Actress Dascha Polanco is teaming up with food brand, Knorr, for a unique voter registration program called #FeedTheVote. The new initiative targets food-insecure families, a demographic that tends to have low participation in voting.
When it comes to elections, she said, "It's important that we educate ourselves, but also make educated decisions. And make it easily accessible to register to vote and feel the importance of our voice and how we can seek change at the ballot boxes."
It is also important to encourage civic engagement and spread the word in those communities, Polanco said, "I think being a part of these initiatives, where we are making it easily accessible for those [potential voters], whether it's visiting the page, providing a link, I think we have to have these conversations. #FeedTheVote will be able to spread all the information."
The purpose of the #FeedTheVote campaign is to help raise awareness about the roughly 54 million Americans who experience hunger in the United States. In partnership with UnidosUS and Feeding America, the campaign will offer families free, healthy meals and provide on-the-ground voter support in key swing states.
Polanco has a personal connection to this new program as she has experienced food insecurity firsthand. When she was growing up, her parents worried about where their next meal would come from. Now that she is a mom, her connection to the new initiative feels even deeper. It is "an issue of humanity," she said, and that is why she and Knorr are making the effort to ensure consistent access to nutritious food.
"This is a necessity, not a luxury," Polanco said.
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In Georgia, Republican Sen. Kelly Loeffler and Democrat Raphael Warnock have advanced to a Jan. 5 runoff in the special election for Loeffler’s Senate seat.
Democrat Sarah McBride has won a state Senate race in Delaware and would become the first openly transgender state senator in the country when sworn in.
Republican Marjorie Taylor Greene, who expressed racist views and support for QAnon conspiracy theories in a series of online videos, has won a U.S. House seat representing northwest Georgia.
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As it has for more than 170 years, The Associated Press will count the vote and report the results on Nov. 3 and beyond.
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