A coalition of Black women leaders have formed a “war room” in Washington, D.C., to monitor Black voters and issues at polling locations across the U.S. They are also monitoring conversations on social-media sites.
Holli Holliday, co-convener and organizing leader for Win With Black Women, tells NPR they have 29 volunteer networks and are tracking status updates from more than 500 leaders in all states. Volunteers have reported an atmosphere of joy, but there have also been issues that volunteers say they had to resolve. In one instance, Holliday says volunteers drove two hours from northern Virginia to Richmond to help a group of voters who say they were not given correct ballots.
The biggest issue the women are fighting, Holliday says, is misinformation.
“We've seen everything from people saying to folks that they can vote with their sample ballot...we've been hearing that folks can vote via QR code,” Holliday, who is also president of Sisters Lead Sisters Vote, says. “Those are the shenanigans that we worry about most. The people are showing up, but we need to make sure that when they show up, that they get the right information.”
The group will be monitoring voters until the results are called, she says. Win With Black Women has held weekly calls since 2020, in which thousands of participants have rallied to support Black women running for office, including Vice President Harris.
“We want to use this election to demonstrate the power and influence of Black women, that we are influential at the polls, that we are influential fundraisers,” she says, adding that they have raised $3,100,000 for the Harris Victory Fund. “We may not win every race, and that's OK. But what they're not gonna be able to say is that we didn't show up.”
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