{"id":402828,"date":"2026-09-17T20:22:11","date_gmt":"2026-09-17T20:22:11","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/402828\/"},"modified":"2026-09-17T20:22:11","modified_gmt":"2026-09-17T20:22:11","slug":"from-pews-to-polls-miami-dade-faith-leaders-launch-voter-registration-push","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/402828\/","title":{"rendered":"From pews to polls: Miami-Dade faith leaders launch voter registration push"},"content":{"rendered":"<p>With the U.S. midterm election right around the corner and the landscape of voter eligibility <a href=\"https:\/\/allvotingislocal.org\/what-florida-voters-need-to-know\/\" class=\"Link\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\">constantly changing<\/a> in Florida, churches, mosques and temples are stepping up to help people verify their voter registration and get ready for Election Day.<\/p>\n<p>&#8220;<a href=\"https:\/\/www.miamipact.org\" class=\"Link\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\">Souls to the Voter Rolls<\/a>&#8221; is an interfaith initiative happening this week at places of worship around Miami-Dade County. Volunteers are working Thursday through Sunday before and after church services to check visitors&#8217; voter registration status and help them get registered if needed. Visitors do not need to be part of a congregation to participate.<\/p>\n<p>&#8220;\u200aEverybody&#8217;s welcome. This is an effort to bring the community out,&#8221; said Reverend Ana Jackson of <a href=\"https:\/\/www.flumc.org\/churchdetail\/637781\" class=\"Link\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\">Sellers Memorial United Methodist Church<\/a> near Miami&#8217;s Little River area.<\/p>\n<p>Jackson&#8217;s church is one of 15 places of worship taking part in Souls to the Voter Rolls. She believes civic participation is part of the church&#8217;s mission, especially during times of unrest or injustice.<\/p>\n<p>    <img decoding=\"async\" class=\"Image\" alt=\"A flyer advertising voter registration events from September 17, 2026 to September 20, 2026 at churches in South Florida\"  width=\"880\" height=\"1173\" loading=\"lazy\" src=\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/09\/1789676531_472_.jpeg\"\/><\/p>\n<p>     A flyer advertising voter registration events from September 17, 2026 to September 20, 2026 at churches in South Florida<\/p>\n<p>&#8220;\u200aWe are called as Christians, as pastors and as laypeople to do justice. We&#8217;re called to make sure that everyone&#8217;s dignity is upheld, everyone&#8217;s voice is heard,&#8221; Jackson told WLRN.<\/p>\n<p>READ MORE: <a href=\"https:\/\/www.wlrn.org\/government-politics\/2026-04-16\/miami-pact-affordable-housing-nehemiah-action\" class=\"Link\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\">Miami leaders pledge to faith leaders more funding for mental health, boosting housing affordability<\/a><\/p>\n<p>Souls to the Voter Rolls owes its origins to Black churches that pushed voter participation in underserved communities and helped congregations get to voting sites during the <a href=\"https:\/\/kinder.rice.edu\/urbanedge\/black-church-has-been-getting-souls-polls-more-60-years\" class=\"Link\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\">Civil Rights<\/a> era of the 1960s.<\/p>\n<p>This year, volunteers will help participants make sense of recent changes to Florida&#8217;s voting laws, including a <a href=\"https:\/\/www.sun-sentinel.com\/2024\/01\/14\/what-happened-to-286935-voters-registrations-suddenly-drop-in-broward-palm-beach-counties\/\" class=\"Link\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\">recent rule<\/a> that ejected thousands of voters deemed &#8220;inactive&#8221; because they had not participated in recent elections. A new state law requiring people show <a href=\"https:\/\/www.wlrn.org\/government-politics\/2026-04-01\/desantis-signs-bill-requiring-proof-of-citizenship-to-register-to-vote-voting-rights-group-sue\" class=\"Link\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\">proof of citizenship<\/a> when registering to vote does not take effect until 2027, but voting advocacy groups fear it may cause a chilling effect deterring people from the ballot box.<\/p>\n<p>A full list of Souls to the Voter Rolls locations and times can be found on the website of People Acting for Community Together (<a href=\"https:\/\/www.miamipact.org\" class=\"Link\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\">PACT<\/a>), one of the main advocacy groups behind the event. Other participating groups include the Miami-Dade <a href=\"https:\/\/www.lwvmiamidade.org\" class=\"Link\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\">League of Women Voters<\/a>, <a href=\"https:\/\/engage.miami\/about-engage\/\" class=\"Link\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\">Engage Miami<\/a> and Barry University.<\/p>\n<p>The voter registration deadline to participate in the Nov. 3 midterm election is Monday, Oct. 5. <\/p>\n<p>For more information on how to register, check out <a href=\"https:\/\/www.wlrn.org\/government-politics\/2024-10-08\/elections-2026-vote-guide-florida\" class=\"Link\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\">WLRN&#8217;s election guide<\/a>. <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"With the U.S. midterm election right around the corner and the landscape of voter eligibility constantly changing in&hellip;\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":402829,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[15],"tags":[225,227,226],"class_list":["post-402828","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-hialeah","tag-hialeah","tag-hialeah-headlines","tag-hialeah-news"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/402828","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=402828"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/402828\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/402829"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=402828"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=402828"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=402828"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}