Black Voices Matter: Alveda King Urges Knowing Your Voting Rights!

The niece of Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr., evangelist Alveda King, is speaking out about voting rights and trends, and she's not mincing words.

"For decades we have often wondered why so many African-Americans who are spiritually conservative and Catholics who are prolife by nature vote en masse for pro-abortion and anti-family values candidates," King said.

Alveda King told CBN News she hopes "Politics 101 for Values Votes" will lead to more people voting based on "convictions rather than political correctness." Click play to watch her explain what happened to her when she went to vote.

"The answer is simple," she continued. "The politics of closed election primaries in many states herd otherwise conservative voters onto the plantation into the Democrat stables. That's where the donkeys abide."

King, who is also the director of the Civil Rights for the Unborn (CRU), the African American Outreach for Priests for Life, said basic lessons in a new initiative she's launching called "Politics 101 for Values Votes" will enable more people to vote based on "convictions rather than political correctness."

She said it would help if voters refer to the recent information campaign, Meet the Candidates and Know Your Voting Rights.

For example, the "Know Your Voting Rights" information sheet reads:

"As a free American citizen, you are guaranteed the right to register to vote as a member of any political party or as an independent voter, and to vote as such. If you don't vote, your 'citizenship voice' won't be counted... It is legal to vote for a member of any party you wish to support."

"The reports are coming in now about how many African-Americans are going to the polls and given ballots that have only two candidates from which to choose," King explained.

"When they ask about the missing candidates, they are given party specific ballots and not so gentle nudges and directives, such as 'this is our ballot in this state,'" she added.

"Or, if you want to vote for another party, you have to sign a pledge that you are no longer a member of the party of your choice," she continued.

"Many people believe that it is disloyal, if not downright illegal, to vote for a person outside of the voter's registered party," she said. "So, out of fear of what they consider to be disrespect in some cases and coercion in all too many cases, people vote for their parties rather than convictions."

King said she encountered difficulty when she voted in the 2016 Georgia primary.

"My son and I wanted to cast votes for candidates who were not on the ballot we were directed to," she explained. "It took about 15 minutes to explain that we wanted to vote for someone on another ballot."

"There was an attempt to shame us into asking for the other ballot out loud. So finally I announced very loudly to the entire room: 'I need a ballot with Dr. Ben Carson on it.' The new ballot was grudgingly produced," she explained.

King said it's important to share her experience at the polls.

"This information is especially relevant during this election; so many people are coming forth with similar testimonies about something close to coercion in the polls," she elaborated.

"This is all so important because there is so much discussion about what matters," King said. "Black lives and black life without abortion matters to many African-Americans. Sanctity of life matters to many Catholics."

"Prayerfully, Politics 101 will shine a light on the matter at hand," she said.