Members of the People’s Organization for Progress hold a regular “Register to vote” drive that takes place every Saturday on Broad and Market streets in the heart of downtown Newark. Pictured: Lawrence Hamm. (Photo credit: Andy Richards)

Newark, NJ - The bustling intersection at Broad and Market Streets is a prime location for shopping, featuring a variety of department stores and street vendors. It’s also a public transportation thoroughfare making it an ideal spot to engage with folks.

“Registering people to vote has been integral to the work of POP since 1984,” said Lawrence Hamm, chairman, People’s Organization For Progress. “Every Saturday, when the weather permits, committee members are in the same spot in Newark to engage with passersby and to register people to vote.”

Steven Hatcher, 63, has been a member of POP for over 25 years and heads up the Empowerment Saturday committee. Although he lives in Middlesex County, Hatcher commutes to Newark, a predominantly Black and brown city, to register voters.

Hatcher works as a boiler operator at Overlook Medical Center in Summit, and his schedule varies. As a result, he and his team are sometimes at Broad and Market streets in the morning or afternoon, depending on his shifts. However, he notes that they are typically there from 3 to 5 p.m.

(Photo Credits: Andy Richards)

He says they start by getting a city permit that allows them to be there from 10 a.m. to 5 p.m. They have a table with pens and clipboards holding official National Voter Registration Applications, as well as a sound system and bullhorn to catch the attention of the people walking by. Every Monday morning, the completed applications are delivered to the Hall of Records in Newark.

“People are skeptical of us,” Hatcher said. “They think we are getting paid to sign people up to vote. This is a volunteer, grass-roots organization fighting to make things better. We are nonpartisan. Our goal is for people to exercise their right to vote and have a say in who represents them.”

So far this year they have registered 275 people to vote.

“African Americans, women, and other segments of our population had to fight and struggle to obtain voting rights,” Hamm said. “With all of these efforts designed to suppress the participation of African American and other voters in society voter registration and participation becomes even more critical.”

POP’s Empowerment Saturday committee conducts voter registration efforts every Saturday from March to October, continuing until the registration cutoff date for that year's election.

Hatcher reflected on the efforts of the Empowerment Saturday groups over the years.

“We have so many members that come out weekly, monthly, yearly and through the decades,” he said. “People do care about what’s going on in this world, people do want to make a change, and the change starts with them.”