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A project of Common Dreams

For Immediate Release
Contact:

Sam Husseini, (202) 347-0020;
or David Zupan, (541) 484-9167

Voter Registration Deadlines -- PSAs Available

WASHINGTON

In the next several days, about half the states have their voter
registration deadlines. The group ElectionPreparedness.com has produced
a public service announcement encouraging people to register. The
Institute for Public Accuracy strongly urges media outlets to encourage
their audiences to ensure they are properly registered.

To register to vote, individuals should call 1-888-VOTE-SMART or go to ProjectVote.org.

KATHLEEN UNGER

Unger is co-founder of ElectionPreparedness.com which features information on voter registration and other aspects of election preparedness. A listing of voter registration deadlines by state is available.

ElectionPreparedness.com has produced a public service announcement
that electronic media can play, available via the web in a number of
formats:
Radio (9MB)
Web -- compressed -- (1MB)
TV -- uncompressed -- (640MB)

Unger is also available for interviews about voter registration and other election preparedness issues.

STEVEN ROSENFELD 
Rosenfeld wrote the recent piece "Seven Ways Your Vote May Not Count This November."

He said today: "Voter registration for the 2008 presidential election
closes in about half the states on Monday, Oct. 6. The rest of the
states will soon follow, with only a handful of states allowing
eligible residents to register and vote on Election Day. This year, we
have seen historic and unprecedented interest by the public in voting.
Turnout records were set in state after state during the primaries. ...
The public needs to be reminded to make sure their registration
information is current, meaning it has their current address. Almost
all of the partisan voter challenges and other suppression tactics are
based on the claim that some voters should not be permitted to vote if
their registrations are not current.

"There are record numbers of new registrations this year. That means
there is a mountain of new registrations to be processed by election
officials - and many public officials feel overwhelmed by this. New
voters need to call their local election offices to make sure they are
in the system."

Rosenfeld, senior fellow at Alternet.org, is author of Count My Vote: A Citizen's Guide to Voting and co-author of What Happened in Ohio: A Documentary Record of Theft and Fraud in the 2004 Election.
More Information

A nationwide consortium, the Institute for Public Accuracy (IPA) represents an unprecedented effort to bring other voices to the mass-media table often dominated by a few major think tanks. IPA works to broaden public discourse in mainstream media, while building communication with alternative media outlets and grassroots activists.