#GotsToBeMoCareful!!!

Never in my life have I heard an argument so pointless. It all started on a productive day of canvassing. It was hot as usual in Tallahassee. Slight drizzle here and there. The Great Almighty had just finished sprinkling the juice from chili peppers from the sky. Students from the site were being extremely responsive until this one girl….and I won’t say any names. Let’s just say my favorite car is (A lexus). Maaaaaan when I tell you she wasn’t budgin’!!!!! It was like I was the expert with reasons she should register and she researched the perfect rebuttals.

Well, not really. Her responses were rather childish, but the fact of the matter is she was so set in her ways. She claimed that she was gonna go back and vote in the county where she’s from. Really? Ma’am, first of all you are from Ft. Lauderdale and that’s definitely 7 hours from Tallahassee. Not to mention there are no more breaks from school until thanksgiving. “Sooooooo you’re voting by absentee?” She had the audacity to ask “What’s that?” OOOOOOO SNAP!!!! Furthermore, after preaching a glorious sermon on the significance of her voice in Leon county and how her vote could be the determining factor in decisions that effect students like tuition increase at the state university level, she saw the light and decided to tell me “No, thanks” FA REAL?! You just agreed with everything I said and I get a mere “No, thanks”.

And that’s fine. In the name of good ol’ Twitter language…When you’re grandparents no longer get social security… #blameyourself. When your siblings don’t qualify for health insurance…#blameyourself. When you can’t yank out another loan to finish payin’ for school cuz tuition has sky rocketed….#blameyourself. All because you didn’t wanna take two minutes from your cooking (Can you even burn canned corn in two minutes?) to register to vote and possibly #BeTheChangeYouWannaSee. This is definitely one of those #99problems people. We gotta #DoBetter because some of these folk are fallin’ through the cracks. We #GotsToBeMoCareful

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John Brown

Whose Side Are You On?

Ok so i’m officially fed up! Every single time I walk into the Supervisor of Elections Office I get interviewed on my purpose for asking for voter registration forms. No, this is not a joke. No, I’m not anti-S.O.E. No, I don’t collect voter registration forms for a living!

Why is it such a hassle? “Um, well how long is it gonna take you to mail them in sir?” The sooner you stop asking me questions, the sooner I can hit the streets and drop some knowledge about voter rights. It really irritates me. Now I’ve resorted to having other people going in their office for me to grab forms because apparently i’ve come in way too many times.

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John Brown

ROAD BLOCK: Defining the Voter Gap

Large gaps in voter participation today mirror income and social disparities. Gaps in voter participation also track differences in civic engagement of all kinds from contacting elected officials to participation in community affairs. Who votes and who doesn’t vote impacts who elected officials pay attention to, the course of public policy and the quality of American democracy. It also impacts civic participation of all kinds. People who don’t vote are less likely to self-identify as stakeholders in their communities. They are less likely to volunteer, contact their elected officials or participate in public life. Frequent voters, on the other hand, are more likely to engage in community affairs, serve on boards and commissions and even enter public service themselves. Are these gaps unchangeable? No. Many advanced democracies have considerably smaller differences in voting by levels of income or education. When looking at voter turnout gaps by demographics such as income, education, and ethnicity, there are two important factors to consider:

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John Brown

Avoid Voter Ineligibility

To be eligible to vote in the United States, a person must be a U.S. citizen and at least eighteen years of age. In a report to Congress, the impact of the National Voter Registration Act of 1993 on the Administration of Elections for Federal Office, 2003–2004, the Federal Election Commission states that in 2004 there were 221.3 million total citizens eighteen years and older in the United States. Of that number, 174.8 million, or about 79%, were registered to vote. However, a significant number of these registrants, 19.5 million, were considered inactive, meaning they had not recently participated in election voting and in many cases had moved to other jurisdictions. Each state determines for itself how long an individual may remain on the list of registered voters without voting.

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John Brown