Media Advisory
For Immediate Release: August 23, 2012
Charlottesville, VA: As the October 15, 2012 deadline to register to vote in the November election approaches, Virginia Organizing is increasing efforts to register eligible voters. Volunteers across the state have been visiting senior centers, assisted living facilities, high schools, colleges and other locations to encourage voters to register before the deadline. In addition to the volunteer efforts, Virginia Organizing, a non-partisan statewide organization, has recently hired a dozen people to expand voter registration efforts.
As part of the efforts to increase registration for the estimated 2 million eligible unregistered voters in the state, Virginia Organizing has compiled stories of individuals working to give all Virginians a voice through their vote. To schedule an interview with someone working to register voters, please contact Amanda Pohl at 804-337-1912 or amanda@virginia-organizing.org.
Sample Stories:
Andrea J. of Waynesboro graduated college two years ago and currently helps take care of her grandmother. She has been working to register eligible people to vote in the Shenandoah Valley all summer by going door-to-door, setting up tables at supermarkets and working voter registration booths at various festivals. Andrea is highly focused on civic engagement and educating people about the right and responsibility to vote. She feels that voting is a way to empower people and a way for the voices of the people to be heard.
Kate R. of Charlottesville is a retired adult education teacher and works as part of a team of four volunteers with Virginia Organizing in Albemarle County to register voters. Kate and the team received permission from eight area nursing homes, assisted living and adult facilities to help eligible voters register. Kate believes registering voters is important because we are going to be electing a President, Senator and U.S. Representative in her area. She hopes to expand her efforts to UVA and the community college, as well as other adult facilities.
Lois H. has been working on registering voters in Martinsville for many years. Raised in North Carolina, she remembers her father wearing his “Sunday clothes” to the polls to vote at every election. Her father made an impression on her at such a young age and as a woman of color, Lois knows the importance of her right to vote. She spends her time registering voters at community events in Martinsville where she has lived since 1971.
Jenika M. of Suffolk is a college student who is passionate about fighting voter suppression. She believes that everyone deserves the chance to exercise the right to vote and feels it is especially important this year to register eligible voters in light of the new voter ID laws. Jenika registers voters at community events like the Suffolk Jazz Festival.
Virginia Organizing is a statewide grassroots organization that brings people together to create a more just Virginia.
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