Our Right to Vote: Use it or Lose It
We are posting this on Tuesday, September 17 which is National Register to Vote Day. This year the day takes on a critical new importance, as we work to counter efforts around the country to de-register legitimate voters.
That’s right: Republican legislatures and Secretaries of State, enabled by dark money groups that want to control our government, are purging legitimate voters from voter rolls in several states. But we all have the power to fight back.
To give just a few examples: Ohio has already taken 155,000 people off its rolls this year. Texas, which always does things bigger, has taken over 1 million people off its rolls since 2021. Some of this is normal; people move out of state, people pass away and voter registration rolls need to be updated. But what we are seeing this year is well beyond normal: it’s an intentional attempt in red states to keep legitimate voters from voting. How do we know? Because Republicans are showing their hand in states like Arizona and New Mexico, where without a supermajority they are forced to resort to lawsuits to enact these voter purges which puts their specious claims of “voter fraud” out in the open.
The good news is that each and every one of us can do something about this.
First, go ahead and check your own registration! Try it now- it’s quick and easy. And once you’ve done it you can help your friends and neighbors do it too.
Next, bookmark and share this link on your social media and reach out personally to friends and family to ask them to check their registration, especially if they have moved recently. Importantly, let people know to beware of voter registration scams! No legit organization will contact you and say you are not registered to vote! Unfortunately there are scams like this one, funded by MAGA billionaire Elon Musk, that are using fake links to capture voter data and divert people from real voter registration resources.
And finally, do please reach out to young people you know, college students or young adults who may not yet be registered, and offer to help them get registered! If they are students and moving out of state, help direct them to an application for an absentee ballot.
And if you hear from anyone at all that thinks they have been unfairly purged from voter rolls and needs extra help, please direct them to a voter protection hotline- we’re sharing a list of numbers here!
Here are some additional links you can bookmark and share. Thank you for joining us in taking action this National Voter Registration Day.