So Vote It Be Campaign

[~Elise~]

From: Pagan Unity Campaign (PUC) www.paganunitycampaign.org (http://www.paganunitycampaign.org)

Subject: So Vote It Be campaign
Date: Sept. 6, 2006
Contact: Elise Coleman elise@guardiansoftheheart.org
Regional Director Pagan Unity Campaign

The Pagan Unity Campaign is once again getting all fired up for our
"So Vote It Be" voter education and registration campaign heading into
the national midterm elections this November. We hope the voice of
Pagan voters is heard loud and clear in all the senatorial and
congressional, not to mention all state level elections.
PUC would like to make three wishes this election year. PUC wishes

to educate our community that political apathy is no longer an option

for our fellow Pagans. PUC wishes to invoke Lady Liberty and Lady

Justice to guide all Pagans to the polls this November 7th. Lastly,

PUC wishes that the Pagan voters become a voice that our elected

officials hear and listen to.



Alas, this is a dark time when elected officials at all levels have
begun to trample carelessly over our Lady Liberty's sacred First
Amendment right to Freedom of Religion! We cannot take this injustice
lying down! We must send leaders to Washington who understand and
respect our ancient religion and who will treat us with the same
respect in which they treat all other faiths.

So Vote It Be!


Voter Registration:
https://electionimpact.votenet.com/declareyourself/voterreg/index.cfm (https://electionimpact.votenet.com/declareyourself/voterreg/index.cfm)

Information on Candidates in All elections:
http://www.thegreenpapers.com/G06/ (http://www.thegreenpapers.com/G06/)

###--end of press release--


Feel free to forward to all lists and messages boards that you may be a member of.

Elise

[AoibhellFaeryMoon]

Do you know if there's a Canadian version of this?

[~Elise~]

Not that I'm aware of.

Elise

[Kaylara]

Already a Registered Voter in NJ. I'm going to get an absentee vote since I'm not living in NJ right now. Not allowed to vote in NL yet.

[~Elise~]

awesome, Kaylara!

Elise

[~Elise~]

The women were innocent and defenseless. And by the end of the night
they were barely alive. Forty prison guards wielding clubs and with
their warden's blessing went on a rampage against the 33 women wrongly
convicted of "obstructing sidewalk traffic." They beat Lucy Burn,
chained her hands to the cell bars above her head and left her hanging
for the night, bleeding and gasping for air.

They hurled Dora Lewis into a dark cell, smashed her head against an
iron bed and knocked her out cold. Her cellmate, Alice Cosu, thought
Lewis was dead and suffered a heart attack. Additional affidavits
describe the guards grabbing, dragging, beating, choking, slamming,
pinching, twisting, kicking the women. Thus unfolded the "Night of
Terror" on November 15,1917 (a mere 87 years ago), when the warden at
the Occoquan Workhouse in Virginia ordered his guards to teach a lesson
to the suffragists imprisoned there because they dared to picket Woodrow
Wilson's White House for the right to vote.

For weeks, the women's only water came from an open pail. Their food-all
of it colorless slop--was infested with worms. When one of the leaders,
Alice Paul, embarked on a hunger strike, they tied her to a chair,
forced a tube down her throat and poured liquid into her until she
vomited. She was tortured like this for weeks until word was smuggled
out to the press.

So, refresh my memory. Some women won't vote this year because--why,
exactly? We have carpool duties? We have to get to work? Our vote doesn't matter? It's raining?

I went to a sparsely attended screening of HBO's new movie "Iron Jawed
Angels." It is a graphic depiction of the battle these women waged so
that I could pull the curtain at the polling booth and have my say. I am
ashamed to say I needed the reminder. All these years later, voter
registration is still my passion. But the actual act of voting had
become less personal for me, more rote. Frankly, voting often felt more
like an obligation than a privilege. Sometimes it was inconvenient.

My friend Wendy, who is my age and studied women's history, saw the HBO
movie, too. When she stopped by my desk to talk about it, she looked
angry. She was upset with herself. "One thought kept coming back to me
as I watched that movie," she said. "What would those women think of the
way I use--or don't use--my right to vote? All of us take it for granted
now, not just younger women, but those of us who did seek to learn." The
right to vote, she said, had become valuable to her "all over again."
HBO will run the movie periodically before releasing it on video and
DVD.

