Souls to the Polls: Black churches say election stakes have never been higher

When the Rev. Matthew Watley graces the stage at Kingdom Fellowship AME Church in Calverton, like most pastors, he prepares to preach the words God has given him. But on one Sunday in late April, he shared a different message: Early voting was fast approaching. The rows of the 125,000-square-foot church were filled from front to back as he told his roughly 5,000 congregants that it would begin outreach the next week to get folks to register to vote through “Souls to the Polls,” a collective effort widely embraced at Black churches to encourage registration and voting on Sunday during the early voting period.