Election coverage. I investigated what Midtown, a prominently democratic, black community with low voter turnout was doing to bolster voter turnout

About 22,000 people call Midtown St. Petersburg home. More than half of them will vote in the upcoming election, in part because of community initiative programs and local leaders.

Community organizations have teamed up to encourage Midtown residents to vote. The ONE Community Coalition is just one example.

The ONE Community Coalition is made up of the African American Voter Research and Education Committee, fraternities, sororities, civil rights and advocacy organizations. Its goal is to show how a community can build and keep local interest and involvement in politics.

“Local organizations are going to partake in phone banking, also text blasting and e-blasting to approximately 15,000 concerned citizens to remind them to get out and vote,” Tamika Leaks, Get Out To Vote coordinator of the ONE Community Coalition, said.

Atwater’s Cafeteria held 2 voter registration drives with the Tampa Bay O-Train, a grassroots organization focused on electing Barack Obama as president.

“We want a record turnout and we will get it,” Gypsy Gallardo, ONE Community Coalition co-chair, said

The National Association for the Advancement of Colored People, the Pinellas County Urban League and 15 local churches have coordinated transportation to the polls for early voting and Election Day. This collaboration is historical because these three groups have never worked together before, the Rev. Martin Rainey, first vice president of the NAACP, said.

The ONE Community Coalition is reaching as many people it can through its organizations. Each organization is taking its members to the polls on a specific date. Each member is bringing at least one person from outside the organization to vote with them.

“This one is a each one, reach one election,” Gallardo said. “So, it’s really, really about that one-to-one, and having everybody do that.”

Gallardo’s nephew is voting.

“I want to make sure my 18-year-old republican nephew gets out there to vote, and votes for Obama,” Gallardo said.

The coalition has engaged the community by hosting a local candidate forum, candidate interviews, endorsing candidates, circulating 7,000 flyers, and finding the voters and inspiring them to vote.

“We have lathered this community with information. Every site, everywhere we could be, at little league parks, at churches, at community centers, in the neighborhoods. Everywhere we could possibly be, we have had groups out pushing get out to vote, pushing restoration of rights,” Leaks said.

It is important to go to places where people spend their time, because the traditional methods of sending information to voters in Midtown aren’t always effective, Leaks said.

The coalition and Atwater’s have both endorsed Obama, but the focus is also on the local elections.

“We have quite a few prominent African Americans who are participating in our local races, which has also engaged more of the Midtown population,” Leaks said.

In the last year, more than 500 Midtown residents registered to vote. Between November 2004 and November 2007, fewer than 100 voters registered.

“Many of them are just interested in the race this time, and obviously there are reasons why. Obama is a big reason, clearly,” Leaks said.