Photo: Pastor Chris Martin of Cathedral of Faith Church
Written by Tanya Terry
For this series, the Flint Courier News has interviewed both community leaders and community members to find out how intense they were about voting and getting others to vote in the November 2020 election, who they voted for and why, as well as how happy they were with the election process. Please note all the views expressed are not necessarily those of the Flint Courier News.
Pastor Chris Martin of Cathedral of Faith Church was one of many community members who voted in the November 2020 election.
“As we can see now, it was the biggest election of our lifetimes,” he said.
According to the Associated Press, at 11:52 a.m. on Nov. 23, 79,850,242 votes had been cast for Joe President Elect Joe Biden and 73,799,071 for President Donald Trump.
“There was a huge turnout,” Martin said. “So, of course, I’m glad of the outcome.”
Martin was the head of the Get out to Vote (GOTV) campaign for the Democratic Party in Flint and Saginaw and helped spread awareness of the right to vote absentee.
According to the Michigan Voter Information Center, an application for an absentee ballot was mailed to every registered voter in Michigan. If they did not receive one or couldn’t find it, they could call their city or township clerk and ask that an application be mailed to them or download an application to return by mail or in person to their local clerk or township.
“We were beating on doors and using social media and everything to get people to vote,” Martin said. “We reached over 30,000 people in Flint and 20,000 in Saginaw. Of course, I encouraged all the young adults in my church to get out and vote. It was really effective. ”
Martin said he proudly voted for Biden.
“I knew that he would bring decency back to the office of president. I also knew that he would fight to secure pensions and to make sure that people have access to adequate healthcare and appoint a real education secretary for this county. So, he was the best choice.”
Martin said the courts are not currently considering anything as evidence of voter fraud.
“There’s no evidence. I think it was the most secure election in American history. There was no foreign interference. Our city clerk; Inez Brown, did a phenomenal job in organizing the election with the numbers that she had for early voting, absentee voting and in-person voting.”
Martin asked everyone to vote in 2022.
“We’ve got a midterm election. So, we’ve got to re-elect Gretchen Whitmer, and we need to get rid of Republicans in the state legislature here in Michigan. So, we’ve got to gear up in ’22.”
