(Black PR Wire) WASHINGTON– The National Association for the Advancement of Colored People (NAACP) and Vote.org announced a partnership to mobilize, register and turn out Black voters ahead of the 2022 midterm elections.

This effort launches amid a historic resurgence in voter suppression. According to Vote.org, voter suppression laws have passed in 19 states across the country since the 2020 election. These laws will impact as many as 24 million voters of color. Political data analysts at TargetSmart found that from November 2020 through July 2021, more than 8.6 million voters were purged from official registration lists nationwide, with 63 counties disproportionately purging people of color in the months following the 2020 general election.

“Instead of celebrating 2020’s historic voter turnout, state lawmakers have spent the past two years passing laws to prevent young people and communities of color from casting their ballots,“ said Vote.org CEO Andrea Hailey. Our democracy is stronger when everyone can vote. Vote.org is proud to work with NAACP to defend voting rights and make sure that every eligible voter can make their voice heard in November and beyond.”

“The NAACP and Vote.org are partnering in this critical moment to safeguard our democracy. Our lives are being taken from us and our democracy is being stolen from us. We have been gunned-down at the grocery store and silenced at the ballot box. Now, the Supreme Court is coming for our constitutional rights as well. One thing is clear, our rights and our political power are being targeted and gutted as we speak,” said NAACP President Derrick Johnson. “At this moment, our right to defend all rights – the right to vote – hangs in the balance. If we don't organize and exercise our right to vote this November, we may very well lose our ability to participate in future elections. This is why we are partnering with Vote.org. We are partnering to defend democracy for all."

The partnership will launch this month, with Vote.org providing digital voting tools and training to the NAACP's network of over 2 million activists and leaders in all 50 states. In 2020, more than 39 million people used Vote.org’s online tools to register, verify registration, request mail ballots, find their polling location and obtain detailed information on each state’s voter requirements. NAACP members will use these tools in community voter drives, helping to simplify the voting process, lower the barriers to political participation and increase turnout among Black voters.

In addition to the 39 million people who used Vote.org’s online voting tools during the last general election, the organization helped more than 4.2 million voters register to vote and reached voters of color and young voters more than 651 million times through its GOTV program in 2020.