BELOIT, Wis. — Dozens joined the Wisconsin Poor People’s Campaign in marching through the streets of Beloit on Saturday.
It was one of two-dozen demonstrations across the country. The group’s goal is to encourage low-income people to vote, saying the nation needs policies and politicians that center on the needs of poor and low-wealth people.
“We have 2.3 million poor and low-income people in Wisconsin. Many of them are children, but many of them are voting-age individuals. We want to encourage them to vote because their voices matter, they matter,” said Ari Douglas, the Religious Tri-Chair for the group. “They’ve felt for so long that they don’t matter; their voices don’t matter; their votes don’t matter,” he added.
Affording everyone the right to vote is at the core of their message. 66,000 Wisconsinites on parole or probation weren’t allowed to vote in the 2020 election.
“The biggest thing is to allow us to be unified. Being able to come together and allow each of us to love each other, to be able to get along, so everybody can have a fair quality of life to be able to live within the United States and Wisconsin,” Bell said. “Without allowing people to be able to vote, it’s not only caused disdain within the inner-city, but it also causes problems within our whole nation, because if it’s injustice anywhere, it’s definitely unfairness everywhere.”
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