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Central Texas churches make push for early voting

Posted at 11:05 PM, Oct 23, 2016
and last updated 2016-10-24 11:49:42-04

Monday morning kicks off Early Voting in Texas. Central Texas Churches are hoping to inspire congregations to leave the pews and hit the polls. 

Texas Congresswoman Eddie Bernice Johnson (TX-30) spent several Sundays in the pews at Toliver Baptist Church long before she would take the house floor.

"I grew up under a minister here who started the NAACP in this city. [He] started to talk about how important it was to be involved and be informed and so I've grown up with that," Representative Johnson said.

Johnson shared with the group about her experiences in Washington DC. She has served over twenty years under three different presidents. 

Sunday, she stood at the pulpit encouraging people to get out and complete their own civic duty. She like many others believe the church is still an important part of community politics.

"We realize we don't do open partisan activity in churches but people will come to share ideas and get leadership. You know the leadership of our movement, civil rights, actually came from church. All the way back before there was Martin Luther King there was Nat Turner," Representative Johnson said.

This year, Texas saw a record of 15 million voters registered. Event Organizer and Texas Democratic Party Assistant Chair, Tammie Hartgroves said the numbers are useless if people don't turn out to vote. 

"If we can get the numbers out we can turn texas from a non-voting state to maybe a purple state," Hartgroves said. 

Congresswoman Johnson encouraged the crowd not only to vote but to also bring 10 people they know to the polls

"We want to make sure that we stimulate all those extra people that registered this time to exercise that right to vote it's one of the most important rights we have in this country." 

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