NAACP Virginia State Conference Turns Out Black Voters in Consequential State Election

Black voters played a pivotal role in the nation's biggest elections over the past year and we knew our community could be a difference-maker in Virginia's 2021 election. While pollsters and pundits raised questions about Black voter enthusiasm this year in Virginia, the NAACP was out organizing and recruiting volunteers for its coordinated civic engagement program to boost Black turnout in the state.

"The United States has been forced to confront its history of racial injustice at the polls," stated NAACP President and CEO Derrick Johnson. "So, what happens when racial equity and economic inequities are neglected in the Black community? Until deep policy engagement around responsibility and action that improves the lives of Black people is prioritized, we will see examples of Virginia in 2022. Deep community engagement allows for major wins like Ed Gainey being Pittsburg's first Black Mayor, Michelle Wu becoming Boston's first woman and person of color (Asian Women) elected to the top post, and Elaine O'Neal becoming Durham's first Black woman mayor. We know the power and influence that we offer when policy makers are fully engaged with our communities. So, we quickly turn our attention to the activities needed in 2022 to ensure that our communities vote for candidates who are willing and prepared to remove racial and structural barriers."

In the 2020 election cycle, the NAACP, in partnership with GSSA, a Colorado data analytics group, implemented an innovative relational voter turnout strategy pioneered by GSSA (called indirect relational voter turnout, or IRVT) and built upon it this year in Virginia. For a state election with national consequences, the NAACP recruited over 16,000 highly-engaged volunteers from across the country and Virginia for its IRVT program, providing them with training and lists of over 300,000 infrequent registered Black voters in Virginia to contact. Once the lists were sent out, more than 100 students from the NAACP's Youth and College division reached out to volunteers to offer support and encouragement.

"The ability to engage Black voters in any election requires understanding what matters to them, will make their lives better, how to reach them, and what will move them," said GSSA's director, Dr. Albert Yates. "Most important, it requires trust in the messenger and confidence that promises will be kept."

In addition to IRVT, the NAACP sent roughly 1 million text messages and 500,000 mail pieces; placed over 100,000 live phone calls; and aired radio ads across the state. The Virginia NAACP State Conference coordinated its more than 100 branches, youth councils, and college chapters in their largest off-year field campaign in 30 years, along with expanding our partnership with progressive allies across the Commonwealth. "Understanding the importance of this election, the Virginia State Conference made early investments in our grassroots field operation that proved to be impactful to mobilizing Black Virginians to the polls," said Robert N. Barnette, Jr., President of the Virginia State Conference.

With momentum from successive successes in the 2020 general election and Georgia's special U.S. Senate elections, the NAACP set out this year to turn out Black voters in Virginia and ensure our voices are heard. We exceeded our volunteer recruitment goals, touched nearly every Black voter in Virginia, and refined tactics that will be deployed at scale across the country in the 2022 midterms and beyond. In a divided nation where our right to vote is under attack, we know that we must get out the vote and do all that we can to make sure that our friends, families, and neighbors do not stand on the sidelines.

We thank our members, supporters, and volunteers who made this year's program possible, and we thank the voters who turned out and took a stand for our communities, our democracy, and our future.