Hey, folks I think there’s been some big news recently, both regarding Voto Latino and Florida specifically.
A good friend of mine, Maria Teresa Kumar, Co-Founder and President of Voto Latino and actress America Ferrera began a new media, grassroots campaign called America4America. The campaign’s main message “Don’t Let Anyone Scare You” is geared toward Latino Voters. The campaign is doing good stuff educating young folks about issues like voter ID laws and immigration.
Some people seem to think that voter profiling only hurts groups that are usually targeted by the bad guy’s (anti-voter) rules. America4America.com will have info and tools working to mobilize Latino voters. It’s also part of some work to unite good orgs like, Voto Latino, the League of Women Voters (LWV), the Lawyers’ Committee for Civil Rights Under Law, the Congressional Hispanic Caucus, Election Protection Coalition (EPC), the union-affiliated Labor Council for Latin American Advancement, and others that plan to work on voter protection. These folks are just trying to defend Americans and Founding Father values; it’s basic patriotism.
America4America says that,
In Florida, Gov. Rick Scott has a plan to purge up to 180,000 voters from the rolls. One voter, 91-year old World War II vet Bill Internicola, is a victim of the effort. If we don’t take action now, he won’t be the last.
Other bad stuff is happening in Florida, like what’s happening with voter disenfranchisement across the country, but there’s some good stuff, too:
Last week (Thursday May 31), in a case brought by the Brennan Center, a federal judge blocked key provisions of a Florida law regulating groups doing good work, like organizing voter-registration drives. This wasn’t just a victory for Florida, folks, but for voter protection groups across the country.
The law, before it was blocked, forced groups like the League of Women Voters of Florida to shut down their drives to register voters. The decision to block key provisions of this law marks the first time a federal court has blocked one of these restrictive voting laws that’s been passed by nearly 20 states since last year. These new laws have hit a wall of judicial and public opposition.
This week, LWV and Rock the Vote announced that they’ll resume voter registration in Florida.
Other states need to start following suit. What I learned in high school civics class is that an attack on voting rights is virtually the same as an attack on the country. We need to work together to protect our voting rights and our country.
Craig Connects 
I wonder if Bill Internicola is a born or naturalized US citizen?
Citizenship in the USA being a voting requirement.
Who’s side did Mr. Internicola fight on?
If Mr Internicola is a US Veteran and he lacks a birth certificate, he can use a copy of his military discharge which lists “place of birth” on the document.
Duplicates of US Army discharge documnets can be obtained free of charge from the military records center. You can google for the URL.
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As the other responder mentioned, there is other avenues for those who are here legally for them to use to register to vote. If someone is here illegally, they should not have the right to vote. That is the law and it is a fair one. Are saying publicly that those who are here in this country illegally should have the right to vote?
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John,
Thanks for your feedback. We’re just saying that people shouldn’t be targeted with laws that’d keep people who are eligible to vote from voting. Groups like the League of Women Voters of Florida were forced to shut down their registration drives to register people to vote, they just recently resumed registering people and we think that’s really good news. We just believe that US voting rights should be protected.
Check out this infographic that explains how US voter suppression laws are infringing on people’s right to vote: https://craigconnects.org/voter-protection-infographic
Thanks!
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I hope your not ok with illegals voting. If you are not a citizen you should not be voting and we should make it mandatory to show ID prior to voting.
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Ken,
Thanks for commenting. We are concerned with the laws that’d keep people who are eligible to vote from voting. This infographic, with information from the Brennan Center for Justice, explains how US voter suppression laws are infringing on people’s right to vote: https://craigconnects.org/voter-protection-infographic. With these laws, many folks who could vote otherwise won’t be able to, and what I learned in high school civics class is that an attack on voting rights is virtually the same as an attack on the country.
Thanks!
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Photo ID should be mandatory at all polling places throughout this country with NO EXCEPTIONS. The DMV will provide you with photo ID in case you don’t have a driver’s license.
Voter registration drives that seek to increase voter participation without regard to eligibility is absurd.
This smells of President Obama and his effort to register as many as possible that he thinks will vote for him regardless of their nationality.
Only living U.S. citizens are eligible to vote; not illegals, Permanent Residents, tourists, deceased, etc.
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