Ready, Set, Vote!

For the past 11 years, wherever we have been in front of an audience of any size during election season, we have emphasized the importance of voting--for whichever candidate is your choice. This year, more than any in the past generation, casting a ballot is crucial, so we take this opportunity to reach out with this reminder-- we CANNOT assume that everyone we know is registered or will vote in November. Time is flying. Registration deadlines are approaching.

It's easy to assume that since we are registered to vote, that our friends, neighbors, or classmates-- people we see every day, folks we have lunch with, stand next to in the alto section of the choir, gab with at the hairdresser, complain with in the supermarket, work with on committees in our sorority, discuss our child care constraints with when we're picking up our kids from pre-school--or, heaven help us, even those in whose care we put the education of our children, are REGISTERED VOTERS.

Let's break this down--women in this country did not gain the right to vote until 1920. For African Americans the right to vote was not routinely enforced until the 60's. It's not all that long ago. Many made sacrifices, including their lives, so that we could all have a say in the way we are governed.

So we ask that each of you ask the people in your life-the ones you see every day, if they're registered, and encourage them to do so, if they are not.

Please repost and send this to all your lists and ask each of them to do the same. WHOEVER YOU VOTE FOR IN NOVEMBER--WE ALL MUST VOTE. No voting means no complaining.

Here are two links about voter registration. The first lists voter registration deadlines in all 50 states (including Alaska). The second actually gives you specific, individual voter registration information... http://www.declareyourself.com/?gclid=CMqxhZvuzpUCFR8SQQodmmu6iw

http://www.voteforchange.com/index_obama.php?source=091008emailR