A new $4 million effort primarily aimed at engaging and mobilizing Black male voters ahead of Election Day in key battleground states is launching Tuesday, according to plans shared first with NBC News.
The push — dubbed Vote To Live — is affiliated with the Collective PAC, one of the country’s largest political action committees supporting Black candidates, which has endorsed Vice President Kamala Harris.
The new effort will focus on nonpartisan ways to encourage largely Black men to vote, said Quentin James, founder and president of the Collective PAC. As part of that goal, Vote To Live will focus on such actions as educating Black men about where to register, providing free transportation to the polls during early voting, hiring people to directly engage with their communities and hosting events at historically Black colleges and universities.
The group’s efforts will focus primarily on six states — Georgia, Michigan, North Carolina, Ohio, Pennsylvania and Wisconsin — with additional efforts in Arizona and Nevada.
“Black men are now one of the No. 1 targets for misinformation online, so we know they are being targeted by our adversaries, people who are trying to meddle in our elections, both foreign and domestic players,” James said. “So we want to make sure we are also communicating with Black men around what they need to go vote, what to bring with them, what’s on their ballot — educating them on the actual process, because there is so much online trying to sway them.”
He added that with polls showing a close presidential race, Black men could play a pivotal role.
James said he believes there have been “extreme” investments in trying to persuade Black men to abandon Democrats and support former President Donald Trump, so Vote To Live hopes to give them information that can counter those efforts. Asked why the effort wasn’t aimed specifically at encouraging Black men to vote for Harris, James said the group wasn’t able to raise money to do that given that so many other groups are undertaking such initiatives, so the nonpartisan efforts were how Vote To Live could raise money to engage Black men.
The group hopes to register 50,000 Black voters by providing them with resources at VoteToLive.org.
It also plans to provide 100,000 Uber vouchers for round-trip transportation during early voting in Georgia, Michigan, North Carolina, Ohio, Pennsylvania and Wisconsin.
The group, which will also engage with some Black women, is partnering with another project called Turnout the Vote to hire 250 “voting ambassadors” to directly engage their friends, families and community members about the electoral process and voting issues.
Its efforts will also include a get-out-the-vote bus tour with stops in battleground states in partnership with the Service Employees International Union and the NAACP.
There will also be homecoming parties at historically Black colleges and universities around the country, in addition to “party at the polls” events in the six key states on Oct. 26 to encourage Black voters to turn out early.
Vote To Live also plans to partner with celebrities, athletes and influencers for advertising and social media campaigns.
