Local Black sorority and fraternity chapters were getting out the vote long before Kamala Harris

With just days until Nov. 5, everyone is making their last push to turn out the vote this election, including Fayetteville’s local chapters of the National Pan-Hellenic Council — the nine Black Greek-letter organizations colloquially called the “Divine Nine.”

While unable to endorse a candidate, recent national media attention on the over 2 million-strong Divine Nine, according to NBC News, has focused on the organizations’ voter engagement efforts for Democrat presidential candidate Kamala Harris, an Alpha Kappa Alpha sister.

But the Fayetteville chapters of the Divine Nine aren’t taking sides in this election, just like they haven’t in any other. Their events and voter engagement efforts are completely nonpartisan and geared towards all of Cumberland County, not just Black residents. The chapters have only two goals: to educate residents about what and who is on their ballot and get them to vote.

This election season, Fayetteville’s 13 Divine Nine chapters have hosted events from candidate fairs to poll parties to get the maximum number of residents to cast a ballot.

Mary Hinson is the chair of the Connection/Social Justice Committee of Upsilon Kappa Omega, the local chapter of Harris’ sorority Alpha Kappa Alpha. She said it’s not just because Harris is running for president that the Diving Nine chapters are doing election education and engagement.

“We’ve been doing this kind of engagement long before Biden and Harris,” said Sharon Smith McNair, president of the Fayetteville Alumnae Chapter of Delta Sigma Theta.

Delta Sigma Theta sorority was founded at Howard University in January 1913. Two months later, the sorority was among the 5,000 women marching in Washington, D.C., in the 1913 National Woman Suffrage Parade. The Fayetteville Alumnae Chapter has carried on the sorority’s tradition of political and social action since its founding over 70 years ago.  

Candidate fairs are a mainstay of the local Delta Sigma Theta alumnae chapter’s voter education efforts. Since 2019, the chapter has invited all local candidates to meet and engage with voters.

“It’s called the candidates fair, but the focus is on the voter,” said Amanda Smith, first vice president of the chapter. “The voter can come and talk with the candidate face-to-face about those issues that impact their daily lives.”

This year, Delta Sigma Theta’s Fayetteville alumnae chapter partnered with The Group Theory Inc., a local nonprofit, to do a backpack giveaway alongside its candidates fair. The idea was that while the kids picked up a backpack, the parents could speak with candidates and register to vote. 

Upsilon Kappa Omega also hosted events for residents to meet the people behind the names on their ballots this election. These forums take the candidates out of the formal board rooms and into a community space where voters can better connect, said Hinson, who is also the co-chair of the Greater Fayetteville Area’s Pan-Hellenic Council’s social action committee. 

On Nov. 2, the last day of early voting and just three days before election day, the Epsilon Rho Lambda chapter of the Alpha Phi Alpha fraternity will host its final Party at the Polls event at Cliffdale Recreation Center in a final push to turn out as many voters as it can this election. The chapter will set up a DJ booth and pass out food one last time outside a Cumberland County polling place this Saturday. 

“We’re thanking them [voters] for coming out to vote,” said Darrell Coleman, the chapter’s chair of the fraternity’s “A Voteless People is a Hopeless People” initiative.

Fayetteville’s Divine Nine chapters’ outreach efforts emphasize local elections. Voting from the bottom up is how Upsilon Kappa Omega sisters tell people to fill in their ballot, Hinson said. The same goes for the Fayetteville Alumnae Chapter of Delta Sigma Theta, who said they have had to do a lot of education on the North Carolina state constitutional amendment on the ballot this year.

“The state is going to take care of the state, federal is going to take care of the federal level, but we take care of the local,” said Toni Morris, co-chair of the Fayetteville Alumnae Chapter’s Social Action Committee. “That means we need to be engaged in our mayoral race, our county commissioners, our school board because that’s what keeps our community going.”

The three local Divine Nine chapters are giving eligible young voters special attention this election. In September, the Fayetteville alumnae Delta Sigma Theta chapter partnered with students from Fayetteville State University and Methodist University to put on Votechella. The event featured a student Q&A, Kahoot! elections quiz with prizes and voter registration tables. 

“This is a population of individuals who we want to make sure they understand what’s on the ballot, who’s on the ballot,” Morris said. “And our job is just to provide that platform.”

Coleman found that many young men he teaches for a different fraternity initiative had no idea how to vote. He and other Epsilon Rho Lambda brothers have printed mock ballots to show what they look like and how to fill one out. 

Over 70,000 Cumberland County residents have already cast their ballots in the 2024 election, according to Oct. 29 data from the North Carolina State Board of Elections. Fayetteville’s Divine Nine chapters can only hope all their efforts helped get some of those residents to cast an informed vote. 

“I don’t want the aftertaste of an election to feel like I didn’t do enough to make sure other people’s voices are heard,” Hinson said.

CityView Reporter Morgan Casey is a corps member with Report for America, a national service program that places journalists into local newsrooms. Morgan’s reporting focuses on health care issues in and around Cumberland County and can be supported through the CityView News Fund.