The single most important thing we as citizens can to do effect change is to vote. Not just in presidential elections but in every single election from school board on up. Elected officials make changes that impact us every day and the only way we can hold them accountable for their actions is to remind them that we vote – and that they are in office to serve us.
In 2008, 6 million Americans didn’t vote because they missed a registration deadline or didn’t know how to register. In 2014, we want to make sure no one is left out.
On September 23, 2014, volunteers, celebrities, and organizations from all over the country will “hit the streets” for National Voter Registration Day. This single day of coordinated field, technology and media efforts will create pervasive awareness of voter registration opportunities–allowing us to reach tens of thousands of voters who we could not reach otherwise.
Voter registration (and then voting!) can turn red states purple then blue. One of the largest voter registration projects is underway right now in Georgia, the New Georgia Project, a project spearheaded by Georgia House Leader Stacy Abrams (D)
Georgia has roughly 700,000 unregistered black voters. If Democrats could cut that number by less than a third-and bring nearly 200,000 likely Democrats to the polls-they would turn a red state purple, and land a major blow to the national Republican Party. Or, as Michelle Obama said during a campaign rally on Monday, “If just 50 Democratic voters per precinct who didn’t vote in 2010 get out and vote this November-just 50 per precinct-then Michelle Nunn and Jason Carter will win.” Given 2,727 precincts in Georgia, that’s just 136,350 new voters.
Enter the New Georgia Project. Led by Stacey Abrams, Democratic leader in the state House of Representatives, the project is meant to do just that-register hundreds of thousands of blacks and other minorities. Their goal, says Abrams, is to “directly or indirectly collect 120,000 voter registration applications.” That could be enough to push Democrats over the top. And it makes the project one of the largest voter registration drives in recent Georgia history.
Former president of the NAACP, Ben Jealous produced a report True South: Unleashing Democracy in the Black Belt 50 Years After Freedom Summer
This report examines the conditions in the Black Belt today and identifies lessons from Freedom Summer that can help today’s political organizers build a more inclusive Black Belt.
The first and most important lesson is that massive voter registration can overcome massive voter suppression. Our analysis shows that registering just 30 percent of eligible unregistered black voters or other voters of color could shift the political calculus in a number of Black Belt states, helping blacks elect candidates who share their concerns or alternatively, forcing all candidates to pay attention to the community’s concerns. Registering 60 percent or 90 percent would change the political calculus in an even greater number of states.
(The dotted line shows the margin of victory)
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In 2014, voters have been disenfranchised in Wisconsin, North Carolina and elsewhere. Let’s get them registered, id’ed and to the polls. Those whose only path to power is to suppress the vote will not win when we remove the barriers to voting. And to remove the barriers permanently, we need to have people who respect the right to vote in power. Let’s put them there.
Remember: when we vote, we win.
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