Midterm Election: Minority Voting

Passion 4 Political Action Forum

Tennessee ranks dead last at number 50 in voter turnout. This comes as no surprise as the Souls to the Polls event held at Mt. Zion Baptist Church Antioch showed just why. Many seats were empty as panelists prepared to speak.	The Equity Alliance is the only African American organization of its kind in Tennessee. Headed up and ran by members that work for free, while they work full-time jobs. They are working to change the polling numbers for minorities statewide.	Sydney Prittard, Kyle Mothershed, Jeff Yarbrough, Rep. Hartway, and Junaid Odubeko sat as the panelists for the Souls to the Polls event. Each panelist talked about their different but very connected roles in politics and why it mattered to vote in the upcoming elections. The experts shared statistics, laws, and facts that showed why minorities aren’t voting and what is being done to ensure that minorities don’t vote.
Minority voting is an issue that has many underlying factors. Some of these factors include redistricting and gerrymandering. Junaid Odubeko, attorney and law professor at Vanderbilt University, did a presentation on the two topics explaining its affects and how to fix them.	Citizens of the community were concerned about the upcoming elections and came out to learn more about what to expect as midterms approach. After panelists made their presentations, the floor was open for questions. Many were concerned with if redistricting would have an effect on their vote.
Current president of the youth NAACP chapter of Nashville, Sydney Pritchard took time to explain why the upcoming Census is a big deal to Millennials, our communities, and improvements we would like to see. In 2020 this will be the first time our voice will really matter.
In all, it takes a lot of dedication to get the community to pay attention to why it is important for them to vote. We as citizens have the right to vote, however we don't take advantage of it as we should. Nor do we the resources put in our hands as the turn out at this event showed.

Why We NEED The Equity Alliance...

Meet the President of the Board, Charlane Oliver, as she tells us why this upcoming election is important to Tennessee as a whole. Are you registered to vote?

Tennessee Needs to Vote - MaLika Johnson

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Pictured: Charlane Oliver, Board President of The Equity Alliance

Passion 4 Political Action Forum

Tennessee ranks dead last at number 50 in voter turnout. This comes as no surprise as the Souls to the Polls event held at Mt. Zion Baptist Church Antioch showed just why. Many seats were empty as panelists prepared to speak.

The Equity Alliance is the only African American organization of its kind in Tennessee. Headed up and ran by members that work for free, while they work full-time jobs. They are working to change the polling numbers for minorities statewide.

Minority voting is an issue that has many underlying factors. Some of these factors include redistricting and gerrymandering. Junaid Odubeko, attorney and law professor at Vanderbilt University, did a presentation on the two topics explaining its affects and how to fix them.

Citizens of the community were concerned about the upcoming elections and came out to learn more about what to expect as midterms approach. After panelists made their presentations, the floor was open for questions. Many were concerned with if redistricting would have an effect on their vote.

Current president of the youth NAACP chapter of Nashville, Sydney Pritchard took time to explain why the upcoming Census is a big deal to Millennials, our communities, and improvements we would like to see. In 2020 this will be the first time our voice will really matter.

In all, it takes a lot of dedication to get the community to pay attention to why it is important for them to vote. We as citizens have the right to vote, however we don't take advantage of it as we should. Nor do we the resources put in our hands as the turn out at this event showed.

Why We NEED The Equity Alliance...