How Obama Can Expand The Vote

[babylonsister]

Expand the Vote
The Obama campaign’s voter registration drive could radically alter the electoral map this fall
By Adam Doster



Nineteen ninety-two was a crucial election year in Illinois. Arkansas Gov. Bill Clinton was hoping to carry a swing state that President George H.W. Bush had won by a scant 2 percentage points four years earlier, and Illinois’ Cook County Recorder of Deeds Carol Moseley Braun was attempting to become the nation’s first African-American female senator. Close observers believed that a swell in black turnout could make the difference in both contests, but activists feared that the leadership of Chicago’s Democratic Party — which historically hadn’t pushed registration in majority-black wards — would squander the opportunity.

In stepped a young organizer named Barack Obama. Fresh out of Harvard Law School, Obama moved to Chicago to head up the local branch of Project Vote, a D.C.-based non-partisan voter registration organization focused in low-income communities of color. Recruiting staff and volunteers from community groups and black churches, he helped train 700 deputy registrars and devised a comprehensive media campaign based around the slogan “It’s a Power Thing.” His volunteers hit the streets and registered more than 150,000 black voters in only six months. According to a 1993 report from Chicago magazine, the elections “turned on these totals.”

Sixteen years later, in the midst of his own presidential campaign, Sen. Barack Obama (D-Ill.) hasn’t forgotten the crucial lesson he learned canvassing Chicago’s South Side: Activating underrepresented communities can dramatically alter close elections.

Using his massive volunteer base, the one-time organizer is now adapting his Chicago experience for the national stage, leading similar targeted drives in all 50 states. Combined with his ability to inspire new voters and the continued efforts of long-established voter registration organizations, a registration boom could reconfigure the electoral map come November.
Why slice pie? Let’s grow it!

Lynne Schwartz, a veteran clinical psychologist based in Ann Arbor, Mich., was drawn to Obama well before he rose to national prominence. Schwartz focuses on juvenile justice reform, and Obama had led efforts in Chicago to combat legislation that would have put more juvenile offenders into the adult system. After reading his first book, watching him deliver his famous 2004 Democratic National Convention speech, and learning about his commitment to the Constitution and consensus-based problem solving, Schwartz knew she had found her candidate.

“I kept hearing him talking about healing the nation and repairing the world,” she says, “and I resonated with that at such a visceral level.”

more...

http://www.inthesetimes.com/article/3741/expand_the_vote/

[phrigndumass]

1. An Obama win will do much good for underrepresented folks

:kick: :thumbsup: Another good read, babylonsister

[babylonsister]

2. Yes, this is a goodie. I'm glad someone read it!

:hi:

[JeffR]

3. K & R!

This is great.

[uponit7771]

4. Thi is EXACTLY how I want to get involved. Texas is in play this year and the more we register & get

...to the polls the better.

[babylonsister]

5. As November gets closer, I'm hopeful many of us will be

making an effort to GOTV. I'm in TX, and I approve your message!

[mopinko]

6. just sayin'

this person's history is a tad fuzzy.
jesse jackson and many others got harold washington elected the first black mayor of chicago in 1983 by registering the same voters. not exactly a divine inspiration there.
surprising oversight for in these times.

[corkhead]

7. We also need to educate the electorate. Being registered is not enough

Thanks to dirty tricksters who disproportionately place voting machines in republicon precincts, expect very long lines in the traditionally democratic precincts, especially in states where the Secretary of State is a republicon. Making that assumption, there are some things that we need to educate the voter to do to be prepared on election day, assuming that your registration has already been confirmed in advance.

1. Have approved picture ID ready that has your correct address
2. Know the ballot in advance. Know how you are going to vote on every office and ballot proposal when you walk into the booth
3. Vote Quickly! This will make it possible for more of us to vote.


VOTE QUICKLY needs to be a mantra this fall.