More than a dozen Tennessee organizations have begun a voter registration drive with a goal of signing up thousands of black voters ahead of November's elections.
Tequila Johnson is the statewide manager of the Tennessee Black Voter Project. She says the campaign is using churches to help sign up black voters and will visit college campuses to register African-Americans in Nashville, Memphis and other cities.
The target is lofty: Register 55,000 voters before the midterm elections.
Research shows voter turnout in Tennessee is low compared with other states. Johnson says sparking civic engagement can be difficult, because most people "are just living their day-to-day life and it isn't on their radar."
While black voters historically lean Democratic, Johnson says the non-partisan effort seeks to sign up both Democrats and Republicans.
