This is no ordinary "Souls to the Polls" GOTV effort. Here is what Reuters had to say:
This weekend's voting drive carries special importance as it is the only Sunday included in the state's truncated early voting period - which begins on Saturday - after it was cut this year from 14 to eight days.
... That - along with the opportunity to re-elect Obama, who many in the black community feel would not have been so stonewalled by Republicans in Congress if he were white - is what Thompson is counting on in his push for early voting.
More on this Reuters article over yonder::
Thompson said the concerns over voting issues arise as many in his community are still seething over the state government's perceived slow response in February to the killing of an unarmed black teenager, Trayvon Martin, in central Florida.
Thompson said the concerns over voting issues arise as many in his community are still seething over the state government's perceived slow response in February to the killing of an unarmed black teenager, Trayvon Martin, in central Florida.
"It's all these kind of things that are quietly pushing people to the polls. It might not have the same exuberance, but it is a quiet determination," he said.
Just like the union-busting Republicans in Ohio, the Republicans in Florida have stirred up a hornet's nest with their attempts to disenfranchise minority voters en masse.
Black ministers are using this as a rallying cry to motivate their congregation to vote.
More from Thompson::
"They passed all these tricky laws because we as a people do this Sunday early voting," McKissick said. "But tricks are for kids, and we done figured a way around that," he added, as the congregation roared in approval.
"Here's what you do," he went on, without mentioning who they should vote for. "Our plan is that all over the city, when the churches open, we all are going to get in our vans and buses and cars and we are going to the polls."
And they have a serious ground operation to back that up. According to the same Reuters article:
Jacksonville-area churches have rounded up 40 vans and buses to get their parishioners to the polls on Sunday. Besides churches, Souls to the Polls includes civil rights groups and unions working together to get out the vote.
It's a similar story in Miami where black churches are also organizing weekend rallies and transportation to the polls, led by civil rights activist and cable TV host Reverend Al Sharpton.
"We are going to the polls, and we are going to stay as long as it takes to show those who are trying to stop the vote that our ancestors fought to give us that you will not take our vote," McKissick told his congregation. "People died to get us the right to vote. Your vote is your voice."
Link to article