"There's much in Ferguson to be outraged about," Temple tweeted. "Folks peacefully registering to vote is not one of them."

The controversy sparked after reports that voter registration tents were cropping up in Ferguson. One was set up near where Michael Brown was shot. Debra Reed of University City and her daughter, Shiron Hagens, were working at the registration tent this weekend and told the Post-Dispatch they set it up on their own.

"We're trying to make young people understand that this is how to change things," Reed said.

State Auditor Tom Schweich weighed in on the topic this afternoon, saying "Voter registration is always a good idea."

On the scene in Ferguson, civil rights leader Rev. Al Sharpton has been urging residents to vote and calling the area's 12 percent voter turnout an "insult to your children."

“Nobody can go to the White House unless they stop by our house,” Sharpton said Sunday. “We’ll be here until justice is achieved.”

Human rights attorney Jessica Lee tweeted today a reminder that "juries are taken from (the) voter pool."

"Just one way registration is a part of justice in (the) long term," she tweeted.

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