On Saturday, the Urban League of Louisiana held Black and Brown Voter Registration Day, part of a grassroots movement to get more people of color signed up to cast their ballot. While some volunteers knocked on doors, others worked the phones.
Terry Landry Jr., legal counsel with the Southern Poverty Law Center in Louisiana, volunteered his time at the Urban League of Louisiana office in Baton Rouge, calling individuals who’ve been purged from the voting rolls.
“We want to ensure that individuals are not only registered to vote but we’re also going to be making a push that they go out and cast their vote,” said Landry.
He explains to voters who’ve been purged what they can do to retain their right to vote and that time is running out. Oct. 7 is the last day to register in person or by mail and Oct. 15 is the deadline to register online.
“We’re seeing a consistent change in the laws in how people are removed and so they are becoming active in removing voters, so it’s very important that we reach out to as many people as we can.”
Landry says there are more than 900,000 minorities registered to vote in Louisiana.
“But unfortunately, in the last election we only saw about 28% to 30% of them actually go out and vote. So it’s not only important for us to register, we’re going to be doing some follow up to ensure that people actually go out and cast their vote,” said Landry.
This year, a new law went into effect requiring organizations holding voter registration drives to register with the Secretary of State’s Office. New absentee voting guidelines also went into effect. Only immediate family members are allowed to assist voters with their absentee ballot.
You can check your voter registration status on the Secretary of State’s website.
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