Voters across Virginia will see more Sunday voting this year.
Later this month, voters across Virginia will be casting ballots on Sundays as part of souls to the polls.
"Souls to the polls is a voter turnout tradition that grew out of the Black churches," says Gaylene Kanoyton at the Hampton NAACP. "It's about civic engagement. It's about getting your congregation to be civically engaged in their community. This also works for people who work six days a week and Sunday is their only day off."
Sunday voting used to be optional for registrars and electoral boards. Now, it's mandatory for two Sundays in October. Here's Secretary of the Commonwealth Candi Mundon King, who says her old House district in Prince William County has souls to the polls locked down.
"At a lot of the polling locations — shout out to Prince William County — you'll see nonpartisan organizations that may bring out activities to keep people engaged while they're waiting in line, or sometimes there will be food and drinks, and just celebrating something that is so central to who we are as Americans, and that's the right to vote," Mundon King says.
The two Sundays this year where Sunday voting will be available all across Virginia are Sunday, October 18th and Sunday, October 25th.
