Today is National Voter Registration Day and Fox Searchlight has partnered with movie theaters to show the following PSA from The Birth of a Nation cast including Nate Parker, Colman Domingo, Aunjanue Ellis, Aja Naomi King and Gabrielle Union. Partnering movie theaters in Ohio, Michigan, Pennsylvania, Virginia, New York, and Kansas will have voter registration in the lobby during promotional screenings of this film and during its opening weekend October 7th-9th.
The objective for the initiative is to encourage everyone to be a part of U.S. history by highlighting everyone's right to vote, encouraging registration and underscoring that their voices and opinions matter. Currently 20% of all people who can legally vote in this country are stopped by technical roadblocks when they try to register. This presidential election will be especially challenging, as many current laws lack the protection of the Voting Rights Act of 1965. The act was passed to overcome many legal barriers that individuals faced when exercising their right to vote but section 4 was ruled unconstitutional by the U.S. Supreme Court in 2013.
If you ask us this is a smart and resonant move both for the Fox Searchlight release and the wider unrest around the country.