I just signed up a 35 yr old black man who had never voted...

[glowing]

He was checking into the hotel where I work.. and I asked him if he had registered to vote? He said no, I've got to do that... So, I took out my registration kit (self made) and signed him up. Took a couple of minutes to explain the process and what the card looked like. He was thrilled that I took the time to sign him up, and was genuinely pleased that I am voting for Obama. I love giving power to the people.. one person at a time.

[mucifer]

1. Great job! Just be careful not to do that during your work time. You could get in trouble.

[glowing]

3. Nah, not here... I do not say to anyone who to "party" up with.. If they

express their pleasures with a certain candidate, then I can express my wishes.. The man didn't know who I was going for until after he had signed the form and everything was explained.

I don't usually do it at work, but if someone is interested, I carry the necessary tools to help them along. AND my boss doesn't care. She likes that people will vote and pay attention...

[grantcart]

5. very smart

[babylonsister]

2. You ROCK!

That's a fabulous story! Your self-made registration kit paid off! And thanks! :thumbsup:

[glowing]

14. Thanks. Its so handy now that govt puts everything on the internet..

all I do is hit print, and then make copies.. pretty easy.. But I'm keeping track of my peeps.. making sure the snakes don't purge before mine have a chance. they are notorious for doing this in FL, and I always wonder why they need to know your "race" on the reg. form?

[woolldog]

39. Isn't putting your race optional?

or is it required in FL? That's kind of scary if it's required there.

[glowing]

40. It doesn't say optional.. and they would only be happy to disqualify

a person who is registering over a minute technicality. Of course, names and addresses are usually a binding bias already in this area and the people working for the Supervisor of Elections would know a lot by these two items anyways.. Hernandez, Lopez, Darius, Laquesha... and then by zip code and address would also be of telling items.. Also, you have to belong to a party to participate in primaries, so just another bias to have your form "lost".

[woolldog]

41. I double checked the California reg form

and it says optional in bold. You're right. That opens the door to all kinds of shenanigans. I wonder if the legality of requiring race data has been challenged? It seems to me it should be. I think I'm going to look into this.

wow. I guess that's why the south is the south.

[woolldog]

42. quick search results:

the Florida Voter Registration Application Form does not require the applicant to include sex or race/ethnicity on the application,

http://election.dos.state.fl.us/NVRA/reports.shtml

Ethnic codes identified voters as black or white (nine states ask voters to declare their race; three of them require it)

http://www.wired.com/politics/security/news/2003/12/61543?currentPage=all

(interesting article)

As I suspected, it's a southern thing:

Race. 9 states ask voters to declare their race. 8 of these 9 states are southern states. 3 states require voters to provide their race (AL, NC, SC); in six states race is an optional field (FL, GA, LA, MS, PA, TN).

http://www.calvoter.org/issues/votprivacy/pub/1103KAremarks.html

caution: I haven't checked how up to date some of these results are.

[glowing]

44. cool, thanks.. maybe I'll leave it off.. it doesn't say optional on the form

and I always wonder if some air head will toss the form because it doesn't say "optional"...

[woolldog]

45. Oh I completely understand what you're saying.

de facto it might be required.

I would advise you not to rely on the information I've provided but instead take it up with the FL secretary of state.

Personally I don't think the question should even appear on the reg form, whether it says optional or not.

[livetohike]

4. Way to go!

:toast: One more for our side :-).

[hiaasenrocks]

6. Do you ask everyone?

[glowing]

9. Not everyone... some people don't want to be bothered with that while

checking in at a hotel.. but when you have someone who is shooting the breeze or interested, I do... I especially do try to ask the younger kids who stay here if they have registeredt to vote. Many have never had the instruction or know how or what to do.. My little explanation and a few minutes showing them a voter reg. card is pretty easy... I also mention.. make sure to bring your photo i.d. as a first time voter and if you can take advantage of early voting, so that you don't have to stand in such long lines on Election day... Really, takes about 5 mins. and people appreciate that I took a bit of time with them.. (this is only for FL residents--I don't have forms or rules for the rest of the 49 states.)

[Quixote1818]

7. Is there a way to get the phone number of people like him, so he could be

called and encouraged to vote on election day or even picked up and taken to vote?

[hiaasenrocks]

8. "People like him"?

Picked up and taken to vote?

