Ministers in black churches urge congregants to register, vote

Ministers in many predominantly black churches throughout Boston used the pulpit to urge worshipers to register and vote in a historic presidential election.

During services at Charles Street AME Church yesterday, the Rev. Gregory Groover Sr. admonished those in attendance about the importance of voting, saying, "Do not take your chances. Sign up."

The effort, coordinated by the Boston TenPoint Coalition and the Black Ministerial Alliance of Greater Boston, preceded the voter registration deadline of Wednesday for the Nov. 4 general election.

The Rev. Jeffrey Brown, executive director of the coalition, said 140 churches - primarily in Dorchester, Roxbury, and Mattapan - were enlisted to participate in the last-minute registration drive.

"A lot more questions were asked this year than I think years previous with folks just checking to make sure they were eligible," said Brown, pastor of Union Baptist Church of Cambridge.

While he stressed that he did not make an endorsement from the pulpit, Brown said the excitement over the possibility of electing the country's first black president has driven increased interest in voting.

"Many of our parents participated in the civil rights movement. . . . So to be able to have a chance in their lifetime, and in our lifetime, to have an African-American hold the highest position in the land and arguably the world is just amazing," he said.

Brown said his church has been registering people to vote every Sunday for weeks now.

At Charles Street AME Church in Roxbury, voter registration forms were available in a lobby. The congregation planned to hand-deliver completed forms to City Hall. Several people picked up forms as they left the service.

"Everybody keeps harassing me about it, so I figure I better go ahead and do it," said Baby Dee Hall, 29, of Roxbury.

Groover said he expects the message about voting to reach beyond the church.

"For every one person who sits in the pew, there are three or five family members at home who wait to hear what the preacher said," said Groover.

The reverend's call to action is especially meaningful for the congregation because he so rarely speaks of politics in church, said Elizabeth Hall Davis, a member since 1963.

Groover said he does not discuss partisan politics, but he added that political involvement remains important. "The church has always been, in the African-American community, the vanguard of promoting the voting rights of the people," he said.

John C. Drake of the Globe staff contributed to this report.