The Crisis: Special Voting Supplement 2020

From the lack of response to the coronavirus pandemic, in which thousands have died, lost jobs, homes and family members, to the tragic deaths of George Floyd, Ahmaud Arbery and Breonna Taylor, those should be reasons enough to go to the polls in November.

"We are nonpartisan, but we are not blind," says Jamal Watkins, vice president of civic engagement at the NAACP. "We are encouraging our members to vote their values. It's our communities that are going to make a difference."

The NAACP is determined to increase Black voter turnout during this election. The get-out-the-vote campaign, "Black Voices Change Lives," includes more than 190,000 volunteers — mostly high propensity voters — who are charged with reaching out to their neighbors who are on the fence about participating in this election.

The NAACP is focusing on 12 states in particular — Alabama, Florida, Georgia, Michigan, North Carolina, Nevada, Ohio, Pennsylvania, South Carolina, Texas, Virginia, and Wisconsin. The strategy includes an election text to 15 million people, three million phone calls, and no-contact canvassing.

"The No. 1 tool to overcome voter suppression is to overwhelm the system with our votes," says NAACP President and CEO Derrick Johnson. "It's our role to ensure that democracy works." Pledge to vote, plan to vote and prepare to vote. Our democracy is at stake. Our lives depend on it.

In this Special Voting Supplement, you'll find:

• Stories about mobilizing voters and legal efforts protecting African Americans' right to vote
• Methods to galvanizing young voters
• Stories on door-to-door organizing in the age of COVID