CORPUS CHRISTI, Texas — Pride Corpus Christi's Pride Parade & Block Party is not only celebrating the LGBTQ community but they're also offering a last minute chance to make sure attendees are registered to vote ahead of elections in November.
Pride Corpus Christi Vice-President Robert Kymes said this year's event will be the biggest with several vendors and entertainment taking the stage. Pride Corpus Christi will also have a designated voter registration area.
"We have over 580 people participating in the parade, just marching alone. So, we're going to have a ton of spectators. We have over 50 vendors today, we have food trucks, we got people who are doing voter registration like Texas Rising," Kymes said.
President of Pride of Corpus Christi Jonathan Swindle said this event brings a lot of younger people out who are first-time voters which makes it a great opportunity to make sure they're registered to vote.
"Definitely having voter registration really 2 days out before the close of it is super important," Swindle said. "We want everybody in the state of Texas that is a qualified citizen or able to vote has the capacity to do so."
In addition to offering attendees an opportunity to sign up to vote, several political candidates will take the stage for a couple of minutes to present their campaign.
"Having the political candidates also give them an understanding of why they need to vote, who they might be interested in voting for that care about issues that are relevant to them," Swindle said.
Kymes said it's not too late to register to vote and the voter registration table will open throughout the event.
"So, since it is right before election and right before that cut off of October 7th, we want to make sure all of our community is registered to vote," Kymes said.
Swindle said PRIDE Corpus Christi has launched a Vote with Pride website that will have the response of city candidates to certain issues that affect the LGBTQ community.