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'Civically engaged' | Voter restoration drive held at Memphis Art House Café

According to The Sentencing Project, more than one in five African Americans in Tennessee can't vote due to felony convictions. The Art House seeks to change that.

MEMPHIS, Tenn. — The Mid-term Elections are set for November, and many voters are gearing up to participate in choices that affect their every day civic life. Still, there are those who have lost their right to vote and consequently can't take part in making these decisions.

On Saturday, the Memphis Art House Café held a "voter restoration drive" as this issue effects more than some realize. In fact, more than one in five African-Americans in the state of Tennessee cannot vote because of felony convictions, according to non-profit organization The Sentencing Project

The Art House Café aimed to restore that right to those who need lawyers in order to do so.

"There's so many laws that are still being passed every day that impact all of us," Tameka Greer, a woman working at the event during her birthday, said. "I tell people all the time, 'Even if you can't vote, there are still ways you can be civically engaged.'"

Organizers also said this is their way of honoring freedom fighters during Black August—a month-long acknowledgement paying tribute to the lives of Black political prisoners who faces unjust prison conditions.

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