BATON ROUGE - This weekend community leaders will host an event dedicated to getting people to register to vote and increasing voter turnout, stressing the importance of making your voice heard.

Event organizer Ashley Rankins said the purpose of the event, "Bless the Vote," is to help people learn more about the elections and the current candidates, and to pray for events going on around the capital area.

"We also wanted pastors to come and pray about different things that are going on in our community," Rankins said. "Most candidates have a platform, and in the community, you have a platform as well."

The event will be Sunday, Oct. 8 starting at 6 p.m. at Greater Mount Olive Baptist Church. There will be on-site voter registration and speeches from community leaders, and you'll get a chance to meet some of the candidates.

"It's so important to get out and vote because your vote is your power and if you use your power the right way, you'll have an influence on the change in the system," Rankins continued. "This event, we will not be endorsing candidates; however, we encourage all candidates to come weather you are a Democrat, Republican, or Independent, because we're all about education," says Rankins.