NATIONAL "GUARANTEE YOUR VOTE DAY" ON OCT. 1st

PRESS RELEASE: NATIONAL "GUARANTEE YOUR VOTE DAY" ON OCTOBER 1, 2008

Unbeknownst them, tens of thousands of voters across the country have had their names purged from voter files. Most will not find this out until election day on November 4, 2008, when it will be too late to register to vote in the crucial 2008 election. Dozens of advocacy groups, organizations and elected officials are calling for voters across the country to check with their state auditors and local election officials on October 1st insure that they are eligible to vote.

The fundamental cornerstone of democracy is the right to vote, yet millions of Americans may have their rights suppressed as mettlesome election officials are bending and breaking election laws to deny a vote to dormant or newly registered voters and especially to minority communities. Just recently:

---Republican party officials in Michigan plan on challenging the voting right so of those whose homes have recently foreclosed, of which 60% are African-American.

---Wisconsin's Attorney General, a Republican, recently sued the state's election board to try to remove 20% of the registered voters in this critical swing state.

---In Virginia, another battleground state, the AFL-CIO reported that Republicans deliberately tried to confuse student voters about where they are eligible to register and vote.

In Ohio in 2006, 303,000 voters were purged in three major urban counties while last month, 6000,000 additional voters were threatened to be removed from voter files. After irregularities have challenged the validity and integrity of a voters intentions in 2000 and 2004, measures must be taken to guarantee that every vote will be counted on election day. Many states have a 30 or 14 day registration requirement. Our October 1st call to action allows voters time to re-register if their names have been purged from the rolls.

ON OCTOBER 1ST, WE WILL BE ASKING ALL PARTICIPATING ORGANIZATIONS, GROUPS AND BLOGGERS TO SEND AN ALERT VIA TEXT, PHONE OR EMAIL TO THEIR CONTACTS ASKING THEM TO CONTACT THEIR COUNTY OR STATE ELECTIONS DEPARTMENTS TO VERIFY THE VALIDITY OF THEIR RIGHT TO VOTE.

"Lets not allow 2008 to mirror the widespread shenanigans that we have experienced across the country since 2000" said Todd Iverson of America in Solidarity. "This is truly a matter of justice!" stated Michael Collier chair of the MICAH Project in Tacoma, Washington. Every vote in Ohio, every vote in Florida and every vote in every state should count. Let's have this election decided by people, not by machines, dirty tricks or voter witch hunts."

A growing list of organizations, church groups, bloggers and elected officials are participating. Feel free to write us to endorse this project! Bloggers, candidates and media outlets will be contacted to help spread the word about October 1st as National "GUARANTEE YOUR VOTE" DAY.

Information about how to contact elections officials along with links and stories about voter suppression will be available on America In Solidarity's website at www.americasolidarity.org

For more information or to schedule an interview, contact either:

Michael Collier (253) 627-0129 micah.project@yahoo.com

Todd Iverson (253) 219-8717 todd@americasolidarity.org

In Solidarity

Todd Iverson and Mike Collier