When voters streamed out of the C.T. Martin Natatorium Friday morning with “I voted” stickers pressed to their chests, they were greeted by more than just the usual sight of their waiting cars in a lot. A Pizza to the Polls food truck declaring “free food for all” sat parked across the street from the early voting location, and smiling staff workers handed out free pizza, breakfast empanadas, snacks, and water to voters, poll workers, and anyone in the community who came up to the truck to grab a slice.
Just mere steps away, women with “The Power of the Ballot” bus tour stood by a charter bus chanting through bullhorns, “When women fight, when men fight, when families fight, when we all fight, we win.” The driver of a Ride to the Polls truck, a non-profit service that offers transportation to registered voters, held paper bags of empanadas for the passengers of his vehicle. An older woman in a wheelchair who had just voted grinned from ear to ear as she grabbed snacks from the Pizza to the Polls table.
It was an environment that fit the importance and unified feeling that seemed to be running through Georgians on the last day of early voting. Many of those feelings were due to the work of nonprofits across the city, such as Pizza to the Polls.
“It’s something fun. It’s new. It’s different. You’re actually feeding the soul,” said Tameka Thomas, owner of three of the food trucks that were lent out to the Pizza to the Polls. “When they [voters] come out, people are genuinely happy, like, ‘Oh, I get free food? I don’t have to do anything on the side?’ So it’s a great idea.”
Pizza to the Polls is a nonprofit that started in 2016 to increase voter turnout and education by sending free pizza to “get out to vote” events and people in line as they exercise their right to vote across the county. Lee Kornfeld, Chief Pizza Officer at Pizza to the Polls, said seeing the voter turnout and people excited to get free food has been fun.
“People are excited about getting involved, getting civically engaged and that’s really what we’re about — making sure that there’s energy, excitement and fun associated with being engaged,” Kornfeld said. “Election day used to be a celebration. It used to be a party, and so hopefully, we can do a little more of bringing that back.”
To bring that feeling back, Kornfeld and his team have had to navigate specific Georgia voting laws. The Election Integrity Act of 2021 makes it illegal to provide free food or water to people waiting in line to vote within 150 feet of polling locations and 25 feet of voting lines. The act has faced much scrutiny, even getting a feature in Larry David’s “Curb Your Enthusiasm.” Kornfeld shared that while poll workers in Fulton County had been open to Pizza to the Polls parking the trucks the required distance from polling places, they’d run into trouble at early voting locations in DeKalb County.
But that hasn’t stopped their momentum.
“In Georgia, we obviously have to be very, very clear that we are well outside 150 feet from the polling location. We can’t send pizzas directly to voters in line in Georgia, which is why we have three trucks out today in Atlanta.”
One aspect of Pizza to the Polls is monitoring long lines at polling places. Some may recall the lines that voters experienced at the polls in 2020, especially in communities of color around Atlanta. Voters waited as long as 10 hours as lines stretched down sidewalks. Thankfully, Kornfeld said they haven’t experienced long lines during the last week of early voting in Georgia.
According to the Georgia Secretary of State, more than 3 million people have turned out for early voting, an unprecedented number in Georgia’s history. The office also reported that a record number of Black voters casted ballots during the early voting period, with just over 1 million Black Georgians voting before Election Day.
“People are ready, and they’re not playing this year with their vote,” Thomas said.
That sentiment and excitement didn’t stop at the C.T. Martin Natatorium. The next stop for Pizza to the Polls was the Autozone parking lot directly across from the Metropolitan Branch library, where voters were met with a DJ spinning music, volunteers, including Atlanta rapper Young Dro, waving signs on the street as cars drove by with loud honks, and food trucks selling free fish fry, Philly cheesesteaks and ice cream. What was essentially a polling block party was all part of the initiative of the Black-woman-owned and led nonprofit Georgia Stand-Up.
“Although we’re in a state that has been suppressing our vote for years, we’re saying that we’re resilient, that we have joy, that we have love for our people. They say that we can’t hand out water when they’re in line, so we said, let’s go across the street and do a whole block party,” said Deborah Scott, CEO and founder of Georgia Stand-Up.
The nonprofit, which has been part of the Atlanta community for 20 years, helps voters navigate voter registration, locate polling locations, understand key issues, access voter guides, and connect with local leaders. Scott said they’ve been encouraging the community to plan to vote as early as possible so that if there are any issues with their ballot, there’s time to fix them. And while the presidential election is a big part of their initiative, their fight for the community continues year-round with local government.
As early voting ended in Georgia, Scott sent a message to those still on the fence about voting.
“If they’re on the fence, it must be a hard seat. It’s hard to sit on the fence. It hurts. So we want you to come out and vote. Come out and vote today. If you can’t vote today, vote Tuesday. We need all votes on the table.”
