Voter registration campaign is Saturday on South Side

YOUNGSTOWN — The Ohio Coalition on Black Civic Participation will announce its new voter registration, verification and empowerment campaign at 9 a.m. Saturday at the L.A. Simon Social Service Center, 1528 Hillman St.

The coalition is a state affiliate of the National Coalition on Black Civic Participation in Washington D.C. Its chief aim is to increase political participation and civic engagement in black communities.

This collaboration has become even more urgent due to the recent U.S. Supreme Court decision upholding voter suppression in Ohio, a decision that disproportionately impacts black voters in Ohio’s most populous urban cities, the coalitions says.

Rev. Kenneth Simon, senior pastor of New Bethel Baptist Church and chairman of Youngstown Community Mobilization Coalition said, “Ohio’s voter purge procedure falls disproportionately on black citizens for whom various features of the voting process always has and continues to present significant obstacles to participation.”