majority, for the candidate with the right color?

    Report this comment

    jackact  
    • DagneyT
      Posted on October 2, 2012 at 7:47am

      What many of us in the evangelical circles are hearing is that black pastors are telling their congregants to not vote, so as not to vote for a Morman, or for someone who favors same sex marriage.

      Report this comment

      DagneyT  
    • Mil-Dot
      Posted on October 2, 2012 at 7:54am

      Jack,
      There could be video of Obama drowning puppies and laughing and the blacks would still vote for him. The MOST important thing to a black man is his/her victim status and the color of the candidates skin. That’s it.

      Report this comment

      Mil-Dot  
    • jackact
      Posted on October 2, 2012 at 7:57am

      Dagneyt,
      Very interesting.
      Thanks.

      Report this comment

      jackact  
    • Stelex
      Posted on October 2, 2012 at 8:09am

      Aren’t they supposed to lose their tax free status if the get involved with politics????

      Report this comment

      Stelex  
  • Want our country back
    Posted on October 2, 2012 at 7:42am

    I wish they would allow our military the same rights. They are the invisible ones and who is looking out for their vote.

    Report this comment

    Want our country back  
  • italy2007
    Posted on October 2, 2012 at 7:39am

    So I guess it is okay and highly permissible when Black Democrats speak of Politics in the pulpit and hand out voter registration slips but if Conservtives dare speak against this Marxist of a President they are immediately investigated?

    Report this comment

    italy2007  

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