Memphis political power players join coalition aiming to boost voter turnout
Coalition Get Out The Vote 901 hosting summit tonight to coordinate voter engagement resources
MEMPHIS — Some of the biggest names in Shelby County politics are joining forces to boost voter turnout in Memphis this November.
Coalition Get Out The Vote 901 will kick start its effort tonight with a summit to coordinate and boost voter turnout strategies. The event will be moderated by Sen. Raumesh Akbari (D-Memphis).
TaJuan Stout-Mitchell, a former member of the Memphis City Council, organized the group to encourage collaboration and unify forces against any effort to suppress voting.
Group members who will be participating in the summit include elected officials, such as Shelby County Mayor Lee Harris, Trustee Regina Morrison Newman, state Rep. Joe Towns, Commissioners Tami Sawyer and Van Turner, Jr., in addition to community leaders Gale Jones Carson, Michael Harris, Dr. Earle Fisher, Dr. Rosalyn Nichols, Steve Mulroy, Cherisse Scott and Keith Williams.
The 2020 Conference will focus on three areas:
• What We Need To Know to Get Out the Vote, a section that includes national, state-level and local perspective;
• What We Need to Do to Get Out the Vote, where leaders will discuss volunteer programs that are working to register and turnout voters in November; and
• What Resources Are Available to Get Out the Vote, where leaders will discuss tools that are available to organizers to boost the number of voters this fall.
“The politics of division and fear are used against us to distract us from corruption and a failure to provide the healthcare and economic opportunity all our families deserve,” Sen. Akbari said. “By joining together, Black, white and brown, we will vote in record numbers and raise our voices in the street to swear in a government, of, by and for the people.”
Join the Coalition Get Out The Vote 901’s 2020 Conference tonight — Monday, Sept. 21— at 6 p.m.
Join the Zoom meeting here: https://us02web.zoom.us/j/5105058827
Note on programming: Congressman Steven Cohen, a member of the coalition, is unable to attend the conference because of duties in Washington, D.C.
