Citizenship Day: September 17, 2004; Civic Minded Groups Team Up to Register New Voters, Protect All Votes

9/16/2004 11:35:00 AM

To: National Desk

Contact: Germonique Jones of The Center for Community Change, 202-339-9331, Laurie Boeder of People For the American Way Foundation, 202-467-4999, Sabrina Williams of America's Families United, 202-728-9557

WASHINGTON, Sept. 16 /U.S. Newswire/ The Center for Community Change teams up with People For the American Way Foundation and the Voter Protection Project of America's Families United to protect the vote of first-time voters on a day when America recognizes the privileges of citizenry. The Center's Community Voting Project, a unique electoral initiative that has registered nearly 100,000 new voters in disenfranchised communities through its partnership with 53 grassroots organizations in 24 states, has joined forces with the Election Protection coalition, the nation's most far-reaching effort to protect voter rights from now through Election Day and beyond.

The Community Voting Project reaches often ignored citizens by registering homeless individuals through visits to shelters, soup kitchens and health centers in Philadelphia, registering parolees and voter age high school students in Louisiana and in Illinois registering naturalized citizens after they are sworn in as U.S. citizens. The project's 'get out the vote' effort includes repeated personal contact with registrants by phone calls and door visits and an aggressive pledge card drive.

"We've enlisted unique ways to reach those communities that are often overlooked in the political process," said Executive Director Deepak Bhargava, The Center for Community Change. "Despite the obstacles these disenfranchised communities face, it is important that they not only register but know their vote will be counted."

By joining the Election Protection coalition of People For the American Way Foundation, the Voter Protection Project of America's Families United, the Lawyers' Committee for Civil Rights Under Law, the NAACP, National Coalition on Black Civic Participation, the Advancement Project, the ACLU and many others, first time voters will have access to free, immediate multi-lingual assistance through the 1-866-OUR VOTE hotline, including lawyers from across the country available to answer questions and deal with voters' potential problems at the polls. Additionally, the voters will be educated about their rights such as identification requirements with state-specific "Voter's Bill of Rights" information.

"History has seen that the most disenfranchised populations include minorities, the disabled, the young and low-income voters," said Ralph G. Neas, president of People For the American Way Foundation. "By ensuring the right to vote for these communities, Election Protection is defending the core principles of democracy."

During Florida's recent primary, a 60 precinct Election Protection trial run found poll workers demanding identification from voters at several polling sites in an overly aggressive manner. In some cases, People For the American Way Foundation found that citizens were not informed of their right to an affidavit if they did not have proper identification. Other problems included reports of a potentially intimidating police presence near heavily African-American precinct polling places in Jacksonville; a few instances of polling places not opening on time; the failure of several optical scan readers in Volusia County; voters who were unsure that the electronic machine had correctly recorded their vote, and absent a paper trail, could not be sure; confusing signage, or no signage directing voters at polling sites; and various problems with voting machines, registration status, absentee ballots, names missing from voter rolls, registration cards that had not been delivered, and other issues experienced by individual voters. Calls to the Election Protection Hotline numbered approximately 40 per hour with complaints and questions from Florida citizens.

"Every eligible American voter who wishes to vote should be able to do so," said Penda Hair, Executive Director of America's Families United. "AFU has created a sophisticated database to track voter registration applications and verify that the applicants are placed on the voter rolls. The 2000 Florida debacle wasn't about who won or lost, so much as who didn't even have a chance to cast a ballot."

Citizenship Day is observed on September 17 to mark the day the U.S. Constitution was officially signed. Groups who are part of the Community Voting Project will mark this day with a month of voter related activities and gear up for a final push to get voters to the polls on Election Day. For information about the Center's voting project or Election Protection related activities, contact Jennifer Fuson at 202-339-9350 or jfuson@communitychange.org.

Election Protection is a nonpartisan voter information, advocacy and protection program carried out by a coalition of more than 60 nonprofit organizations dedicated to ensuring that every citizen has the opportunity to cast a vote that will be counted. In this fall's elections, Election Protection will deploy 25,000 volunteers, including 5,000 lawyers and law students, in more than 3,500 precincts in at least 17 states. See http://www.electionprotection2004.org for more information.