If you haven't registered to vote, updated your registration or double-checked to ensure that you have everything you need to cast a ballot, there's a national effort under way to encourage you to use today to get your pre-election act together and make sure everything runs smoothly when you head to the polls on Nov. 6.
Today, Sept. 25, the nonpartisan coalition of organizations, volunteers and celebrities behind National Voter Registration Day is working to achieve the following goals:
* Register Voters: A network of a thousand organizations operating on the ground and through social media will register tens of thousands of voters in the field and tens of thousands more online—while also receiving pledges to vote from the already registered.
* Mobilize Volunteers: By engaging nonprofits not usually engaged in voter registration drives and amplifying existing drives through event-based recruitment and cultural outreach, National Voter Registration Day will bring thousands of additional volunteer voter registrars into the field just when we need them most.
* Educate Eligible Voters: Millions of voters need to register and re-register every year. By utilizing new technology and leveraging cultural partners, we'll educate more Americans than ever before, bringing new voters into the fold.
* Change the Conversation: National Voter Registration Day will be an opportunity to put our differences aside and celebrate the rights that unite us as Americans.
The Congressional Black Caucus is using the occasion to host #VoteReady voter-protection events and registration rallies in cities nationwide. By offering onsite registration and instructions on how to visit local DMVs to secure proper identification, CBC members hope to ensure that as many American as possible are able to cast ballots in the upcoming election and have asked constituents to tweet#VoteReady messages to spread the word about voter rights and preparedness.
Tarik “Black Thought” Trotter recorded a video for AllHipHop.com encouraging voters to prepare and drawing attention specifically to the burdens of Pennsylvania's voter-ID law. "In my hometown of Philly, 40 percent of the population can't vote because they don't have valid ID, " he says. (Data released this week by ColorOfChange.org indicates that the law places excessive burdens on low-income, elderly, minority and disabled voters: "Pennsylvania's voting restrictions threaten to disenfranchise hundreds of thousands of voters statewide, contrary to what Pennsylvania officials have said — that selective voter ID isn't a burden," Executive Director Rashad Robinson said in a statement about the findings.")
Read more at ColorOfChange.org and AllHipHop.com.