Delores Johnson Hurt is the second African American president of the League of Women Voters Charlotte-Mecklenburg, a local chapter of the venerable nonpartisan civic and voter advocacy organization. In 1964 she enrolled at Winthrop University as one of its first African American students. Since her election as LWV president in May 2016, she’s tried to raise the group’s public profile and counter the increasing barriers to voting, such as North Carolina’s voter ID law, gerrymandered districts, and the old nemesis of voter apathy. In October 2017 she told Charlotte Magazine, “We are always going full force with our voter registration efforts—every week, twice a week, we’re at the U.S. (Immigration and) Naturalization Service registering new citizens, and we average probably 50 new voters a week. “
