by: Madison Montag, Bryan Munoz for ABC 27 News
HARRISBURG, Pa. (WHTM) — A new statewide voting rights organization is focusing on people of color in Pennsylvania.
The New Pennsylvania Project’s efforts, which have registered over 20,000 voters in Pennsylvania in just last year, are modeled after the successful New Georgia Project.
Kadida Kenner, the CEO of the New Pennsylvania Project, says outreach has made a huge difference.
Sixty-percent of new registrations are minorities, and they can change the outcome of some races.
Kenner says Latino, Asian Americans, and African Americans are less likely to vote compared to their white peers. That’s what the New Pennsylvania Project is trying to change.
“Historically, these communities have been most oppressed and disenfranchised and had their votes suppressed, and there is a great number in these community who don’t get registered to vote or cast a ballot. So much of the commentary was, ‘I’ve been voting and stopped voting because my life hasn’t changed for the better and I just don’t think elected officials care about my issues,’” said Kenner.