Since September I've been working on the 'Yes on 1' campaign. Maine People's Alliance has been the lead organization running the campaign, and it's been a wonderful experience. I've met some incredible people, and learned so much.
'Yes on 1' was an important question on the ballot, regarding same-day voter registration. Maine has had same-day registration for the last 38 years, and is proud to boast of having one of the highest voter participation rates in the country. It's especially helpful in a state where many people have to work 2 or 3 jobs, and have a very difficult time getting to their town clerk during business hours to register to vote. On top of this, many town clerks in the less populated regions are only open a few days a week, for a few hours. It makes registering before-hand very difficult. Without any of these logistical reasons for having same day registration, though, why should we make it more difficult for people to practice their democratic right? It's hard enough getting people to vote in an election as it is...why make it more difficult? Maine's system has always worked....Period. Last spring, however, our incredibly popular governor signed a bill to do away with this right. Among one of the cited reasons for this was voter fraud. After a thorough investigation it was determined, like many suspected, that there are actually zero cases of fraud related to same-day registration. 0. What it really boils down to is that the Republicans are trying to disenfranchise several populations of voters who are more likely to utilize same-day registration: College students, and working-class families. Both populations which are statistically more likely to vote for Democrats. Coincidence? Nope. Maine was just one of many states across the country that is trying to pass voter suppression laws, but the people here have said they will not stand for it.
This past summer Maine People's Alliance led a People's Veto on the subject, and collected more than 71,000 valid signatures. This effectively got the issue on the ballot...which brings us to the next chapter:
All the hard work of so many people came to a head this past Friday, as we started our GOTV (Get Out The Vote) phase of the campaign. For those of you who haven't worked on an election before - this phase is crunch time. I can't even speculate the number of phone calls made, or doors I hit, but it was all worth it. Last night the results came in: we won! Maine said "NO" to Governor LePage, and to people like him, who will try to suppress our democratic right to vote.
Here's a clip from Rachel Maddow, one of my very favorite people, about the issue. This explains things better than I can:
http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/26315908//vp/45216800#45216800
Other big news: Yesterday the hard work of Equality Maine paid off, as they collected all their necessary signatures for the Marriage Equality initiative. We'll be seeing that on the 2012 ballot. This is so exciting!!
I'd also like to congratulate the voters of Ohio and Mississippi, who did the right thing yesterday. In Ohio, the important collective bargaining rights of the unions were restored. In Mississippi, voters agreed you cannot call a fetus a "person". Initiatives to take away a woman's right to choose are happening everywhere, but yesterday, lawmakers in Mississippi failed.
Change is coming folks. The time to get involved is now.
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