Grassroots group launches voter drive with specific focus on marginalized communities

A local political organization is kicking off a nonpartisan voter registration drive Tuesday at Mary Pickford Theater in Cathedral City. The drive will be held every Saturday, Sunday, Tuesday, and Wednesday from 1 p.m. until 7 p.m. through Oct. 16. Residents do not need a movie ticket to participate in the registration.

The Courageous Resistance of the Desert is a local grassroots activist group formed in 2016 that focuses on social justice, human rights, and civic engagement initiatives like voter registration drives throughout the Coachella Valley. Through partnerships with local businesses like the Mary Pickford Theater, the group has registered more than 1,500 voters in Riverside County over the past six years.

Becki Robinson, coordinator of the organization’s Voter Registration Committee, said interest from residents, volunteers, and local businesses this year is unprecedented. Robinson credits the recent changes in Democratic nominees with reinvigorating voters. 

While the group originally planned to start the drive on Tuesday, overwhelming interest led them to hold a special drive at the theater from late July through August, helping even more locals register to vote.

“Everybody’s like, OK, let’s get registered. Let’s do something. And so it’s been amazing. It has been absolutely amazing. I’m shocked at what the response has been,” says Robinson. “There are people who are postcarding, and there are people who are texting, and there are people who are phone banking.”

Robinson says they have been overwhelmed by the amount of residents eager to register, with many approaching their tables to see how they can get involved and volunteer. Many local businesses have also been reaching out for the first time this year, requesting tables at their events. 

This is the first year Courageous Resistance has held events at the Cathedral City Library, and they were even asked to come to a drag show.

While the Courageous Resistance is made up of multiple committees across the Coachella Valley that focus on issues such as healthcare, women’s rights, and climate change, its Voter Registration Committee focuses on fostering democratic participation and empowering individuals to engage in the political process, especially those from underrepresented and marginalized communities.

A large part of their mission is to address misconceptions about the voting process and to educate the public on their voting rights, especially specific groups who have historically faced barriers to voting, with a special focus currently on those with prior felony convictions.

According to Courageous Resistance, many potential voters who have completed a felony sentence do not know that their voting rights have been restored. 

Before 1974, felons in California permanently lost their voting rights, but those laws have changed gradually over the years. Under Proposition 17, passed in 2020, people have their voting rights restored immediately after release from prison, even if they are on parole or probation or owe fines. Voting rights have also been restored for those currently serving a felony sentence in county jails.

“To see their faces and they say, ‘I can vote?’ They’re shocked. It’s an unbelievable reaction… I mean, one guy just looked at me and got the biggest smile on his face, and he came and registered.”

— Becki Robinson, on former felons learning they can vote

According to Robinson, the Secretary of State’s office is supposed to notify felons once they complete their sentences that their voting rights are restored.

“But I have not heard one person tell me that they got that card. I have not had one person say to me, ‘I got the notification,’” says Robinson.

The group educates residents on this topic in several different ways: through one-on-one conversations, signage, and posters at their voter registration drives at places like Mary Pickford and Palm Springs VillageFest — where they also set up every week — and proactive outreach through emails and other channels.

Robinson says some who find out the news are understandably nervous or hesitant. But for many others, the reactions are priceless.

“To see their faces and they say, ‘I can vote?’ They’re shocked. It’s an unbelievable reaction… I mean, one guy just looked at me and got the biggest smile on his face, and he came and registered,” says Robinson.

The organization is extremely intentional about maintaining a nonpartisan approach.

“It is 100% nonpartisan. All of my volunteers are totally aware of that… We register everybody, whatever political party that they want to be in, or no political party,” says Robinson, adding that they know what to do even when someone tries to push the subject. “Our answer is always, ‘We’re working right now, and we are nonpartisan, and we cannot discuss this.”

Robinson said neither she nor Mary Pickford owner Ted Hane has ever received a complaint since they began their partnership in 2018. After six years of registering voters at Mary Pickford, Robinson says they see many familiar faces, with many in line waving at them and giving them thumbs up, even coming up to the table to thank them for being there. 

She says one happy moviegoer summed it up well recently when KNBC came to the theater to do a TV segment about the drive and a reporter asked him if he was registered to vote.

“He turned and said to her, ‘Oh, yes, I registered here. Go to the movies, get popcorn, register to vote, slam dunk.’ It was one of the best lines I’ve ever heard.

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