‘COUNT EVERY VOTE’
Coalition holds rally at courthouse to reinforce complete election results
NORRISTOWN » As votes from the 2020 general election continue to be tabulated, activists and area residents gathered Wednesday afternoon to make their voices heard at the Count Every Vote Rally and March in the county seat.
The rally, which attracted a group of about 30 outside the courthouse, was part of a national movement by liberal activists to focus attention on complete vote counting across the U.S.
“We demand that our legislature respect the guidelines set forth by our state Supreme Court as voters are already making decisions based on that information,” said a spokesperson for Progressive Montco.
Sue Caskey, chairwoman of Progressive Montco, said during the election season, her organization focused primarily on the mail-in voting while conducting voter outreach measures, citing the ongoing COVID-19 pandemic.
“We were just really, really concerned that the narrative coming from the White House was going to interfere with all of our residents of Montgomery County who have voted that way, and we wanted to make sure that everyone knows there are hundreds, or hundreds of thousands of us really I think,
who are standing up for making sure every vote gets counted,” she said.
The following “coalition partners” participated in Wednesday’s event: Progressive Montco, The Community for Change, United Men of Color, Montco Activists United, Bend the Arc: Southeastern PA, Put People First MHRC, Indivisible Whitpain, Indivisible: Narberth & Beyond, BuxMont DSA (Democratic Socialists of America), and Abington for Peace.
The rally kicked off at 3:30 p.m. outside the Montgomery County Courthouse, in Norristown.
In addition to Wednesday’s demonstration, Caskey said participants marched from the Montgomery County-Norristown Public Library on Powell Street to the courthouse, and a “car caravan” came from the Roxborough area, cruising up Ridge Pike.
Attendees were required to wear masks and stay socially distant in order to comply with COVID-19 health and safety protocols, according to a spokesperson for Progressive Montco.
The rally featured speeches from community organizers, as well as a number of political candidates on the Nov. 3 ballot, all Democrats.
“We’re very excited to have those folks attending and speaking to the crowd because they know that it matters,” Caskey said. “That our vote counts.”
Caskey stressed the event was meant to be a “peaceful” and “positive” occasion.
“We’re pro-democracy,” she said. “That’s really the whole point of the march and the rally.”
The groups involved champion several issues including racial and social justice, the environment and Medicaid for All, according to Caskey.
“If you destroy or thwart the vote, you’re actually taking away people’s right to have the government work for them,” Caskey said. “So we’re trying to make the government work for the people and not just the special interests and the people at the top.”
“What I hope people will take away from it is that we really have the power to make the change that we want to see in the world,” she said. “So voting is one way to do that, and activism is another way: rallies and marches and participating in the political process.”