NAACP, Philly teaming up to get out votes next month

The city of Philadelphia and the NAACP are teaming up to increase voter turnout in the Nov. 6 elections.

With so many important races on the ballot, the NAACP wants more citizens to be heard, said minister Rodney Muhammad, president of the Philadelphia chapter.

“The NAACP is calling on citizens of Philadelphia in these challenging times to put your voice where it really counts, at the booth, at the voting booth,” he said.

The effort will be nonpartisan, offering assistance to all voters.

City Commissioner Lisa Deeley said she’s noticing a good deal of excitement about the upcoming election.

“From my vantage point, I see great enthusiasm, especially with our young people. So we want to make sure that enthusiasm carries straight through to Election Day and then further,” she said. “Because we want people to continue to be engaged and continue to be a voter.”

Mayor Jim Kenney said he hopes the enthusiasm of young people who have been protesting will carry over to the polling place on Election Day.

“One thing the president has done with a lot of his outrageous stuff is to really generate young people to say, ‘This is not right, this is wrong, and we need to be responsible so that we can control our democracy and move it forward for everyone,’ ” Kenney said.

The NAACP will run a command center on Election Day as another place for people to report any voting irregularities.

Tuesday is the deadline to register to vote in this election in Pennsylvania.