Jan. 24 candidate forum part of Black voter engagement

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The Black Voter Project is launching community engagement initiatives that include voter education, door-to-door campaigns and candidate forums.

A group dedicated to boosting Black voter turnout in Mecklenburg County will host a candidate forum on Jan. 24.  

The Charlotte Black Voter Project will host a gathering of contenders in statewide elections at Little Rock AME Zion Church, 401 N. McDowell St. from 6-8 p.m. The forum is free and open to the public.

Registration and turnout among Black Mecklenburg County voters have fallen the past two years. In 2023, 30% – 71,042 of 233,167 – cast a ballot. In 2022, turnout was the lowest in North Carolina by percentage, with 90,059 of 249,015 registered voters – 36% – casting ballots. As a result, Black political and community activists launched a campaign to increase Black participation in local elections.  

“People are sick of politicians, people are sick of both parties,” said Colette Forrest,  co-founder of the initiative and former chair of the Black Political Caucus of Charlotte-Mecklenburg. “They promise so much and yet deliver so little.”  

There is distrust in institutions like the criminal justice system and electoral system in the Black community, Forrest contends. The Charlotte Black Voter Project’s mission is to emphasize grassroots participation in the political process starting at the ballot box.

“Democracy is at stake,” she said.  

The forum will consist of a candidate meet-and-greet, Q&A session and voter education including practice using a voting machine, registration, or get a state-issued identification card, which is required to cast a ballot.  

Forum organizers invited candidates of all parties running in Council of State races with Black contenders like superintendent of public instruction, lieutenant governor, governor and attorney general. Court and municipal candidates are also included.

“We need Black people to see where they’ve ascended to,” Forrest said.  

The Black Voter Project will also engage voters with a door-knocking campaign in communities like Hidden Valley, East Stonewall and Winding Springs that have high concentrations of registered Black voters. Primary elections are March 5, with polls open from 6:30 a.m.-7:30 p.m. Ballots will be mailed starting Feb. 19.

The last day to request an absentee ballot is Feb. 27 by 5 p.m. Early voting is Feb. 15-March 2. The general election is Nov. 5.  

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