Civil Rights Movement activists believed that the inability of blacks to participate in a constitutionally mandated political process like voting denied blacks the opportunity to change the society of which they were a part, a society full of inequality, racism, and dire poverty. Therefore, the MFDP staged a mock election the summer before the convention in order to encourage black Mississippians to register to vote despite various intimidation tactics by the white ruling classes. To do this, Voting/Elections Schools were established across the state, which prepared eligible voters for voter registration by teaching them how to read and interpret various parts of the Mississippi Constitution, write their names, and fill out the registration materials. While many activists debated the effectiveness of a mock election, 80,000 blacks participated in the November 1963 Freedom Vote which elected the MFDP delegates to the national convention.