Video Vote Vigil - Sign Up Now to Protect our votes

[sonias]

Press Release
For Immediate Release: October 27, 2004

Texans for Truth Launches "Video Vote Vigil" to Protect Voter Rights; Videotape of Election Abuse, Intimidation Will Be Shown on Internet

Citizens Encouraged to Take Video Cameras to Polls and Post Election Abuse Footage Online at www.videovotevigil.org

(Austin, TX)-Vowing to protect voter rights and discourage the intimidation tactics that marred the 2000 election, Texans for Truth has launched a national campaign encouraging voters to film incidents of election abuse they witness at the polls-and gain an instant national audience by streaming their video clips online at www.videovotevigil.org.

"We're asking voters to be the eyes and conscience of this election by packing a video camera to the polls and making sure democracy works like it's supposed to," said Glenn Smith of Texans for Truth. "Together, we will send a message to would-be intimidators that they can't hide from the eyes of the world. We want to make sure everyone who possesses the will to vote, does vote."

Voting rights advocates including Texans for Truth are concerned that it was no coincidence that many of the voter intimidation problems that plagued Florida and elsewhere in 2000 occurred in predominantly low-income precincts with large communities of color. Smith hopes that the presence of video cameras will deter voter suppression efforts in this year's election.

Yet incidents of election abuse have already cropped up across the nation. In Oregon, a Republican-funded voter registration firm destroyed forms it collected from registered Democrats. In Columbus, OH, dozens of local voters said they have received phone calls at home from people fraudulently claiming to be from the Franklin County Board of Elections and telling them to go to a wrong voting location to cast their ballots on Election Day.

Texans for Truth is spreading the word about the Video Vote Vigil through political blogs and national independent groups including MoveOn.org and Drivedemocracy.org. The campaign is calling on ordinary, concerned citizens to document election abuses and scare tactics wherever they occur on Election Day, whether it's at polling places, highway road blocks, work sites or neighborhoods. Smith says a team of technicians worked furiously around the clock to ensure that there is enough bandwidth and server space on www.videovotevigil.org to make it easy for volunteers to post their digitized videos.

"Modern technology transformed the political race going into this election, so it makes sense that the Internet will play an instrumental role in making sure history doesn't repeat itself," Smith says. "Good citizens make good government, and this is what we're setting out to prove on November 2nd. This is about voters protecting their fellow voters."

Press Contact:
Michelle Mulkey or Julie Wolk, 202-822-5200
Anne Purdy or Jessica Nusbaum, 415-901-0111
http://www.videovotevigil.org
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Plus go check out the shrub one finger salute to us if you haven't already seen it. Stay alert and lets protect our voters!

Sonia

[sonias]

1. kicking it for the weekend

This is a national campaign so send it off to your relatives and friends in swing states.

Sonia