Our Power the Vote NC (PTVNC) team has been taking voter registration to a new level. Over the last year, we registered 9,616 people across 19 counties. The Conservation Voter Movement ranked us #1 across the country due to us reaching our goal for voter registration in North Carolina. We have established offices in Winston-Salem, Delco, and Greenville. Early this year, our Greenville office won platinum in Community Organization and Community Services in the CommunityVotes Greenville 2023 Awards.
Additionally, in 2023, we helped 5000 North Carolinians take the Forever Voter pledge. The Forever Voter pledge is a commitment to vote in every election cycle, registering, staying current and making a Plan to Vote.
These are not just numbers. Each number represents a North Carolinian who wants their voice to be heard. Each number represents someone who wants clean air and clean water. Not only for themselves, but for their families, their friends, and their communities.
Voter Registration Is About People And Community
Take for example Angela Keaton. In 2006, she moved to Columbus county. At the time, Columbus county was the poorest and unhealthiest county in North Carolina. Angela grew up with a father who engaged in the civil rights movement and would drive people to vote. From the back seat of the car, Angela spoke with members of her community. Of this experience, she said, “I was doing ‘Get Out The Vote’ work before it was called ‘Get Out The Vote’ work.”
Through these experiences, she learned the importance of civic engagement and making sure her community has a voice. Especially because the community was situated near polluting hog farms and paper mills. When she came of age, she was honored to register to vote.
In 2018, Angela was invited to a Civic engagement voter registration training with NC League of Conservation Voters Foundation. After attending the training, she realized she had always been civically engaged. She had frequently volunteered for local nonprofits, but decided she wanted a stronger platform for solutions. Her gift of connecting with people and being inquisitive helped her receive the position as a quality control specialist for voter registration at PTVNC.
Difficulties of Voter Registration
Angela knows the difficulties of voter registration. “One of the difficulties in voter registration is building trust with people,” she said, “because there is a lot of personal information needed on the voter registration card. But through PTVNC, you are able to engage with communities all year round to build trust. All year long we are working with these communities. We do this through civic education, workshops, and leadership education. All these allow us to build trust with the community.”
“We connect, we build, we advocate,” she continued. “We connect registered voters from historically disenfranchised communities in North Carolina to their ballots and their leaders. Then we build willpower by developing leaders in impacted communities. Lastly, we advocate for policies that better serve North Carolina.”
Want to learn more? Follow PTVNC on social media @nclcvf on Instagram, Youtube, and Facebook and @nclcv on TikTok.
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