For Immediate Release
Friday, March 01, 2002
AFSCME Statement on USA Votenet's "Blueprint for Effective Voter Outreach"
As a proud participant in the USA Votenet alliance, the American Federation of State, County and Municipal Employees (AFSCME), AFL-CIO is pleased to see this new grassroots coalition's ambitious project moving forward with the release of the comprehensive "Blueprint for Effective Voter Outreach."
AFSCME served as a co-sponsor of the initial step in this process, a first-of-its-kind, diverse gathering of 90 national and state voter outreach organizations held in March 2001 to discuss strategies for increasing voter education, registration, and participation among minority and disengaged groups. Throughout its long history as a union, and especially since the 2000 presidential election debacle, AFSCME has advocated placing increasing voting participation among the disenfranchised near the top of the national agenda.
"The report today confirms what we at AFSCME have found works most effectively in getting our own members and other voters to the polls," AFSCME President Gerald W. McEntee said. "Nonpartisan volunteers can best contribute to boosting voter turnout when they reach out door-to-door, block-by-block, talking to their neighbors and co-workers, in their own language, about issues that affect their lives directly."
"Now that we know what works, it's time for all of us to get out there and make it happen. With the experience in 2000 still fresh in our minds and hearts and the 2002 elections fast approaching, AFSCME promises to work with this coalition to educate, register, and get more voters to the polls than ever before. By making our democracy more inclusive, we also make it much stronger," McEntee said.
