Democrats Organize Against "Lose Your Home, Lose Your Vote'
Americans in the grips of the mortgage foreclosure crisis to know their rights before Election Day and also to refuse to back down if their right to vote is challenged by at their polling places by Republicans on Election Day, says a group organized by Democrats.
The group, NoVoterLeftBehind.net (NVLB), is specifically aiming to help Americans in the foreclosure crisis maintain their ability to vote. Robert F. Kennedy Jr. launched the project.
"You don't lose your right to vote when you lose your home. I have been studying and
fighting Republican voter suppression tactics for 30 years now and, no matter what the GOP is saying today to the news media, the truth is that they won't be able to resist using a combination of fake stories, targeted mailings, physical intimidation and other sleazy tactics to discourage the maximum number of home foreclosure victims from voting," says former Democratic National Committee (DNC) Chairman Donald Fowler.
Reports that Republicans plan to try to keep Americans who have been foreclosed on apparently stems from a controversy in Michigan. NVLB says it isn't "buying the claims that Republicans have abandoned plans" to challenge foreclosed-on voters.
Attacks on voting rights based on mortgage foreclosure status are a real concern since subprime loans were made far more frequently to African Americans, Latinos and poor whites than to affluent whites, NVLB asserts. The impact of foreclosure-based vote suppression could have a huge impact on swing states. For example, there are 23,000 home foreclosures in major metro areas in Ohio and 28,000 in Michigan cities, the organization adds.
Son of the slain presidential candidate Robert F. Kennedy, Kennedy has written to "thousands of Democrats," soliciting funds to prevent voter suppression, NVLB says.
"No one who knows how stop-the-vote tactics work is buying the GOP backpedaling on this," Fowler adds. "From the Jim Crow laws of old to the modern-day voter suppression tactics used in 2004, history suggests very strongly that the GOP will not hesitate for a moment to kick foreclosed Americans a second time when they already are down. The victims of home foreclosure are disproportionately African-American, Latino and low-income whites, and that is exactly the line-up of votes that the GOP wants to keep out of the count."
NoVoterLeftBehind.net is emphasizing four things every American going through foreclosure needs to know about their vote:
Voting is an inalienable right that you can't lose due to an inability to meet mortgage payments. If you are in the foreclosure process -- but still living in your home-- you still vote where you live. The foreclosure process itself does not bear on your right to vote or where you exercise that right. ]If you are forced to move due to foreclosure before the voting registration deadline, you should re-register at your new home location. Go online to find your states rules on voter registration. If you move due to foreclosure after the voting registration deadline -- but before the election -- go to vote where you were last registered to vote. Keep in mind the following: You have the right to vote by signing an affirmation (or similar form) if your right to vote is challenged for any reason; and if your name isn't on the registered voter list, you have the right to vote by provisional ballot.
The group, NoVoterLeftBehind.net (NVLB), is specifically aiming to help Americans in the foreclosure crisis maintain their ability to vote. Robert F. Kennedy Jr. launched the project.
"You don't lose your right to vote when you lose your home. I have been studying and
fighting Republican voter suppression tactics for 30 years now and, no matter what the GOP is saying today to the news media, the truth is that they won't be able to resist using a combination of fake stories, targeted mailings, physical intimidation and other sleazy tactics to discourage the maximum number of home foreclosure victims from voting," says former Democratic National Committee (DNC) Chairman Donald Fowler.
Reports that Republicans plan to try to keep Americans who have been foreclosed on apparently stems from a controversy in Michigan. NVLB says it isn't "buying the claims that Republicans have abandoned plans" to challenge foreclosed-on voters.
Attacks on voting rights based on mortgage foreclosure status are a real concern since subprime loans were made far more frequently to African Americans, Latinos and poor whites than to affluent whites, NVLB asserts. The impact of foreclosure-based vote suppression could have a huge impact on swing states. For example, there are 23,000 home foreclosures in major metro areas in Ohio and 28,000 in Michigan cities, the organization adds.
Son of the slain presidential candidate Robert F. Kennedy, Kennedy has written to "thousands of Democrats," soliciting funds to prevent voter suppression, NVLB says.
"No one who knows how stop-the-vote tactics work is buying the GOP backpedaling on this," Fowler adds. "From the Jim Crow laws of old to the modern-day voter suppression tactics used in 2004, history suggests very strongly that the GOP will not hesitate for a moment to kick foreclosed Americans a second time when they already are down. The victims of home foreclosure are disproportionately African-American, Latino and low-income whites, and that is exactly the line-up of votes that the GOP wants to keep out of the count."
NoVoterLeftBehind.net is emphasizing four things every American going through foreclosure needs to know about their vote:
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Labels: foreclosure, foreclosures, No Voter Left Behind, right to vote, Robert Kennedy, voter suppression, voting
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