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COLUMBIA, SC. - January 21, 2020:
South Carolina has long been called âthe Black primary.â On Martin Luther King Jr. Day, a majority of the Democratic presidential candidates gathered on the steps of the State House in Columbia singing the words of âLift Every Voice and Sing,â the Black national anthem. A multigenerational, largely Black crowd listened as the candidates tried to win them over.
âBlack at the Ballotâ is an exploration of what it means to be a black voter today by representing a variety of backgrounds, values, opinions, and hesitations about voting.
Mykel King, 19, first-time voter.
Politics arenât a completely new world for the 19-year-old native of Macon, Georgia. He recalls growing up in a Democratic household and his dad teaching him and his brother about elections as he watched America elect its first Black president. He remembers lessons on the importance of voting â and lessons on how this countryâs political system isnât always fair.
âWe have a lot of candidates this year. So it's a little overwhelming.â