It is jarring to watch Woodrow Wilson and his cronies try to persuade a
psychiatrist to declare Alice Paul insane so that she could be
permanently institutionalized. And it is inspiring to watch the doctor
refuse. Alice Paul was strong, he said, and brave. That didn't make her
crazy. The doctor admonished the men: "Courage in women is often
mistaken for insanity."

Please pass this on to all the women (and men) you know. We need to get
out and vote and use this right that was fought so hard for by these
very courageous women.

[~Elise~]

Bumping--it's not that far away till it's time to vote.

Check with your local state election board to see when you need to register by... it'll be coming up quickly, I'm sure.

We need to make our voices heard.

Elise

[~Elise~]

http://www.vote411.org/_imgs/logo_vote411_ss.gif


Voter participation in the United States is dismally low. In the 2002 mid-term elections, only 42% of eligible voters went to the polls to decide who would lead our country and make our nation’s laws. Research continues to show that a lack of information about the voting process and the candidates is an overriding cause for low voter participation.
To address this issue, the League of Women Voters has launched an unprecedented Web site for voters: VOTE411.org (http://www.vote411.org/) – The One-Stop Shop for Election Information.
This online tool, supported in part by Yahoo!, provides answers to the full range of questions that voters might have about basic state-by-state requirements, including voter registration deadlines, absentee ballot information, ID requirements, polling place locations, and much more. There is simply no other single Web site that provides this level of comprehensive, state-specific information.
With voter information and election laws constantly changing and varying widely from state to state, it’s imperative that voters have a reliable source for up-to-date, accurate and easy to access information. That is why the VOTE411.org (http://www.vote411.org/) Web site is so critical.
The League of Women Voters encourages all of our members and supporters to:

Use the VOTE411.org (http://www.vote411.org/), our easy-to-use, non-partisan Web site that provides, as a public service, both general and state-specific information on all aspects of the election process.
Share VOTE411.org with your family and friends, so they can have access to important election information.
Support the League of Women Voters (https://www.lwv.webmembership.org/contribution.asp?s=LWVEF), so we can continue to educate the public and provide vital services like these.The 2006 mid-term elections will take place soon and it’s critical that every voter knows what to expect at the polls. For more than 86 years, the League of Women Voters has provided communities across this country with the information needed to make educated decisions. Please take advantage of VOTE411.org (http://www.vote411.org/) so youcan be prepared on Election Day.
Sincerely,
http://www.lwv.org/AM/Images/newsletter/MaryWilson_Signature.gif
Mary G. Wilson,
Chair
http://lists.lwv.org/db/165883/1584252/1.gif __._,_.___ http://geo.yahoo.com/serv?s=97476590/grpId=9246499/grpspId=1706113858/msgId=1319/stime=1162053628

[mythikal]

Im goin to check all the links... thanks:fpraise:

[Mainedruid]

I'll be at the poles.... you can count on it!!!!


"If your not angry about your country right now you havent been paying attention" Henery Rollins

[~Elise~]

Subject: Please feel free to forward and post on bulletin boards


ACLU Launches Voter Protection Initiative (11/1/2006)

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
CONTACT: media@aclu.org (media@aclu.org)

Civil Liberties Group Establishes Hotline to Report Election Day Voting Rights Violations NEW YORK – The American Civil Liberties Union announced today that it is poised to respond to voting rights infringements across the country this upcoming Election Day. The organization has launched a toll free hotline so voters can report voting rights violations and irregularities on Tuesday, November 7. Voters with complaints are encouraged to call the organization's toll-free voter hotline, 1-877-523-2792. The hotline will operate from 6 a.m. to 11 p.m. EST.
“The right to vote is essential to our democracy,” said Laughlin McDonald, Director of the ACLU Voting Rights Project. “To deny any eligible voter that opportunity is to undermine the fundamental freedoms that define who we are as a nation.”
As part of its Election Day efforts, the ACLU Voting Rights Project and various ACLU state affiliates will monitor polling sites and respond to incidents of voter intimidation, vote suppression or election irregularities.
In conjunction with state affiliates, the ACLU has distributed more than 70,000 voter empowerment cards in English, Spanish and Creole, which contain information for voters about their rights and ways to avoid problems when voting. In particular, the ACLU is concerned about the following problems on Election Day:

