Have you heard? There’s an election coming up in November!
So that got us thinking — what would Alameda County, the state of California, and the whole United States look like if everyone who could vote did?
With that in mind, we are excited to kick off our first ever voter registration and education drive!
Many of our 275 member agencies serve underrepresented communities with historically low voter turnout. But the Alameda County Community Food Bank and our agencies are trusted in the communities we serve. We have the power to ensure our clients are well-represented at the polls.
In partnership with many of our agencies and volunteer advocates, we will register voters at food distribution sites throughout Alameda County. Our committed agencies and volunteers will work hard to make sure everyone they serve that is eligible to vote will be registered in the next election.
Part of that will be educating people about why they should vote. To that end, we will also educate voters. This year is especially important — California’s ballot will include 11 ballot initiatives which will effect all of us.
We will host a candidate forum for several local races, as well as sessions to help people better understand the ballot initiatives they will be asked to decide.
We will be successful--with your help.
Step 1: Are you registered? Have you moved lately, and need to update your registration? Click here to check!
Step 2: Volunteer to collect voter registrations in September and October, especially on National Voter Registration Day, Sept. 25. Please contact Cat Burton, eburton@accfb.org, 510-635-3663-ext 307 if you can help Get Out the Vote!
She's among a few hundred thousand registered voters, according to estimates by Pennsylvania officials, who don't have an acceptable photo ID, such as a driver's license. "I've never driven a car in my life. Never wanted to," she said. The Pennsylvania Department of State announced July 3 that nearly 759,000 registered voters, or 9 percent, lacked a driver's license or state-issued ID. http://www.cbsnews.com/8301-18563_162-57481869/pa-voter-id-law-on-trial/
But look at it this way... you libs just "solved" the problem of insuring the "30 million uninsured Americans" with health insurance. That's a big number. If you can "solve" that problem, it should be a piece of cake for you to figure out a way to get photo identification cards into the hands of the (maybe) few thousand lawful registered voters who don't have ID.
As for the property tax measures, it's clear you are a freeloader and not a homeowner yourself or you'd understand... we all know "good schools increase property value" but more MONEY does equal better schools... it equals more wasteful spending for more of the same. In fact when people shop around for homes they also look at the tax burden. This is why people have flocked out of high tax NY and NJ over the past 10 years and the last census shows it.
* The fight against voter fraud is a solution in search of a problem - documented instances of voter fraud these days are surprisingly few. Nevertheless, since the 2010 midterm elections, new election laws passed by Republican-dominated legislatures in 14 states have sought to limit voter registration or require photo IDs in order to vote - identification that for many is too expensive or otherwise difficult to obtain. Such laws, according to a recent report from the Brennan Center for Justice "will make it harder for hundreds of thousands of poor Americans to vote." That's why some say the real goal isn't about fighting voter fraud; it's about enabling voter suppression. < br />This week, Bill talks to Keesha Gaskins, an attorney and co-author of that report, and Michael Waldman, president of the Brennan Center for Justice, about modern efforts to keep minorities and the poor in particular from exercising one of the most fundamental American rights. "When these votes come under attack by this level of partisan gamesmanship, it's completely inappropriate and antithetical to our history," Gaskins tells Bill. "This is a very real political issue, but beyond that, this is a real issue of real Americans being able to access and be self-determinative in how we're governed."
All you have to do is PROVE me wrong that there is EVIDENCE of MASSIVE vote fraud. It should be easy to have evidence about something your so passionate about.
Honestly, you guys can't really be serious about thinking this would be such a tremendous burden, even for those of your ilk.
Why are YOU willing to DENY so many AMERICANS their VOTE for a problem you don't ever prove exists? http://www.cbsnews.com/8301-18563_162-57481869/pa-voter-id-law-on-trial/ University of Washington political science professor Matt Barreto, in a paper published July 16, based on a survey of eligible Pennsylvania voters, estimated that one-third of Pennsylvanians are unaware of the new law, and that as many as 757,000, or 12.6 percent Pennsylvanians who voted in 2008, lack a valid ID.
The facts are: poor people are much more likeley to not have a state issued photo id poor people vote D more than R Some states will not accept a college ID College students vote D more than R Old people often do not have State issued photo id Old people vote D more than R Just admit that the Republican voter suppression laws are a strategy to win elections. It's ok to be honest.