Are you assuming, for some reason, that this person will not remember to vote and/or is incapable of getting himself to the polling place?

[glowing]

12. First time voters is what I'm assuming he means.. They have never

been involved before and its new and confusing if no one explains it to you... Voting and the such is not something that schools spend anytime discussing... Its confusing if you've never had anyone take the time to explain it. Especially, when there are ammendment issues and other people on the ballot... The gentleman asked me if he could just mark on the paper that he wanted Barack Obama now.. I said no, he has to wait until November to vote.

[Quixote1818]

18. Thank you. That is exactly what I meant. nt

[glowing]

10. I've kept everyone's phone no. and when I "sent" it out.. Knowing myself,

it should only take 2 to 3 weeks.. I do plan to follow up and ask if they received their voter I.D. cards... and to re-remind them they need to take that and their photo id to vote with.

[Quixote1818]

20. You are Awesome! Good for you!

It's people like you that are going to win this for us. This is the most important part of running a campaign. Bringing in new voters and making sure they vote. It's hard, time consuming work but that is what it takes!

Someone like you got me registered about 8 years ago. I had never voted but was angry about Bush and the war. A guy on the street asked me if I wanted to register and so I did. I have been involved ever since.

[cherokeeprogressive]

28. You kept their phone numbers?

?

I'm glad I didn't register to vote with your assistance. Something about keeping ANY information from a voter registration form seems icky to me.

[glowing]

34. Well, I'm not going to do anything with them.. I'm not selling them.. I'm only

keeping them to follow up to make sure they get registered.. FL is really good about "losing" or not doing something with regisration forms.. so, I thought it would be handy to make sure. I plan on shredding them after.. I have no need for them.. I'm used to sales.. Follow up.. means that they are more than likely to make sure they get to the polls.

[elizm]

48. Our group is getting their contact information...

...With their consent, of course. And we will check with everyone we help register to make sure they actually got their cards and that they know where they need to go to vote. And yes, if they need a ride, we will do that as well.

[Cha]

11. Sign of the Times...

Many of the younger generation are signing up to vote for the first time and I know my son registered for the first time to vote in a Democratic primary on Kauai.

[WillyT]

13. Off To The Greatest Page With You !!!

:bounce::yourock::bounce:

:hi:

[glowing]

15. hey, thanks.

I can't usually coordinate my efforts with the O-Train, but I'm not embarrassed to do what I can on very own.. Independence doesn't bother me.

[Fly by night]

16. In 2004, I registered three women (ages 69, 71 & 73) who had never voted, ...

... along with 906 other new voters. Never felt more humbled, proud or patriotic, before or since.

For the sake of those three women (all of whom hated Bush with a palpable passion), I have spent the last four years working to make sure that our votes get counted as they were cast. Until that happens, sadly, it doesn't matter how many people we register. But don't stop what you're doing -- it is a great thing. I just hope you live in a state where paper ballots are used (and audits are conducted on those paper ballots).

[Darth_Kitten]

22. For the sake of those three women? Why, what did they do.....

to DESERVE getting Bush out? Where were they when they could have made a difference? Sitting on their smug, self-righteous behinds expecting the world to owe them a living?

I was lazy all my life but NOW I want Bush out. Right. :sarcasm:

[Fly by night]

31. Oh, puleeze. These were three back-country women whose self-images did not include voting.

In their very conservative households and communities, they were probably actively discouraged from voting (as their mothers and grandmothers had likely been). I felt (and still feel) that their decisions were difficult and life-changing events for them. They certainly changed my life.

So please take your self-righteous sarcasm and shove it forcefully up your own ass.
If you need help with that, PM me. Please.

[glowing]

23. We supposedly do now.. FL and the paper ballot was the reason for the primary debacle.

However, this year, I beleive we will somehow conveniently run out of enough ballots.. this is what I fear.

[Fly by night]

33. I don't think Florida has an audit provision yet. I hope I'm wrong.

If we don't audit opscan voting by hand-counting the paper ballots in a minimum number of precincts, then opscan is no better than DREs because it is just as hackable.

[Hoof Hearted]

17. What does BLACK have anything to do with it? You want a cookie or something?

Good job on your burden there, white man/woman.

[WillyT]

21. Jesus Christ... Lighten Up...

It's not like there hasn't been a few hundred years of systematic oppression of the African American vote!

