“In a highly contested gubernatorial race, early voting turnout was key in Louisiana’s 2019 general election. Early voting was higher than any election in state history, excluding the 2016 presidential election. Notably, African Americans, who are a crucial constituency for progressive candidates and initiatives, were a reliable early voting bloc.
Communities of Color and the Civil Rights movement in Louisiana won big on Election Day. The NAACP is exceptionally proud of our Civic Engagement campaign on getting out the vote. Our goal was and is to increase voter turnout through relational organizing in Louisiana. Through our partnership with GSSA, LLC Data Analytics group, we received mapped out metrics for the Black community across the state, which allowed us to test a new approach through relational organizing.
In 4 weeks, we engaged over 400,000 volunteers, frequent, and in-frequent black voters. Through a direct mail program, we sent 260,000 pieces of mail across the targeted states to a group of black voters who were both our GOTV targets and potential advocates as relational organizers. We sent 180,000 thousand frequent black voters peer-to-peer text messages on the Hustle platform across the four states powered by over 150 volunteers. Our youth and college members at Southern University made us all proud by organizing campus and community events to mobilize their peers and neighbors to go vote. Our volunteer members also led a range of GOTV activities, including “Souls to the Polls,” “Rides to the Polls,” and even voter protection programs. Every phone call, text message, and knock on the door concluded with historical election results and voter turnout across Louisiana on Election Night. As we begin to organize and mobilize for Census 2020 and the 2020 Presidential Election, we have the momentum and power needed to ensure our voice and votes count.”
