7/8/2010 

Addressing inequalities and calling for reform in how voters are registered, how district lines are drawn, how campaigns are funded and who has influence over our elected officials

MassVOTE volunteers are working around Massachusetts to safeguard and strengthen our democracy.  To this end, we are:1.    Working to audit voting machines, to ensure the accuracy of results and make sure that our voting machines, many of which are 20 years old or older, are safe from hacking and mischief. 2.     Calling for modernizing voting registration at the state and national level.  We must have a system that automatically and securely registers every citizen, and then ensures that any eligible citizen who shows up at the polls on Election Day is able to vote. 3.     Bringing together a network of organizations to safeguard the rights of people of color and call for common sense district boundaries in the upcoming 2011 redistricting process.  We need a better redistricting system, and MassVOTE will advocate for one. 4.     Addressing the egregious issue of corporate power in politics.  In response to the January Supreme Court decision – Citizens United v. the Federal Elections Commission – that allows unlimited corporate money to be spent in political campaigns, we have put together a comprehensive plan of action including:

  • Sponsoring local advisory questions that will appear on the November ballot in some communities to let citizens go on record in support of banning pay-to-play and requiring CEOs to appear in their ads.
  • Working with the Suffolk University Political Research Center to gauge public opinion.  In June, our poll found that 82% of Massachusetts registered voters agree with us – and disagree with the Supreme Court's decision.
  • Supporting national legislation for Fair Elections and public financing for candidates who give up the money chase.
  • Considering support of a national Constitutional Amendment to overturn the Citizens United ruling.
  • Working on state legislation with State Senator Jamie Eldridge that would:  1) Prevent corporations chartered in Massachusetts from spending money on political campaigns. 2) Force disclosure of any and all corporate money spent on political campaigns. 3) Require shareholder approval before any corporation could spend money on a political campaigns. 4) Ban "pay-to-play" by preventing any corporation that spends money on political campaigns from doing business with the state for at least one year.  5) Require CEOs of companies to appear in any advertisements that they purchase and say, "I'm the CEO of XYZ corporation, and I approved this advertisement to protect and increase profits for XYZ's shareholders."

 

6/29/2010

Educating, registering, and mobilizing young voters and future voters

The Boston area high school youth of color in our Young Civic Leaders program put together a massive voter registration drive on June 28th, in partnership with the Jewish Organizing Initiative and many other organizations.  A centralized training and kickoff celebration was held, and groups headed off to T-stops across greater Boston to do registration.  Close to a hundred volunteers took part.

Young Civic Leaders is also working on our campaign for Pre-Registration, an effort to pass a law that would allow youth to pre-register to vote as early as age 16 1/2.  In the last presidential election, over 80% of registered youth voted -- but only 58% of all young citizens were even registered in the first place.  This left 42% of the youth electorate ineligible for participate.   Pre-registration, which can be achieved with a simple change of our current voter registration form and costs nothing, will let us conduct more effective voter registration in Civics and History classes, at the Registry of Motor Vehicles, and anywhere teens gather.  Pre-registration is an important step towards our ultimate goal of universal, automatic registration for every eligible citizen, a commonsense process already in place in many nations. 

 

6/29/2010

As the summer begins, MassVOTE has 3 priorities:

  • Empowering neighborhood organizations and progressive groups to do voter education, registration, and mobilization statewide, especially in communities of color.
  • Educating, registering, and mobilizing young voters and future voters.
  • Addressing inequalities and calling for reform in how voters are registered, how district lines are drawn, how campaigns are funded, and who has influence over our elected officials.

Over the next three days MassVOTE Will update you on each priority. What follows is the first Update:

 

Empowering neighborhood organizations and progressive groups to do voter education, registration, and mobilization statewide, especially in communities of color

In January 2010, only 40% of the registered voters in Boston came out to vote in the special election to replace Senator Ted Kennedy. Only 25% of people voted in Lawrence. The story was the same in cities around the state.  

If this sorry situation is allowed to repeat itself in November, it will be a disaster.  

Ballot initiatives to cut funding for critical services will surely pass. Politicians will get the message that the voters in our cities (overwhelmingly people of color) matter less to their political fortunes than white suburban voters.  

MassVOTE will not let that happen. To mobilize voters, we are:
  • Making state of the art voter list technology available to organizations all across the state, and bringing nonprofits together to create better lists, to target voters more effectively, and to purchase data services more effectively and affordably than we ever could alone.
  • Training allied organizations and our own volunteers to do voter registration, mobilization, and education within their communities – and to use this work to strengthen their advocacy for better public policies.
  • Creating guides on the issues, the candidates, and the ballot questions and making those materials available to all of our partner organizations.
  • Participating in a team of organizations working on election protection, to make sure that every eligible citizen who comes out to vote is able to cast a vote that is counted accurately and that all citizens have a good experience at the polls so they will come back.
Image The Civic Engagement Initiative (CEI) was established in 2002 as a non-partisan effort to increase voter participation in Boston and Chelsea’s most disadvantaged communities.  Since its inception the CEI has funded over a dozen community-based organizations to register, educate, and turnout voters as a vehicle for creating change on issues such as affordable housing, quality public education, job creation, and city services. 

 

For more information please visit www.thecei.org

 

Chelsea Collab Logo

 

 

 

 

 

Watch this 9-clip documentary on one of CEI's most successful groups, the Chelsea Collaborative: 









   

New VAN Training Videos Available

Visit the Database page to see the two videos currently available.