Efforts Intensify to Mobilize Young Voters in Southeast Michigan Ahead of Election Day
In a bid to energize younger voters, NAACP leaders, college students, and volunteers converged in Detroit for a phone banking session just before Election Day. Their mission: to remind the youth in Southeast Michigan of the crucial impact their votes could have.
Amari Fennoy, the NAACP’s National Mobilization Director, highlighted economic concerns as a significant issue for voters this election season. She emphasized the power of the vote in influencing economic outcomes, stating, “We understand that Michigan voters are tired, they’re exhausted. We’ve seen the videos, people saying we need change currently.”
To achieve this, Fennoy and her team focused on contacting Black voters aged 18-25 in Wayne and Macomb counties, ensuring they were prepared with a plan to vote or assisting them in creating one.
A’naya Jones, a senior at Wayne State University and vice president of the Michigan NAACP’s Youth and College Division, has been working to make politics more engaging for her peers. She encourages young voters to see how elections impact their personal lives and ambitions, saying, “If you’re really involved, and you want to get involved, it doesn’t become boring.” She further illustrated this by connecting career goals with political participation, saying, “Let’s say I want to be a nurse, and I want to help the people in my community, how can I do that outside of my job? I can go out and vote so I can make sure they’re able to afford healthcare.”
Michigan’s political significance this election cycle is underscored by the focus of NAACP’s national leadership, with the open U.S Senate seat potentially influencing the balance of power. Campaigns have specifically targeted Black voters, evident in the nature of political ads that address their community concerns and often feature prominent Black figures.
NAACP President Derrick Johnson expressed concern over the divisive nature of Michigan’s political climate, describing it as the most divisive campaign cycle he has witnessed nationwide. “Using people’s ethnic and religious differences to pull people apart. That is not the society that we want to grow and become,” Johnson remarked.
He noted that such division is reminiscent of the reasons many Black families migrated north to escape similar conditions in southern states decades ago.
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