Black Voters, Stay Alert: What to Watch for at the Polls

With the midterm elections approaching, Tré Murphy has a message for Black voters: Make a plan, know your rights and stay vigilant against intimidation and misinformation at the polls.

Murphy, director of community organizing at the NAACP Legal Defense Fund, warns that misleading texts, robocalls, AI-generated misinformation and threatening behavior at polling places can undermine voter participation. He urges voters to verify their registration, understand their state’s voting requirements and report suspected intimidation.

LEARN MORE: From the Pulpit to the Polls: Tré Murphy’s Mission for Justice

For Murphy, protecting the ballot is an extension of his ministry. A former Baltimore street preacher, he became a community organizer after recognizing that the people he served needed more than spiritual guidance. They needed resources, opportunity and political power.

Now, he’s helping Black communities protect that power, both on Election Day and afterward.

In this Word In Black Q&A, Murphy explains how voters can prepare, recognize potential threats, seek help and remain engaged after the ballots are counted.

WORD IN BLACK: What should people keep in mind as they prepare to vote?

Tré Murphy: Folks have to have a plan, from the simplest thing — do you have a ride [to the polls]? — to the more complex things: Does your state have an early voting process or an absentee ballot option? Did you request those things? Are you aware of what is on your ballot?

Some states require ID; some don’t. They just require you to do a verification process. Make that voter plan.

WORD IN BLACK: What should people keep in mind as they prepare to vote?

Tré Murphy: Folks have to have a plan, from the simplest thing — do you have a ride [to the polls]? — to the more complex things: Does your state have an early voting process or an absentee ballot option? Did you request those things? Are you aware of what is on your ballot?

Some states require ID; some don’t. They just require you to do a verification process. Make that voter plan.

What kinds of misleading messages should voters watch for?

Watch out for those false notices, false texts, social media, robocalls. And now we have to worry about AI-generated content.

Nobody should receive a phone call that says, “You’ve already voted, so don’t go to the polls,” when you know you haven’t voted.

Nobody should receive a phone call that says, ”Your voter registration is invalid,” and they don’t give you the mechanism to check and test your voter registration — which is by going on your local election board’s or your secretary of state’s website to make sure that your voter registration is still valid.

What should voters do if they encounter intimidation or something troubling at their polling place?

If folks experience any type of voter intimidation — if they show up to their polling location and an officer or an armed guard or ICE officer is there with guns, any type of weapons — please encourage them to call 866-OUR-VOTE. Report it.

There are folks who staff that hotline to answer and give people the best advice on not just how to keep themselves safe, but how to participate in the voting process.

What if someone feels uncomfortable voting alone?

Folks should also utilize their community. If you don’t feel comfortable going to vote by yourself, it’s OK.

We’ve got our friends at church that we can say, “Hey, when are you going to vote? Are you in the same district as me?”

Find a neighbor. Bring them.

What do you want people to remember about the power of their vote?

We trust our people to see this moment for what it is. We trust our people to understand what’s on the ballot.

We encourage them to be more civically minded and more civically active, because if their vote didn’t matter, folks wouldn’t be trying so hard to stop them from using it.

Does the responsibility end after casting a ballot?

Souls to the Polls should not and cannot be the end of our work. We must also organize those souls into civic power.

It doesn’t just end with your vote. Democracy takes work. We must hold our leaders accountable.

Make your plan: Visit the Legal Defense Fund’s voter information website⁠.

What kinds of misleading messages should voters watch for?

Watch out for those false notices, false texts, social media, robocalls. And now we have to worry about AI-generated content.

Nobody should receive a phone call that says, “You’ve already voted, so don’t go to the polls,” when you know you haven’t voted.

Nobody should receive a phone call that says, ”Your voter registration is invalid,” and they don’t give you the mechanism to check and test your voter registration — which is by going on your local election board’s or your secretary of state’s website to make sure that your voter registration is still valid.

What should voters do if they encounter intimidation or something troubling at their polling place?

If folks experience any type of voter intimidation — if they show up to their polling location and an officer or an armed guard or ICE officer is there with guns, any type of weapons — please encourage them to call 866-OUR-VOTE. Report it.

There are folks who staff that hotline to answer and give people the best advice on not just how to keep themselves safe, but how to participate in the voting process.

What if someone feels uncomfortable voting alone?

Folks should also utilize their community. If you don’t feel comfortable going to vote by yourself, it’s OK.

We’ve got our friends at church that we can say, “Hey, when are you going to vote? Are you in the same district as me?”

Find a neighbor. Bring them.

What do you want people to remember about the power of their vote?

We trust our people to see this moment for what it is. We trust our people to understand what’s on the ballot.

We encourage them to be more civically minded and more civically active, because if their vote didn’t matter, folks wouldn’t be trying so hard to stop them from using it.

Does the responsibility end after casting a ballot?

Souls to the Polls should not and cannot be the end of our work. We must also organize those souls into civic power.

It doesn’t just end with your vote. Democracy takes work. We must hold our leaders accountable.

Make your plan: Visit the Legal Defense Fund’s voter information website⁠.