Mississippi Poor People’s Campaign organizes rally to encourage community to vote

SHARKEY COUNTY, Miss. (WLBT) - The Mississippi Poor People’s Campaign organized a rally in Sharkey County Saturday.

The group was making a final push to educate, mobilize and empower voters to make their voices heard.

“Our infrastructure has been crumbling over the last twenty years, we don’t have clean water, the roads are tearing up, women reproductive rights, that’s huge, voting rights expansion, we had more voting rights in 1968 than today,” said Emilee Johnson, an organizer of the campaign.

Johnson, one of the organizers of the Mississippi Poor people’s campaign, says with living wages, healthcare, and other critical issues impacting many residents this year’s election is more crucial than ever.

“For the last few weeks, we’ve been canvassing, we been going door to door in neighborhoods, we been tabling, hosting events, just to reach as many people as we can.”

Others at the rally say they are demanding policies and politicians that center around the needs of poor and low-income families.

If you are old enough to vote, please go register, because the people you have in place, are the people that make sure the opportunities. They won’t push away federal money; they will work harder for it to get here,” Torsha Anthony, a rally attendee said.

“I want people to leave here today knowing that their voice matters and that their vote counts. That’s it, their vote count,” Johnson said.

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