Voter harassment or intimidation, including slurs or signs of bias among poll workers;
Denying voters access to provisional ballots when they are eligible to receive them;
Problems with voting machines, including human errors and technology-related problems;
Efforts to have voters produce identification or proof of citizenship when not required by law;
Disinformation campaigns, such as posting fliers in minority neighborhoods that give false information on voting requirements or procedures;
Moving or closing polling places on short notice or without sufficient warning;
Placing phony voters in line to lengthen the wait and discourage voting;
Efforts to tamper with voting machines; and,
Excessive and unnecessary presence of uniformed law enforcement personnel at polling places.

"We urge citizens to be on the lookout for any practices that serve to minimize, weaken, or prevent an individual or group's effort to exercise the fundamental right to participate in the electoral process," said McDonald.

This year, the ACLU played a leading role in passage of the Fannie Lou Hamer, Rosa Parks and Coretta Scott King Voting Rights Act Reauthorization and Amendments Act of 2006, the law that renewed key enforcement provisions of the Voting Rights Act.

"It is unfortunate that forty years after the passage of the Voting Rights Act it is still necessary to protect the right to vote against an obstacle course of voter ID, provisional balloting and other regulations as well as a variety of partisan voter suppression schemes,” said Howard L. Simon, Executive Director of the American Civil Liberties Union of Florida. "We hope that our Voter Empowerment Cards, our hotline number and the volunteers and attorneys we have standing by will help people to defend their right to vote."
The ACLU is also concerned about the systematic disfranchisement of voters with felony convictions, which has a disproportionate impact on minority voters. To address the problem this year, the ACLU of Northern California has launched the "Every Vote Counts" campaign. It is a dynamic public education campaign designed to inform individuals with felony convictions about their right to vote in California once they have finished serving their sentences and parole.
The ACLU’s 2006 Election Day monitoring effort is based on the organization’s experiences in prior elections, including 2004, when the organization responded to incidents of voter intimidation in Minnesota, Ohio, Rhode Island, Virginia and Florida. Problems ranged from 20,000 absentee voters in Florida receiving ballots too late to cast their votes to the placement of partisan “challengers” at polling places in minority neighborhoods in Ohio. On October 20, the ACLU of Virginia asked the Department of Justice to monitor elections in Chesterfield County, VA after two years of irregularities that included the presence of armed guards outside polling places and official refusals to count provisional ballots.
“All voters should be able to travel to the polls and be free from harassment, free from disinformation and free from intimidation. If that doesn’t happen, the ACLU will be there to monitor and address illegal and discriminatory election practices wherever they may occur,” said McDonald.
For more information on the ACLU Voting Rights Project, go to: www.aclu.org/VotingRights (http://www.aclu.org/VotingRights).

[~Elise~]

Go vote.....

So Vote it Be!

[shuvanilu]

I will be voting very progressively today!!!!---shuvanilu

[ShaylaK]

Not only am I voting today, I am working the phone banks at my local precinct this afternoon.My neighbor is precinct captain and got me talked in to this as we are both pretty much progressive party enthusiasts.I have had a great time volunteering and I recommend volunteering for the candidate or party of your choice.You get a great view of the entire process and I felt much more educated about the choices I was being asked to make at the polls.

[Lilith Morgaine]

:boing:Vote Vote Vote Vote Vote Vote Vote :boing:

[1111]

Posted on behalf of Pearls59:

Ya know—it really doesn’t matter who you vote for, regardless of the content of this letter. What IS important is that you actually go and vote. Exercise that right, and it is a RIGHT, not a privilege.

Elise Coleman
South Central Regional Director, PUC

November, 7th, 2006

5 Good Reasons to Vote Today

1. IT'S A NATIONAL REFERENDUM.

Although candidates' names will be on the ballot today, this election is NOT about this candidate or that candidate. Make no mistake about it: This election is nothing less than a National Referendum on George W. Bush and his War. Don't waste your time trying to learn about who the schlump is that's running for office. You know they're all pretty much the same, a few are better than others, but... please. They is who they is. THIS election is not about them. It's a simple up or down vote on staying the course.