If, as you disingenuously claim, the poor (undereducated) the old (uninformed, unless they need an ID to cash their SS checks---then, its a different story, eh?) and college students (well, they have absolutely NO excuse---how do they get student loans without identifying themselves) all suffer when having to provide identification, maybe you all are doing a poor job educating these folks in your public union run schools. This can be easily rectified and may even be an opportunity for you D's to further indoctrinate voters, even moreso than currently happens in public schools. Either this is a missed opportunity on your part or more likely, you undervalue the intellect of the people you claim will be victims. In either case, your excuses to continue even a chance of voter fraud are pathetic.
Why are YOU willing to DENY so many AMERICANS their VOTE for a problem you don't ever prove exists? Steve do me a favor.... Make me a liar!
Your straw man arguments only demean the process. You may be willing to excuse gaps in the voting identification process to appease a few outliers, but if they truly deserve and want to cast a legal ballot, they willl have to make an effort to identify themselves. I still can't believe you honestly think that voting on vitally important national and local issues should be open to anyone, regardless as to whether they are eligible to vote or not. Start your outreach now to those help people who won't lift a finger to follow the law without some dem or govt official holding their hand throughout the process. Yeah, that's the dem voter base alright.........hands out, looking for the govt to do everything for them.....God help your ilk.
Steve I would not be willing to deny many THOUSANDS of valid votes be counted in order to protect from a few. This is a fact that you conservatives have to ignore in order to maintain your demands and you delusion. You are willing to punish THOUSANDS of Americans in order to protect from a few. Why does your solution punish the very voters you don't want counted Steve?
Even if an id is free, aquiring the required documents to get the id is not free and then people have to get to the dmv office during the hours that it is open (miss work,) and for many, it's not worth the effort. If there are way less than 100 instances of voter fraud over the last 20 years, why is only 1 party in favor of blocking hundreds of thousands of eligible voters?
I would be willing to believe there are at least 300 fraudulent votes each election. But I don't know of evidence to show this or any serious fraud.
Actually, it is conventional that the person making the assertion has the burden of proof. when asked for your support it is considered an evasion if you do not produce it, even worse if you try to shift a burden to the other side.
People who mail in an others ballots seem to easily absolve themselves of their betrayal of our democratic process.
I suppose you may be OK with voter ID as long as the Black Panthers enforce it, eh?
In a 2006 Justice Department report: For example, the interviewees largely agreed that absentee balloting is subject to the greatest proportion of fraudulent acts, followed by vote buying and voter registration fraud. http://www.eac.gov/assets/1/workflow_staging/Page/57.PDF
Voter suppression laws are horrible and supported by unpatriotic Republicans. The same party that supports corporations having the same rights as people.
There is a long history of voter suppression and many arbitrary rules have been used to accomplish this. It is important to measure fraud and where it is happening to be able to judge the case. the amount of fraud does not seem alarming according to the opinion article, " In recent years [how many years?], my office has secured more than 50 voter fraud convictions." What is needed is scientific and statistical information. Lastly for your info, I am not on the left, nor on the so called right. I am a Classical Liberal (Libertarian). The part that concerns me most is the trend towards requiring state or national id's.
In response to the 2008 election results, Ohio Republicans drastically curtailed the early voting period in 2012 from thirty-five to eleven days, with no voting on the Sunday before the election, when African-American churches historically rally their congregants to go to the polls. (Ohio was one of five states to cut back on early voting since 2010.) Voting rights activists subsequently gathered enough signatures to block the new voting restrictions and force a referendum on Election Day. In reaction, Ohio Republicans repealed their own bill in the state legislature, but kept a ban on early voting three days before Election Day (a period when 93,000 Ohioans voted in 2008), adding an exception for active duty members of the military, who tend to lean Republican. (The Obama campaign is now challenging the law in court, seeking to expand early voting for all Ohioans). http://www.thenation.com/blog/169284/ohio-early-voting-cutbacks-disenfranchise-minority-voters
Of course, it's just a minority of dems perpetrating these crimes....keep chanting that mantra. These are just the one's being caught...what about all the others?