Slavery, 3\5ths Compromise, KKK, Jim Crow, voter fees, voter tests, Ohio...

This man has been able to vote for 17 years but has not.

I'm glad that the OP took the time to facilitate the man's registration.

And I'm DAMNED SURE Barack Obama is too!!!

:wtf:

[Darth_Kitten]

25. Let's all have a great big party for this first time voter. What a great human being, eh?

Jesus Christ.....YOU lighten up.

[WillyT]

29. So... You're Saying That Blacks That Don't Vote...

are either lazy or intellectually incurious???

Go back to school, and take some history classes.

What, exactly, did YOU do during the civil rights era???

:wtf:

[cbc5g]

24. lol wtf was that?

[glowing]

26. Well, I'd be just as proud if it were a 68 yr old white woman..and I would have given you

that description just like that.. What was really nice was that he had his son with him.. and he did it in front of his son (probably around age 12). This gives him the visual of democracy and participating and hopefully when he turns 18, he will become a voter himself.

[WillyT]

30. You Did Good glowing, Don't Let The Knuckle-Heads Get Ya Down !!!

:grouphug:

:hi:

[Darth_Kitten]

19. So people like him deserve a medal?

:shrug:

I have no patience for people who can't be bothered to be interested in the world around them. I'll say my efforts for the bright people out there who have always given a damn.

I'm knocking him, not you. :)

[glowing]

32. Um, how do you change the world? How do you become better? Do you

throw up your hands? AND who says this person isn't aware of the world around him; just didn't know his power! Like I said, schools don't take time to show students how to register or what it means to engage in politics and work for a better life.

I've said it kinda sucks that this year so many are so engaged. People jump on Obama tickets like hotcakes... Normally, politicians have to bribe you to show up and listen to them. So, for a junky like me, it sucks being out manuevered by those who are used to jumping on the hotest ticket sales and the young that have the time to wait in line; unlike me stuck at work.

[fudge stripe cookays]

36. Sounds like your efforts aren't going to go very far.

Judgemental much?

Yes, we're all born enlightened, bright eyed and bushy-tailed out of the womb. :eyes:

Everyone has some epiphany moment that teaches them they need to be involved in the world around them. For some people it comes much later. And with the way our educational system has been going, I'm not very optimistic. I had shitty government teachers all through school. It was boring and I never took an interest. My parents never stressed it, and I just didn't care. It took a pregnancy scare to wake me the hell up, and that is what I have used to convince young women that they need to vote and why.

Instead of bashing people for the good work they're doing, or bashing the excitement that they feel and that others feel for them, why don't you go register a few yourself? Your presence in this thread is unnecessary if it is only to point and laugh.

[dragonball2008]

27. ha

cool

[IndependentDem]

35. good for you!

:patriot:

[fudge stripe cookays]

37. Good for you, sweetie!

I did plenty of this while volunteering for Dean, and it gives you such a sense of satisfaction, doesn't it?

My health has prohibited me from participating as much this time around, but I know from people telling me that I passed on the torch, because it is an excitement and an enthusiasm that is catching.

:hug:

:woohoo:

[BlooInBloo]

38. Nice!

[darius15]

43. god bless you

[TuxedoKat]

46. Good for you!

I was wondering if my sister (lives in PA) or my niece (goes to college in OH) could do something similar. I will check into that for them and encourage them to do so. I'm in NY so it doesn't matter as much here, but I will probably travel to PA later this year to register voters as I did in 2004.

[CaliforniaPeggy]

47. Welcome to DU, my dear TuxedoKat!

When the political battles get to be too much, come relax in the Lounge!

:hi:

[TuxedoKat]

50. Thank you!

I didn't see your post yesterday, sorry. Now I have to go find the lounge -- haven't explored that yet!

[Maat]

49. Good for you!

I'll be volunteering at the local Dem headquarters this Wednesday, and I'll be registering people at the mall this Thursday.

[1Hippiechick]

51. Great - all it takes is asking - locally we hear stories everyday from ppl who have never voted, and

it's a thrill. I talked w/one 95-y.o. AA who is going to vote for the first time! I have signed up an excited young man who was a convicted felon who thought he was ineligible to vote. So many heartwarming stories there are and will be to tell after this campaign.

[ZombieHorde]

52. Awesome!