With just days before Election Day (Nov. 5), a cadre of powerful Black women are reminding people that “Election Day” in Texas began Oct. 21 and runs through Nov. 1, as early voting makes all of those days “Election Day.” And for those who don’t take advantage of early voting, there’s always the traditional Election Day (Nov. 5).
And to maximize turnout for those who choose to vote early or those who will cast their ballots on Nov. 5, Delta4 Women in Action (D4) in conjunction with Delta Sigma Theta Sorority Incorporated organized a rally and “Stroll to the Polls” event this past weekend on the campus of Texas Southern University.
“We are here, the National Council of Negro Women (NCNW), partnering with Delta Sigma Theta Sorority Incorporated, which I happen to be a proud member of one of our affiliates, and Delta4 Women in Action (D4) to encourage the Black community to get out the vote,” said the event’s keynote speaker, Reverend Shavon Arline-Bradley, president and CEO of NCNW. “It’s early voting time and we are traveling the country to make sure we are strolling all the way to the polls.”
In her cross-country travels, Arline-Bradley is finding reasons to be optimistic about voter turnout.
“The response has been crazy. There’s a different kind of energy happening in this country, and it is because we are seeing an historic election, a time where a Black woman is a viable candidate for the country in this season. And I think that many people are seeing that our country has been completely divided. Now we are nonpartisan, we don’t endorse candidates, but what we will say is that this electrifying energy, it’s real. It is palpable, and the country is responding and making their voice count,” she said.
Harris County Clerk Teneshia Hudspeth, who was on hand at the event, verified Arline-Bradley’s assessment about voter excitement.
“Let me tell you all what’s happening in Harris County… the first five days of early voting, we have voted over 500,000 voters,” said Hudspeth. “So, we have already surpassed the numbers of the last presidential [election] in 2020. And people are standing in line, having pep rallies and excited. They don’t care how long it takes, we’re casting our ballots all over this county.”
Joining Arline-Bradley and Hudspeth for this civic engagement push were several local and national community change agents, each with years of on-the-ground organizing to improve conditions for city, state and nation residents.
One of those additional voices of power came from Ethel Isaacs Williams, national president of Links Inc.
“We’ve coined the phrase in the Links, ‘Link up the vote’ because it doesn’t matter what your program is, let’s just do it together,” said Williams. “We care about the results at the end. Because we need to wake up on the sixth [of November], not feeling like we woke up in 2016. I’m not telling you who to vote for. I’m just telling you the feeling I want you to have when you wake up on Nov. 6, 2024.”
Other change agents in attendance included Dr. Angela Ravin-Anderson, co-lead of Wheeler Avenue Baptist Church’s Social Justice Ministry; Sharon Watkins Jones, chief equity officer for Children at Risk; Ayanna Wilmore, president of TSU’s Delta Gamma chapter of Delta Sigma Theta; Percy Ly Kabir, organizer, D4; Dr. Charles Turner, pastor, New Pleasant Grove MBC; Dr. Timothy Sloan, senior pastor, The Luke Church and many others.
“Voting is important because someone did the work before I came along,” said Wilmore, a Gen Zer. “Before I was even thought of somebody had enough care in what was going on, and everything surrounding them to the point where they thought to think ahead and set the next generation up for success. So to me, it’s only right that we pay it forward and I make sure that I do the same thing for my children, grandchildren, and everyone else’s. And then as far as the organization goes, we’ve been doing this since 1913 with the Women’s Suffrage March on Washington. So it’s just in our DNA. Social action is Delta.”
TO THE POLLS
After the speeches, which were all short and to the point, those gathered marched down TSU’s famed Tiger Walk, from the Sterling Student Life Center to TSU’s Recreation Center, one of Harris County’s Early Voting locations, to cast their ballots in this consequential election.
(Photos by Jimmie Aggison, Adrianne Walker and Aswad Walker)
