Wednesday, January 25, 2006

Running Mates -- who wants to go to Harrisburg

Here is a nice call to action from the league of young voters. I went to their meeting, for a bit, last night at the Union Project.

Protect Every Pennsylvanian's Right To Vote!
Come to Harrisburg on Feb. 1st and Voice Your Opposition to H.B. 1318

House Bill 1318 would require all Pennsylvanian's to present ID every time they vote instead of the current law which only requires this for first time voters.

This bill would disenfranchise an estimated 200,000 to 400,000 voters who do not have any ID including senior citizens and the poor.
If you forget your ID, your vote will not be counted until you present your ID to election officials.

The National Commission on Election Reform found that there is NO evidence that the fraud which voter ID REQUIREMENTS SEEK to address is even prevalent in the U.S.
House Bill 1318 if amended, would remove the right to vote from felons released from prison who are still on probation or parole.

Current Pennsylvania law allows individuals who have been convicted of felonies to vote while they are on probation or parole. In fact, in some states voting is considered such a basic American right that a person can not lose the right to vote even while in prison.

Disenfranchisement would affect thousands of Pennsylvanians and selectively impact African-American and Latino men.

Criminologists agree that the most successfully rehabilitated former prisoners are those who rekindle their sense of civic responsibility and become active, productive members of their community.

Join us in Harrisburg on February 1st and tell your Legislator to VOTE NO ON HB 1318!

Buses leave Wednesday 2/1/06 from: The Hill House, 1835 Centre Ave in the Hill District @ 5:30am & Allegheny County ACORN, 5907 Penn Ave. in East Liberty @ 6am

Buses return Wednesday 2/1/06 at 10pm

For more info contact: Western PA Voter Coalition (see comments for more info)

1 comment:

Mark Rauterkus said...

Celeste Taylor, 412-628-7867, taylor.celeste@gmail.com
Maryellen Hayden, 1-866-PA-ACORN, paacornpiho@acorn.org

The Protect Our Vote and Stop House Bill 1318 campaign is co-sponsored by AARP Pennsylvania, ACLU Pennsylvania, ACORN Pennsylvania, ActiVote America, Advancement Project, Bike for Democracy, B-PEP (Black Political Empowerment Project), Center for Civic Participation, Common Cause of Pennsylvania, Everybody VOTE, Ex-Offenders Association of PA, Housing Alliance of Pennsylvania, Just Harvest, Lawyers' Committee for Civil Rights Under Law, League of Young Voters, League of Women Voters of Pennsylvania, Mental Health Association of Southeastern Pennsylvania, Pennsylvania Alliance for Retired Americans, Pennsylvania Council of Churches, PA Voters Coalition, People For the American Way, PA Voter Coalition, Public Interest Law Center of Philadelphia, Project H.O.M.E., Project VOTE, Resources for Human Development, Roots of Promise/a project of The Thomas Merton Center, Service Employees International Union Pennsylvania State Council, Southwestern PA Alliance of HUD Tenants, UNITE HERE, Vote for Homes!, VotePA, X-Offenders for Community Empowerment, WomenVote PA/Women's Law Project, and other organizations. (Contact jenninemiller@projecthome.org or 215-232-7272 to add your organization and get involved with the campaign to protect our vote and stop HB 1318.)