President of National Action Network (NAN) Al Sharpton along with Senior Pastor of the Friendship-West Baptist Church Dr. Frederick D. Haynes, III and head of NAN’s Ministers Initiative Pastor Michael A. Walrond, Jr. will join together for the NAN’s Voter Engagement Tour.
The event will take place on Wednesday, Sept. 12 from 11 a.m. – 7 p.m. at Friendship West Baptist Church in Dallas, 2020 West Wheatland Road.
- 11:00 a.m. event starts
- 7:00 p.m. Keynote by Rev. Al Sharpton
Reverend Al Sharpton and National Action Network’s Ministers Division will take NAN’S “Voter Engagement Tour” to Friendship West Baptist Church in Dallas on Wednesday, Sept. 12. The program begins with a working luncheon with clergy members to focus on creating an infrastructure that continues voter education and protection efforts in their communities. NAN, in conjunction with Education for a Better America, will host an afternoon workshop designed to inform the voting public and engagement volunteers about new and existing voter registration and voting laws. The evening concludes with a rally and keynote address by Rev. Al Sharpton.
The NAN tour is led by NAN’s Ministers Initiative and will visit those key states where voter suppression and disenfranchisement are practiced and voter identification laws are prevalent. A federal court blocked a Texas law that would have required voters to show photo identification on August 30th, ruling the legislation would impose “strict, unforgiving burdens” on poor minority voters. Describing the law as the most stringent in the country, the unanimous decision by a three-judge panel marks the first time a federal court has blocked a voter-ID law. It will reverberate politically through the November elections. Republicans and Democrats have been arguing over whether tough voter-ID laws in a number of states discriminate against African Americans and Hispanics.
In addition, the Texas election code for community voter registration drives makes it a crime for people from out of state to help collect applications. Texas imposes the most burdensome regulations of all the states on those of us who want to help register Americans to vote. African Americans register to vote through voter registration drives at twice the rate of Caucasians. Texas ranks 42nd out of all the states for the percentage of people registered to vote. Nearly 40 percent of Texans are not registered and can’t participate in elections.
NAN’s Ministers Tour to engage and educate voters about Voter ID laws kicked-off on June 28 in Eatonville, Florida at Macedonia Missionary Baptist Church. Since then, National Action Network’s tour has been to such leading religious institutions as the New Birth Baptist Church Cathedral of Faith International in Miami, Florida; Greater Abyssinia Baptist Church in Cleveland, Ohio; Salem Bible Church in Atlanta, Georgia; and Bethel Baptist Church in Tallahassee, Florida.
From now until Election Day, NAN’s goal is to educate and empower the electorate on how to combat restrictive new voter requirements and ultimately protect voter rights. NAN will tour many of the impacted states and align efforts with the local community.
NAN’s mission is to work to ensure that every vote in every community across the nation is counted. Voter suppression efforts are threatening the notion of democracy as we know it. When about 5 million Americans may be disenfranchised from the polls this November, according to the Brennan Center for Justice, we understand that complacency is not an option.
For additional information, please contact the National Action Network at 212-690-3070.
 Al Sharpton along with Senior Pastor of the Friendship-West Baptist Church Dr. Frederick D. Haynes, III and head of NAN’s Ministers Initiative Pastor Michael A. Walrond, Jr. will join together for the NAN’s Voter Engagement Tour.){kind=link}