RevUp the Vote

By Allison Donald
On Wednesday January 24, 2018, the Memphis Grassroots Organization Coalition and Abyssinian Baptist Church Pastor Earle Fisher held their monthly Memphis and Shelby County Collaborative Meeting.

Representatives from Memphis for All attended along with Margaret Box member of Indivisible Memphis, Sarita Alston the field organizer for the Tennessee Democratic Party of West Tennessee. Several other community members representing a wide range of organizations were also there.

The purpose of this nonpartisan group is to advance current initiatives related to voting. The organization is working to increase political involvement in Memphis and Shelby County. The group also wants to register, educate, and empower citizens to improve the social and political conditions in Memphis and Shelby County.

“The work of the collaborative also aims to combat voter apathy,” said Earle Fisher, “which hinders turnout, because voters think their vote doesn’t matter.”

This partnership could be very beneficial in starting the RevUp the vote initiative in Memphis which aims to increase the political power of the disability community while also engaging candidates and the media on disability issues. There are over one million people in Tennessee living with a disability and when we arrive on Election Day to vote, we want what every other voter wants- the ability to cast our ballot privately and independently.

Overall, people with disabilities nationally are registered to vote at near the same rate as non-disabled voters with a 2.3% gap between the groups. However, the gap of those registered who voted was 82% of people with disabilities, while 88% of people with no disability were registered and voted.

For people with disabilities in Memphis we need to be a part of the political conversation. We need our issues regarding healthcare, the lack of affordable accessible integrated housing, and full community integration to be a focus of the candidates. The people’s lives that it effects on an everyday basis cannot continue to allow these elected officials to drop in during a canvassing cycle with empty promises. We must be informed of the issues so we can hold these candidates accountable and empower ourselves through the ballot that is what democracy looks like.

The next meeting of the Memphis and Shelby County Collaborative will be in February if you would like information on how you can attend you contact me at 901-726-6404 or by email Allison@mcil.org.