One of the images on the "Blackest Bus In America" which visited the MATC downtown campus. (Photo | Isiah Holmes)

One by one, students at the Milwaukee Area Technical College (MATC) downtown campus lined up to register to vote on Friday. Parked on the street beside them loomed the aptly named  “Blackest Bus In America”, sporting images of protesters holding signs reading “Black Voters Matter,” the name of a national voter rights organization. MATC was just one of the bus stops on the group’s  “We Fight Back” voter registration tour. 

“We really want to turn out the vote on or before election day,” said Alethea Bonello, an organizer with Black Voters Matter. “And in order to do that, we have to engage with the community. So the bus is just icing on the cake. But the hard work that our local partners have put in, they’ve been doing canvassing, phone backing, they’ve been going door to door, and they’re just really talking with the community about the importance of voting, as well as turning out to vote as well.” 

Bonello said that the MATC event was geared specifically towards young people. Along with registering to vote, people were provided information on the candidates, and were offered tacos and music.

The bus stayed over the weekend, working with local organizations like Souls to the Polls canvassing communities. On Sunday, the campaign visited local churches in Milwaukee. 

In both the presidential election between former President Donald Trump and Vice President Kamala Harris and  the U.S. Senate faceoff between Democratic Sen.Tammy Baldwin and Republican challenger Eric Hovde, polls are showing tight races in Wisconsin. 

For Bonello, a lot is riding on the election. “I’m from Atlanta, Georgia,” she told Wisconsin Examiner. “What’s important is allowing people the ability and freedom to vote. We are dealing with voter suppression and oppression. We are dealing with voter misinformation and disinformation,” she said. Her group aims  “to be truthful about people, giving them the facts — straight, no chaser — and to be able to allow and empower them to make their own decision.”

“We’re not telling people who to vote for,” she added, “but we’re encouraging them to exercise their right to vote.”