To vote in favor of the war, vote for the Republican. To vote against the war, vote for the Democrat. As crazy as it sounds, even if the Republican is against the war, or the Democrat is for it, it doesn't matter. All that will matter by midnight tonight is the math on the big tote board. Did America say YES to Bush or NO to Bush? The ONLY way they're going to add it up is by counting the number of votes under the big D and the big R. The only way to take a stand against Bush today is to vote for the Dems on the ballot.

2. IN ORDER TO CATCH THE REPUBLICANS STEALING YOUR VOTE, YOU FIRST HAVE TO VOTE.

There are huge and valid concerns about the new electronic voting machines that must be addressed. It is far too easy to use new technology to rig the vote. But if your fear of that leads you to decide that you shouldn't bother voting, well, then, I guess they've succeeded in snuffing out your voice without having to rig the machine. Make them break the law if they want to win. Vote. We'll catch them if they do. I promise.

3. WITH THE DEMOCRATS IN POWER IN THE HOUSE AND/OR SENATE, WE CAN GO AFTER THEM!

These spineless Democrats who enabled Bush to start this war and funded it ever since are due for a shellacking from all of us. For nearly 6 years, they've hidden behind the cop-out of, "Hey, we're the minority, we have no power." As of tomorrow, hopefully, they will have no mask to hide behind. And it will be up to us to go after them.

4. I'LL PUT YOU ON MY WEBSITE.
That's right. You can appear on my home page and be seen by millions later today. All you need to do is bring a broom when you go to vote. The broom is our mascot today because we're going to sweep the crooks and the warmongers outta office. Take a picture of yourself holding a broom outside your polling place, e-mail it to me <mailto:photos@michaelmoore.com>, and I'll put as many of you as I can up on the home page of my website. People all around the world will see you! Government files with your name on them will be initiated!
What better way to celebrate this historic day?!

And the final reason to vote today...

5. 2,836 + 655,000.
Each one of them, American and Iraqi, are no longer with us because of the decision by one man to start a war. Each one of them represented a precious, God-given life that no man had the right to take away. Each one of them had a mother and father, sisters, brothers, husbands, wives, friends and loved ones, little boys and little girls. It's mad, my friends, utterly mad, this senseless loss of human life.

So, do it for them. Call up whoever you know and tell them to meet you at the polls. And tell them to bring a broom, real or imaginary, with a big D on it. It's the only true American thing to do.

See ya at the victory party tonight!

Michael Moore
mmflint@aol.com <mailto:mmflint@aol.com>
www.michaelmoore.com <http://www.michaelmoore.com/>

P.S. Forward this to all your friends. Today is the day.

[bbnflpn]

i always vote, i like my voice to be heard, although this election i was not able to i was pretty upset about it. there were a few things on the ballot i really did not want to pass, 1 being the notification of a minors pregnacy to their parents, which is so far passing, and the $2.50 tax on ciggs.

the reason i was not able to vote you ask, well my grandpa died on halloween, and i have been in another state since that friday. so i call the voters registarar to see about getting an absentee ballot and they said that the dead line was oct31st. i tried to explain to them that i was called away due to a death in the family but they said there was nothing i could do.

i feel totaly left out of this, no fault of my own, but i still feel bad about it. there has to be a way that they can let people get a absentee ballot due to things like this, or at least extend the deadline alittle bit. even if i had known about his death on halloween it would have been to late, i didnt find out about it till 5am on the 1st.

[ravenmyst]

I was proud to vote, and even more so that things went my way for once, been most disappointed with past elections

[ravenmyst]

I like my states mail in ballot, voted 2 weeks prior to THE DAY, was stress and hassle free, and I could ignore all the last minute haggling for votes, yeah for democrats, although I am an independant, :) awesome turnabout, made president sweat, about time

[~Elise~]

I think a message was sent this time... but not sure it'll be listened to. (there are times I'm wayyyyyyyyy too cynical)

Elise

[bbnflpn]

if the message is continually sent wont it be eventually listened to, you know that someones attention was raised, they will be more likely to listen next time