On December 26, 2020, the last Saturday before the end of Early Voting in Georgia’s nationally significant Senate Runoff Elections, the men of Eta Omega Chapter of Omega Psi Phi Fraternity, Inc. “made some noise on Old National” to inspire any South Metro Atlanta residents who have yet to vote, and thank those who already had.
The event began with a two-mile, horn-blowing-lights-flashing caravan of about a dozen vehicles (including a digital billboard truck showing Why we should Vote videos); cruising up Old National Highway, a main commercial corridor shared by the Fulton County cities of College Park and South Fulton.
The rallying point was the Discount Mall Parking lot at Godby Rd. At the endpoint, the mall anchored by a Kroger Grocery store, the billboard truck parked near the entrance so its messages could be seen and heard by shoppers as well as passing motorists. Between the motivational videos provided by our NAACP partners, the truck displayed voter information graphics produced by Eta Omega Chapter. The slides provided advisories on Early Voting Schedules (which vary by county) and Early Voting locations in Fulton and nearby Fayette, and Clayton Counties. Signage with identical information was displayed at the entrance to the Kroger store itself, where canvassers passed
out VOTE “doorknob hangers”, and offered PPE to those in need. Our presence at Kroger was arranged by the Old National Highway Merchants Association, a group we partnered with on a voter registration drive back in September.
Vroom V-R-E-M, organized by Eta Omega Chapter’s Voter Registration Education and Mobilization Committee, was the final element of a year-long series of in-person and virtual activities aimed at raising community consciousness of the power of the vote, all completed in compliance with a mandate from Omega Psi Phi Fraternity’s International Headquarters.
