Washington, DC–(ENEWSPF)–June 12 – As news about the Florida voter purge continues, the AFL-CIO held a press conference today with the NAACP, National Council of La Raza (NCLR) and Generational Alliance to discuss efforts to protect the vote.
Participants noted that there are widespread efforts to prevent voters from exercising their rights including new voter ID measures, elimination of early vote and repressive laws that make it harder to register new voters.
Groups discussed ways in which they will be partnering to educate and mobilize voters so they are aware of their rights and that their votes are counted.
AFL-CIO Executive Vice President Arlene Holt Baker said, “This year the AFL-CIO will run the strongest voter protection program ever. We’ve never done anything on this scale before – because the attacks we are seeing on the right to vote are unprecedented. Nationally we will be partnering in new ways with community allies who are doing voter protection and voter registration work on the ground and reaching out to diverse populations including, African Americans, Latinos and youth.”
According to Benjamin Todd Jealous, President and CEO of the NAACP, “What we have seen in our country historically, is that every time the vote is significantly expanded— especially for black people or when participation goes way up— there are waves of intensive voter suppression activity. We will fight against voter suppression tactics this year and every year to ensure that all eligible voters have access to the ballot box.”
“National Council of La Raza believes a clear way to achieve community empowerment is through civic participation. Particularly the Latino community where we are a very young population with many folks coming of age. We need to do a great deal of work in partnership with other groups to ensure the participation gap doesn’t grow but instead diminishes,” said Clarissa Martínez-De-Castro, Director of Civic Engagement at NCLR.
Carmen Berkley the Deputy Director of Generational Alliance believes, “This election cycle is more than just about electing candidates. It has become a battle to challenge the forces that do not want young people to be involved in the electoral process. Our groups will be standing at the front lines to protect the rights of our communities, and show the opposition that we will be registering and voting in record numbers this November.”
People impacted by voting laws also shared their first-hand stories, demonstrating the impact of the upcoming changes.
“I’ve always used my military ID to vote and for a lot of other things, but now it’s not good enough for identification to vote? There are disabled vets who no longer have a license and won’t be able to use their military IDs. What will happen to them? I didn’t serve my country for four years so I, or any other folks, could be denied the right to vote. Voter ID bills in Wisconsin and other states need to be stopped,” said Gil Paar, a United States veteran whose military ID was refused at a School Board Election.
“I recently registered to vote this year, and this November I will go to the polls for the first time and make my voice heard. I want to encourage other young Latinos to register to vote. And on Election Day, go to the polls and advocate for the issues that matter to the community, like affordable education and good jobs that give all young working people equal opportunities to reach the American Dream. ” said Guadalupe Hernandez.
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The NAACP is the nation’s oldest civil rights organization.
NCLR—the largest national Hispanic civil rights and advocacy organization in the United States—works to improve opportunities for Hispanic Americans. For more information on NCLR, please visit www.nclr.org or follow along on Facebook and Twitter.
The Generational Alliance is a collaboration of 20 national youth organizations building collective power for underrepresented & low-income communities. Member organizations work together to win real victories on policy priorities based on the Youth Agenda for their communities.
The AFL-CIO is the country’s largest labor federation and represents 12 million union members.
Source: aflcio.org
