Posted on August 29, 2020

American Muslim Groups Rally Thousands to Get Political on National Muslim Voter Registration Day

Alaa Elassar, CNN, August 28, 2020

American Muslim activists across the country are rallying their communities Friday to participate in National Muslim Voter Registration Day to impact the 2020 presidential election.

MPower Change, in collaboration with grassroots organizations, launched the #MyMuslimVote campaign to promote a nationwide virtual registration drive. The group bills itself as the largest Muslim digital advocacy organization in the US, with more than 250,000 members.

“The stakes in 2020 elections couldn’t be higher for our community,” MPower says on its website. “Join the #MyMuslimVote movement to engage, motivate, and mobilize tens of thousands of Muslim voters.”

The group aims to register American Muslim voters through its website, which also provides resources for local activists to organize within their communities.

Participating organizations have already reached out to nearly half a million registered Muslim voters, and are sending email and text message reminders to encourage American Muslims to vote in person or by mail, they said.

American Muslims, along with other minority communities, could help vote President Donald Trump out of the White House and usher in Democratic contender Joe Biden, MPower Change Executive Director Linda Sarsour told CNN.

“We must do everything we can as Muslims to alleviate harm,” Sarsour said. {snip}

The Council on American-Islamic Relations (CAIR) will also host virtual phone and text banks to assist in the effort.

“If there was the full participation of Muslim voters in this election, we’d have the ability to tip the vote in Florida, Virginia, Ohio, Michigan and Connecticut. We need to make sure Muslims are inspired to vote for the candidates in front of us,” Robert McCaw, CAIR’s director of government affairs, told CNN.

The Trump campaign in mid-August launched Muslim Voices for Trump. Also introduced at that time were similar coalitions for voters who identify as Indian, Hindu and Sikh.

A Trump campaign site targeted to Muslim supporters includes a sign-up form, but no policy initiatives are listed.

{snip}