Historic Church Leads "Poll Monitor" Training in Philadelphia Region

Nov. 3, 2012 - PRLog -- Philadelphia, PA: With Election Day quickly approaching, Mother Bethel AME Church, located at 419 South 6th Street in Philadelphia, is stepping up "Poll Monitor" training. Despite setbacks caused by Hurricane Sandy, more than 2 dozen people have already been trained, and the church expects to train three times as many after church services tomorrow and on Monday evening at a “Get out the Vote” Prayer Rally. The classes tomorrow at Mother Bethel will take place at 9:30am and 1:30pm and will last about an hour (the media is welcome to attend this training). Monday's class will take place at Mother Bethel's sister congregation, Mt. Pisgah AME, located at 428 North 41st Street. The training is lead by Rev. Dr. Mark Kelly Tyler, Mother Bethel's 52nd Pastor, using materials received from the Committee of Seventy (http://www.seventy.org) and the National Coalition of Black Civic Participation (http://www.ncbcp.org), a non-partisan, non-profit organization based in Washington, DC whose goals include increasing voter turnout in the African American community. "With the recent change in the voter ID law, we expect there will be a lot of confusion at polling places," says Pastor Tyler.  "Our Poll Monitors will be trained to clarify any issues voters have at the polls related to Voter ID so everyone who shows up to vote can actually participate in the election."  The information passed out by Mother Bethel Poll Monitors will clearly explain what voters should do when asked questions about their identification before voting. Mother Bethel has been at the forefront of voter education, and outreach this election season.  In the spirit of Bishop Richard Allen, Mother Bethel's founder in the late 1700's, Pastor Tyler is working to amplify the African American voice in civic engagement. In September, the church worked with POWER (Philadelphian’s Organized to Witness, Empower, and Rebuild) to lead a city-wide voter registration drive called "Let My People Vote." That effort garnered more than 100 voter registration forms and educated more than 500 people about then active Voter ID law.  Mother Bethel, in conjunction with Bishop Gregory Ingram (Philadelphia) and Bishop McKinley Young (Pittsburgh), mailed 7,000 voter commitment cards to AME Churches across the Commonwealth. The cards are another step at ensuring that everyone registered to vote will actually do their part on Election Day.  

If you are intersted in signing up to be a Poll Monitor, contact Mother Bethel AME Church at (215) 925-0616 (tel:(215)%20925-0616).  All media inquiries should be directed to Leslie Patterson-Tyler at (609) 246-2632 (tel:(609)%20246-2632).