National Urban League, TV One, Intensify Get-Out-The-Vote Education Drive

Marc Morial To Join TV One Panel for Election Night Coverage


NEW YORK (November 5, 2012) -- The National Urban League (www.nul.org), along with national media partner TV One, has entered the final stretch of the election season with a coordinated and intensified voter education and motivation campaign.

“It's been a hard-fought battle to combat voter suppression efforts and to rally the targeted communities to stand firm for their rights," said Marc H. Morial, National Urban League President and CEO. "We're grateful to our partner, TV One, for helping to inspire and educate citizens around the nation and sharing our 'Occupy The Vote' message."

In the weeks before the election, the National Urban League launched a national advertising campaign featuring Angela Bassett, Rev. Al Sharpton, Lamman Rucker, Eric Benét and other celebrities. TV One helped to share the message, both on the air and online.

TV One also joined the Urban League Movement in opposing voter suppression efforts.

"Wherever we have challenged Voter ID and other laws to limit voter participation, we have been successful in weakening them or striking them down," Morial said. "TV One can share the credit for helping to spread awareness and mobilizing its audience."

Morial will participate in TV One: One Vote Matters, along with NBC News' Craig Melvin and TV One's Washington Watch host Roland Martin.

The appearances cap off months of effort by the Urban League Movement to mobilize, educate and inspire voters around the nation.

Urban League workers at affiliates in North Carolina, Ohio, Pennsylvania, Georgia and Virginia have been making phone calls, knocking on doors and coordinating community events.

In the last week, Urban League affiliates have held rallies in Philadelphia, Pa., Atlanta, Ga., Akron, Ohio, and Alexandria, Va.

"It's been inspiring and humbling to see the passion and commitment, especially among the young people of our movement," Morial said. "Our mission of economic opportunity depends enormously on civic participation."

The Urban League Movement's various voter outreach efforts have impacted hundreds of thousands of citizens, Morial said.

“The Urban League Movement is exceptionally active on social media like Twitter and Facebook, with our extended network reaching millions of Americans, particularly young people,” Morial said. “We’ve adopted a special hashtag, #occupythevote, to facilitate discussion of voting rights issues.”

The National Urban League’s online election center, www.occupythevote12.org, includes state-specific information on registration and voting requirements and all the latest voting rights news from around the country.

An analysis by the National Urban League Policy Institute, “The Hidden Swing Voters: Impact of African-Americans in 2012” showed that African-American voters tipped the outcome of the 2008 presidential election in several key states, and are poised to do so again in 2012. The report studied factors that contributed to the extraordinary turnout of African-American voters and whether the re-election of the first African-American president will play enough of an historic factor to mobilize this community again in 2012.


CONTACT: Teresa Candori
                   (212) 558-5433