voter registration

We are registering voters for Obama in Burlington this Saturday. Everyone is invited--we would love to have people from Burlington, of course, but also anyone from neighboring counties (Orange, Guilford, Chatham, Caswell, Randolph, Rockingham). We will be meeting at 1PM in front of the Burlington Obama HQ (113 East Front Street) and take our group from there into the community. This is a great opportunity to jump start the general election in North Carolina!

My wife and I spent the afternoon registering voters outside the WalMart in Morganton. We weren't allowed to wear buttons or show any campaign material, so shoppers didn't know for sure who we supported.

We did ok registering new voters (maybe 30 in 3 hours). But the problem was the unsolicited response we got from way too many registered voters: "There's no good choices this time."

[cross-posted at www.dailykos.com]

11 a.m.-1 p.m.: Voter Awareness Rally
1-3 p.m.: Voter Registration Drive
Saturday, April 5
Galaxy Cinema in Cary, North Carolina
my.barackobama.com

If you're going to be 18 by November 4, you're eligible to vote. But even if you're not going to be 18 this year, you can get involved in this historic campaign to elect Barack Obama as the next president of the United States.

CORRECTION: We had an Excel problem which botched our figures on party registration. We correctly reported that 46% of new registrations since January were Democrat. However, only 17% of the new registrations were Republican. The remaining 37% were unaffiliated.

This is the first in a series of Facing South posts covering the upcoming North Carolina primary elections.

Like other states, North Carolina has witnessed a surge in voter registrations this election year. Nearly 89,000 new voters have registered to vote in the last three months, according to new statistics released last Friday.

Who are these new voters, who will be deciding the now-critical North Carolina primaries on May 6?

The Cabarrus County Young Democrats will be hosting a voter registration party at CALDWELL PARK in Concord, on Saturday, APRIL 5TH from 10AM till 3PM. RAPPER, SINGERS, ARTISTS, COMICS, POETS, and PASSIONATE PEOPLE are encouraged to express their views, candidates, or party. We aspire to create a Dave Chapelle style block party welcoming all to engage in the process of community activism. "Experience for Change!"

Will your vote count in 2008? What steps should you take to protect your vote? The NC Coalition for Verified Voting has some important tips to ensure that your vote counts in the May Primary.

Last week, the Senate Rules Committee heard testimony on the Ballot Integrity Act of 2007 (S. 1487). Senators Diane Feinstein and Christopher Dodd are the bill’s chief sponsors, but Senators Biden, Boxer, Brown, Clinton, Inouye, Kennedy, Leahy, Menendez, Leahy, and Obama have also signed on. While much of the bill is taken up with voting equipment standards, a significant number of voting rights issues are also addressed. These include increased safeguards for voters from being purged, uniform requirements for training poll workers to a set of minimal standards, and equitable allocation of polling place resources. Most importantly, the bill prohibits states from restricting voter registration drives.

Voter registration drives by nongovernmental entities play a critical role in the health of our democracy. They have been effective vehicles through which eligible Americans from traditionally disenfranchised communities have become registered to vote. According to the US Census, 12 million Americans have registered to vote through a voter registration drive, accounting for 8.5 percent of all registered voters. Minority voters, in particular, rely on the voter registration drives. Fifteen percent of Blacks, 15.5 percent of Latinos and 12.5 percent of Asians registered to vote through a drive compared to 8.6 percent for White non-Hispanic voters. In fact, Blacks and Latinos are 65 percent more likely to have registered through a voter registration drive than Whites.

and thank her or him for their work. Word comes today from Melissa Price [via Pat B.] that the Senate passed the House version of H91, Registration and Voting at One Stop Sites. The bill allows for voter registration and voting by Absentee ballot at early voting sites up to the weekend before election day.

The YD's made this their Legislative priority for 2007 and they saw it through. At the risk of sounding over 200 years old ...
huzZAH!!