History was made on Sunday in the City of Newburgh when six pastors drove members of their congregations to the Newburgh Activity Center to vote early in three local elections.

As New York State Governor Andrew Cuomo signed early voting into law in January of this year, the City of Newburgh geared up to give voters in the City of Newburgh, Town of Newburgh and New Windsor a chance to vote nine days before the November 5 local elections.

The event was dubbed “souls to the polls” by Bishop Jeffrey Woody of the Cathedral at the House church.

Pastor Willie Mays of New Life Pentecostal Church, Inc., explained why early voting in New York state should impact the community in the City of Newburgh in particular.

“The early voting is designed to reach out to communities of all colors to get out because of the crisis in the City of Newburgh,” he said. “The voter turnout has not been good in the past.”

Pastor Mays attributes the low turnout to consistent lack of support in encouraging the community to get out and vote.

“The people haven’t seen the support,” he said. “I think the religious leaders are responsible to help them get active. A lot of time people don’t think their vote counts, but we have seen that when you get out, changes will be made.”

Bishop Woody stated that early voting gives more of a window of time for people to vote.

“If you only have the one day, if you miss it, that’s it,” he said.

This was the reason why New Windsor resident Ada Campbell was encouraged to vote early this year.

“I’m glad New York state has this now,” she said, “so we can beat the crowds and so that our vote be heard early on.”

Michael Pagano, a Newburgh resident, was excited to vote early this year, as he would not have been able to on Election Day.

“I actually will be out of town on November 5, so I wanted to get the vote out early,” he said.

It is estimated that 50 people from the participating churches voted this time around. Nearly 30 cars were led by a black GMC caravan that was driven by Bishop Woody.

The six churches participating were the New Life Pentecostal Church, Inc., The Cathedral at the House, Calvary Full Gospel Family Church, the New Life Deliverance Church, Inc., Hudson Valley Christian Church and the Faith Family Church.

The early voting law came at a crucial time.

The voter turnout in New York state had been in a downward trend for several years. Despite a significant spike during the 2018 midterms, it has ranked in the bottom 10 for all but two elections in the last decade.