The countdown to the 2022 midterm election is moving fast. Nov. 8 is not far away, and the deadline for registering to vote is quickly approaching.

Adrianne Shropshire, founder and executive director of BlackPAC and the affiliated Black Progressive Action Coalition, recently spoke with Charlotte’s own “The Olympia D Show” about the upcoming election and why it’s important to be engaged in this cycle.

PART ONE

“We tend to focus on the big national elections, the presidential election, and we turn out in record numbers,” Shropshire said. “Either because we don’t understand what’s at stake or what offices are being voted for, we tend to sit out of the midterms.”

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Giving the example of the drop-off in voter turnout in former President Obama’s first term, Shropshire said the lower turnout made it more difficult for Obama to execute his legislative agenda. She also grounded the importance of the upcoming election in terms of the issues at stake.

“They’re going to determine a whole bunch of issues that we care about whether it’s the rising costs, or we’re all struggling with, whether it is looking again at voting rights and trying to make sure that we have national voting rights legislation,” Shropshire said. “We know we’ve seen sort of erosion or rollback and attack on rights over the last few months up certainly voting rights.”

PART TWO

Shropshire also highlighted recent efforts to restore voting rights to some formerly incarcerated people in North Carolina. She called the restoration of voting rights to formerly incarcerated people the “greatest expansion of voting rights in North Carolina since the Voting Rights Act.”

“It’s important for people to check their status, get registered if you’re not registered,” Shropshire said. “Know the deadline. The voter registration deadline in North Carolina is Oct. 14. So that’s important for people to keep on their calendars. Make sure you get registered by then.”

If you’re not in North Carolina, you can check your voter registration status and find out about voting by mail online at BlackPacVote.com.

“There’s power in our vote, and we can never forget that, and we can never let anyone try and convince us that our votes don’t matter,” Shropshire concluded. “Because they matter in big elections, and they matter in small elections, and we have the power we need to use it.”

Written by NewsOne’s editorial team.

PAID FOR BY BLACKPAC, BLACKPAC.COM, AND BLACK PROGRESSIVE ACTION COALITION, BLACKPROGRESSIVEACTION.ORG. NOT AUTHORIZED BY ANY CANDIDATE OR CANDIDATE’S COMMITTEE.

SEE ALSO: 

Know Before You Vote: Election Law Changes Ahead Of The 2022 Midterms

Democracy Is Always On The Ballot For Black People

The post ‘We Have The Power, We Need To Use It’: BlackPAC’s Adrianne Shropshire Encourages Black People To Vote Their Values appeared first on NewsOne.