Greater Metro
Sharpton to help pitch poll-watchers brigade
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23 Oct 2012
- Written by Tri-State Defender Newsroom
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The Rev. Al Sharpton will be in Memphis on Thursday (Oct. 25) as part of his mission will be to solicit more poll workers for Election Day on Nov. 6.
Former State Sen. Kathryn Bowers said Sharpton, head of the National Action Network and a syndicated talk show host, will be at Willie Moore's Family Restaurant at 109 N. Main St. at 8:30 a.m.
"He's coming to support us in our initiative to encourage people to volunteer to be poll workers for the poll-watchers brigade," said Bowers. "I called a couple of friends of mine to see if we could get him here and they came through. Of course, he will be doing some other things while he is here."
People are needed to help protect the vote, said Bowers, "to insure that the new (voter ID) law is implemented the same way in every precinct and not just predominantly black precincts, and that our voters are not intimidated."
Bowers said her observations indicate that the flow of early voting is heavy.
"There are record numbers of people coming out to vote," said Bowers, "whether they are on canes or in wheelchairs. Yesterday there were so many people at Bishop Byrne that the line went all the way back up to my church, St. Paul. They had to ask people to go over to one of the other early voting sites on Third St. are either Mt. Zion over on Parkway. It's a tremendous turnout here in Shelby County."
Last Week, Bowers, along with several elected Democratic officials and party surrogates, staged a call for volunteers to work as a 200-member "poll-watching brigade."
Those interested in volunteering for the poll-watcher brigade should call: 901- 235-3510.
