Thread: Kenosha: Open borders group holding "voter registration

Minority voter registration drive to target Kenosha's central city Saturday
July 18, 2008

TERRY FLORES

Read & React

A massive drive to register minority voters in Kenosha will focus on central city residents on Saturday.

Many are expected to be first-time voters, according to coordinators of a get-out-the-vote coalition that includes Voces de la Frontera, the Kenosha Urban League, the League of United Latin American Citizens (councils 320 and 325) and the local NAACP.

From 8 a.m. to noon, volunteers are expected to canvass homes in the 7th, 8th and 10th districts, among the neighborhoodswith the highest concentrations of African-Americans and Hispanics. In Kenosha, registrars for the coalition are hoping to sign up as many as 1,000 new voters over the seven weeks before the September primaries and perhaps more in time for the November election.

The effort is part of a larger push in southeastern Wisconsin to register 5,000 to 6,000 voters before the end of summer, according to Yolanda Santos Adams, Urban League president and chief executive officer. The effort is spearheaded by Voces, which advocates for immigrant workers' rights.

Adams admits the sign-up goal is ambitious, especially in Milwaukee, but many political observers believe votes from minorities, particularly Hispanics, are expected to play a large role in electing a president this year.

Link: http://www.cuw.edu/kenosha/
Adams said registering 1,000 first-time voters in Kenosha is a realistic goal. In 2004, similar efforts to register minority voters in local districts topped 500, she said. In the last presidential election, a minority-aimed voter drive registered as many as 2,000 new voters in Kenosha, Racine and Milwaukee.

Maria Morales, coordinator of Racine's Voces, which also serves Kenosha, said engaging new voters where they previously have been largely disenfranchised requires cooperation at the grassroots level.

"We've reached out to other organizations - the NAACP, LULAC and Urban League - and I think the way we're going to get our goal is to help each other," she said.

Milwaukee and Racine have already held registration drives and a second round is planned for both cities next month. Adams said because Kenosha has fewer minorities than its neighbors to the north, Saturday's drive is the only one planned at this time.

Adams said volunteer canvassers are still needed. Canvassers will receive training before they knock on doors. Several have also already been trained as certified voter registrars.

"One thing we say to them is that they're not supposed to give their opinions on any of the candidates. They're simply there to register people and get them involved in voting," she said.

Volunteers still needed

People who wish to volunteer for the Kenosha voter registration drive can contact Yolanda Santos Adams at 898-9066 or Maria Morales at 619-4180. Volunteers will meet for a training breakfast at 8:30 a.m. at the Kenosha Urban League office, 1418 68th St. Canvassing will take place from 9:30 a.m. to 12:30 p.m. A potluck lunch and entertainment will follow. For additional information on the event call 652-7142.

Reminder: You MUST be a US citizen to vote.

(Just 'thinking' you're a citizen, wanting to be a citizen, visiting on a visa with hopes of becoming a LPR later, and... even being an illegal alien is not good enough. If you fall into one of those categories and even REGISTER to vote - much less actually vote - you are committing a felony. Which is punishable by up to 10yrs in prison.)

Hope they tell all their "new voters" that it's a FELONY to register if you're not a US citizen. DEPORTABLE offense.

Originally Posted by PhredE

Reminder: You MUST be a US citizen to vote.

(Just 'thinking' you're a citizen, wanting to be a citizen, visiting on a visa with hopes of becoming a LPR later, and... even being an illegal alien is not good enough. If you fall into one of those categories and even REGISTER to vote - much less actually vote - you are committing a felony. Which is punishable by up to 10yrs in prison.)

I would like to add that "being a citizen of the world" doesn't count either.

Of course immigration status and proof of it will never come up in the conversation.

ICE NEEDS TO BE AT THIS REGISTERING

DID THEY HAVE TO KNOW ENGLISH TO BECOME A CITIZEN?

ARE THEY REGISTERED FOR THE DRAFT?

Minority registration is one thing...illegal voter fraud is another...