Update from the Young Democratic Socialists
November 3rd, 2006
In this YDS EMAIL UPDATE you will find:
1) KNOW YOUR RIGHTS ON ELECTION DAY
2) VOLUNTEER ON/BEFORE NOV. 7
3) ELECTION POLITICS ROUND-UP
4) VOTER GUIDES FOR THE YOUNG & HIP
5) STAND UP FOR IMMIGRANT WORKERS @ CINTAS
6) ABORTION RIGHTS FOR LOW-INCOME WOMEN
7) NATIONAL MEDIA CONFERENCE SCHOLARSHIPS
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1) KNOW YOUR RIGHTS ON ELECTION DAY
Fellow young voters: When you head out to vote on Tuesday, November 7th, know your rights!
If you are in line when the polls are officially closing, you are legally entitled to vote, and the polling location must allow you to vote.
Bring your driver's license/photo ID with your local address or your driver's license and college campus ID with you to your polling location. Remember, you have the right to vote in the community where you live and go to school.
If your registration is in question or you've forgotten to bring a picture ID, you have the right to request and complete a provisional ballot. A provisional ballot will be verified and counted in the event of a close election. Do not leave without voting!
If you make a mistake on your ballot before it is submitted, you have the right to receive a replacement ballot.
Keep this info handy if your rights are violated: (866)OUR-VOTE
www.nationalcampaignforfairelections.org
2) VOLUNTEER ON/BEFORE NOV. 7
Help out on election day and/or over this critical weekend!
You can connect with local labor unions, social justice organizations, election protection groups or other get-out-the-vote (GOTV) efforts. Your volunteer efforts to turn-out voters can ensure progressives get elected across the country and can take power away from the right-wingers who have been dominating politics for far too long.
VOTE FOR A CHANGE! VOTE AGAINST THE BUSH AGENDA!
Door-knocking, phoning voters and driving people to the polls make a real difference. If you haven't ever done GOTV work before, don't be afraid! It's usually quite easy and can be fun.
3) ELECTION POLITICS ROUND-UP
Action, Meet Reaction: The gradual southern exodus from the Democratic coalition finally looks to have provoked a complementary northern exodus from the Republican one.
by Harold Meyerson (DSA Vice-Chair, editor of American Prospect)
www.prospect.org/web/page.ww?section=root&name=ViewWeb&articleId=12184
BOOKS NOT BOMBS: Check out the National Youth and Student Peace Coalition's anti-war issue and voter turn-out Toolkit: http://nyspc.org/walkout.html
4) VOTER GUIDES FOR THE YOUNG & HIP
Your vote is powerful! But sometimes voting can be confusing, right? Get the info you need at
theballot.org. Find a voter guide for your area, or create your own guide that other people can use. It's easy. So get started now and make your vote count!
Check out: http://theballot.org
5) STAND UP FOR IMMIGRANT WORKERS @ CINTAS
The union UNITE HERE has been campaigning to organize industrial laundry company CINTAS for some years now.
CINTAS workers clean workers' uniforms, hotel and restaurant linens and the like. It employs a largely immigrant workforce. CINTAS is threatening their livelihoods by requiring the termination of workers who do not correct Social Security number mismatches, or who don't re-verify their authorization to work in the United States within 60 days of such a mismatch.
Enough reasons exist why a legal immigrant worker might experience a mismatch (clerical errors, name changes, and marriage/divorce, to name a few) that the Federal Government does not recommend that they be used to enforce immigration law. Additionally, the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission and numerous civil rights groups are concerned that this approach could promote workplace discrimination.
***If we allow CINTAS to carry out this policy, many more employers could follow.***
Tell CINTAS CEO Scott Farmer that this policy is unnecessary and immoral, and that the company should allow workers to resolve any Social Security number issues with the proper government agencies.
Take action by going to: http://action.unitehere.org/campaign/justice_for_all_workers
6) ABORTION RIGHTS FOR LOW-INCOME WOMEN
Give Hyde a Pink Slip! Support Lower-Income Women's Access to Health Services!
The Hyde Amendment has forced women to carry unwanted pregnancies to term by excluding abortions from covered Medicaid services. For the past three decades, poor women's voices have not been at the forefront of the reproductive rights movement. At the same time, the reproductive rights of low income women are tied directly to policy making, specifically through welfare reform and public funding of health care services. The historical process of welfare reform and the ways that programs are funded directly affects low-income women and sets a precedent for anti-choice rhetoric in other legislation that can affect all women's control over their reproductive lives.
Visit the campaign page to tell your representative to repeal the Hyde Amendment!
www.democracyinaction.org/dia/organizationsORG/choiceusa/campaign.jsp?campaign_KEY=5555
7) NATIONAL CONFERENCE ON MEDIA REFORM: APPLY FOR SCHOLARSHIPS!
There are only 3 more days to apply for an amazing scholarship! This is a great opportunity for YDS activists. Read the following message from former YDS Co-Chair, Fabricio Rodriguez:
Dear Social and Economic Justice Organizer,
The word is out! Free Press is bringing together activists and organizers from all around the country to learn and plan how we can fight for an accountable and democratic media.
The National Conference for Media Reform in Memphis, Tennessee on January 12-14 2007 will be an important for all social and economic justice organizers.
Many working people are concerned about the media, but they have rarely seen it as an issue that they could grapple with over their struggles for good wages, health care, schools, housing, etc.
In the past few years, however, it has become apparent that social and economic justice organizers can no longer afford to neglect the fight for a just, fair and representative media. The corporate media networks played a key role in stealing an election from working people, sold us a war with government propaganda, and have remained silent when working people are fighting for their rights on the job, better housing and schools.
The corporate media, either through omission or through purposeful bias, is making it more difficult to win justice for working people. Almost every depiction of labor unions is one of corruption and bureaucracy. The lives of poor and working people are shown from the view points of the corporations that we battle every day. Building a culture of solidarity under these conditions will be difficult if not impossible.
We have to find a way to build media reform into all of our work. One of the first steps toward making this happen is to educate ourselves and our fellow organizers about this issue and make sure that we attend the upcoming "National Conference on Media Reform."
Free Press organization has raised $50,000 that will go toward need based scholarships for women, people of color and youth who are interested in making media reform a component of their work. I am on the scholarship committee and am excited to help to make sure that you and members of your union/organization can make it to this important conference.
I hope that you will help me in reaching out to social and economic justice activists within your union or organization by passing on this invitation.
Feel free to contact me with any questions and be sure to check out the conference website at
www.freepress.net/conference. and
www.freepress.net/conference/=Scholarships07
In solidarity,
Fabricio M Rodriguez, Executive Director
Philadelphia Area Jobs with Justice & former YDS Co-Chair
P.S.
The deadline for scholarships is November 6. With all of the election action taking place we will need to receive your registration and scholarship request ASAP!
Young Democratic Socialists
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