Black Church Leaders In Georgia On The Importance Of ‘Souls To The Polls’

Voters enter a polling station at the Zion Baptist Church on Jan. 5 in Marietta, Ga. Black churches have often played a role in mobilizing their congregants to vote.

Sandy Huffaker / AFP via Getty Images

Updated March 22, 2021 at 11:48 AM ET

Georgia Republican lawmakers have backed off of a proposal that would have curtailed early voting on Sundays in the state.

Sunday voting is especially important for congregants in Black churches, which regularly hold “souls to the polls” events after Sunday services.

“We gather in our churches on Sunday morning, you have morning worship and then after the service you get on the church buses, church vans, get in cars and people go to vote,” says Bishop Reginald T. Jackson of the Sixth Episcopal District of the African Methodist Episcopal Church. Jackson is the presiding prelate over more than 500 churches in Georgia.