Trenton Community Activist, Crystal Feliciano is teaming up once again with Bernard McMullan, President of the Trenton Council of Civic Associations (TCCA), to bring Trenton’s Annual March to the Ballot Box back to the City on Saturday, October 23rd.
Last year’s march had people bring their mail-in ballots to vote in the 2020 Presidential election; this year, it will be much more localized with the Governor, Assembly and Commissioners races taking place. The March to the Ballot Box is a non-partisan event that will hopefully help increase voter turnout in the city. “This is not a democratic or republican thing; it’s a people thing. This is about everyone coming out to take part in the process, we don’t care who you vote for, just come out and exercise your right to vote,” Feliciano stated.
This year’s event will include a diverse variety of speakers such as Trenton Mayor Reed Gusciora, Mercer County Clerk, Paula Sollami Covello, Trenton Central High School 2020 graduate Darrin Clark, and other community members who will speak about the importance of voting.
“We have people representing different facets of residents within the town that are coming out to express why voting is important, why the process is important and why their vote matters,” Feliciano said.
The march will begin at 12 noon at the War Memorial stairs located at 1 Memorial Drive and will conclude after participants march together to the ballot box located behind City Hall and people cast their vote. Feliciano and McMullan are hoping for an even bigger crowd to come out in support of upcoming elections.
“The difference is the fact that we’re hoping to get an even bigger crowd than last year to come out,” Feliciano said. “We want more people to ride the wave of unity within the town.”
Feliciano explained that this event has become an annual event in the city with the hopes of educating people on the importance of voting as well as exciting them to want to come out and take part in the process.
This event is also meant to educate the people on where to vote in the upcoming election. “I hope that people use whatever method possible,” McMullan said, “because that’s the whole point. I mean, if we could make it any easier, I suppose we could. We just need to get people educated about the importance of voting, educated about the issues and the candidates and get them out to exercise their right to vote based on what they’ve learned,” McMullan stated.