[huud-l] FW: Request to Send UU Voter Registration to Heartland District Churches

Thu Aug 5 13:15:47 EDT 2004

  _____  

From: randy [mailto:beelock47 at comcast.net] 
Sent: Wednesday, August 04, 2004 10:26 PM
To: de at heartlanduu.org; office at heartlanduu.org
Cc: Patrick Shannon ; Peter Staples; Mary Lou Malone; Meg Baker; Mark
Babcock; Jud Cole; Brenda Plecha ; Mike Dunaway; Al Ugelow; Eugene Perrin;
Sally Borden; Lee Ren; Ann Chapman; George Lentz; Ellen Telle & Louis
Leedle; Kathy Friedrichs; Rev. Norman Naylor; Marsha McCullough

Subject: Request to Send UU Voter Registration to Heartland District
Churches

Dear Mary Andrus-Overley and Barbara Hamilton:

Please forward the letter and UU voter workshop minutes (copied below) to
all UU Congregations within the Heartland District.  The letter provides
encouragement and practical information churches can use to get involved
with voter registration before the election this Fall.  As promised in a
previous letter sent to Heartland Churches, we are also forwarding an update
on a UU Voter Workshop we organized in Detroit during June.  

We hope this example of local UU churches working together -- with support
from the UUSC and in partnership with the Heartland District Social Justice
Committee -- can encourage other churches within the District to get
involved.  

Can this information be can sent to UU churches during August, perhaps as
part of your regular mailing to UU churches?  If mailing is not feasible in
the near future, please let Mary Lou Malone and I know. For more
information, you may contact me at my work phone at 313-446-4444, ext. 5842
next week.  (I'll be returning from vacation on Sunday, August 8th., but can
be contacted at home on Monday at 248-549-5170.) 

Highest Regards,

Randy Block, Co-Chair

UU Social Justice Network 

(Letter)

 UU Social Justice Network of Southeast Michigan 
Unitarian-Universalist Churches Networking for Justice
www.mindspring.com/~northwestuusocial_justice_network.htm

_____________________________

"There is work to be done...We want to see that this nation's promise of
democracy is restored and do what we can to ensure that everyone's vote gets
counted."  -- UUA President, William Sinkford

Dear UU Minister & Social Justice Leader:

If your congregation has not already done so, it is encouraged to be part of
a UU movement to help register and get out the vote in this Fall's election.
This June, the Heartland District mailed a packet of UU voter information to
your "Social Justice Leader".  You were also invited to attend (or benefit
from the results of) a "Get Out the Vote" workshop in Detroit organized by
the UU Social Justice Network (UUSJN) with support from the UU Service
Committee.  Minutes from this Workshop, which include speaker contact
information, are enclosed for your information.  

Here are some "next steps" that members of the UUSJN  recently agreed to
take as a result of the above workshop. We hope that YOUR CHURCH will
consider using some of these ideas -- or coming up with better ones -- in
YOUR community.

1. Register your own church members.  Registration can be done at an
information table on Sunday mornings.  Announcements by the minister or
others can support this effort.  

2.  Organize easy voter outreach.   We plan to distribute voter registration
forms to church members and request that they register family, friends and
neighbors.  Church members can join other groups already organized for this
purpose (see minutes for contact information).  You could organize a voter
education workshop in your community. 

3. Voter Reminder Post-cards. When we register someone, we will invite them
to complete a UU voter reminder post-card.  We will mail this post card back
to the individual prior to the election. 

Voter registration and election resources are available on-line in each
Heartland District State:

Indiana: www.in.gov/sos/elections
Kentucky: www.kysos.com/index/main/elecdiv.asp
Michigan:  www.michigan.gov/sos
Ohio: www.state.oh.us/sos/voter

Please let us know if your congregation would like more information or is
taking voter initiatives! Call Randy Block at 248-549-5170 or Mary Lou
Malone at 313-837-7952 for more information.

Sincerely,

Randy Block, UUSJN Co-Chair
Mary Lou Malone, Chair, HUUD Social Justice Committee 

Enclosure

(minutes)

  UU Social Justice Network of Southeast Michigan

GET OUT THE VOTE WORKSHOP
June 19, 2004 
First Unitarian Universalist Church in Detroit

MINUTES

This workshop was attended by 25 people, representing multiple organizations
in Southeast Michigan. 

Panel Discussion Highlights: How to Get Out The Vote

NAACP - Donnell White, Youth & Education Outreach Specialist, invited
workshop participants to join with NAACP voter activism. In its "Take Your
Soles to the Polls" campaign, you have to "think outside the box" to attract
young people, e.g., use music, address underlying reasons why people don't
get involved. Three big issues: voter registration, voter education and
mobilization. Simone Lightfoote, NAACP State Director, said NAACP has 27
units in Michigan and aims to register 34,000 people. Through the new Help
America Vote Act, $68 million is coming to Michigan to improve voting
systems, voter outreach and education.  Contact Donnelle: (313) 871-2087,
dwhite at detroitnaacp.org

Great Lakes Express (GLE) - Senator O'Brien, a former "Rock the Vote"
organizer, said the GLE works with all political parties to involve people
on the local level.  He said GLE has an office on 9 Mile and Woodward and
would like to set up other offices in the Great Lakes region.  Senator
advised learning voter registration rules via the Secretary of State. Noting
that the U.S. has the lowest voting rate in the free world,  Senator
observed that "people are more cynical because they don't have their voices
heard". You need to "make education an experience"; educate about local
officials and issues.  Contact Senator: 917-287-3353,
saravamanagement at yahoo.com 

MOSES - Vickie Kovari, Project Coordinator, said MOSES has a network of 65
congregations in Southeast Michigan with others across the Country. MOSES
does grass-roots organizing on a variety of issues, including voter
registration.   She urged attendance at a mass rally at 3:30 p.m.September
26th at the University of Detroit Mercy. "We want to move the politicians on
the issues".  MOSES, which has a goal of  registering 15,000 new voters,
asks churches to commit to: do registration within their congregations,
outreach into neighborhoods, and/or registration at local events.   The
provide training and guidance for churches.  Contact Vickie: 313-962-5290,
vkovari at aol.com

Action Ideas Brainstormed By Workshop Attendees

* Educate against the anti-gay marriage petition
* Follow-up calls to registered voters - Perhaps should get a card which
reminds people to vote.
* Show the "Unprecedented" film about the 2000 Florida Presidential election

* Local events/"Edutainment" -- including church based
* Education, education, education
* Make copies of voter registrations completed
* Coordinate with other voter groups
* Call groups to get training 
* Send a delegation to a September 26th MOSES voter event
* Target a specific area
* Sound trucks to get out the vote (but could be legal barriers)
* Educate on challenging at the polls
* Have an event at a church and invite State Representatives and County
Commissioners

Results of this workshop will be mailed to all Unitarian Universalist
churches in Michigan, Indiana, Ohio and Kentucky. The challenge will be to
expand voter registration/education efforts between now and the 2004
election! 

Respectfully Recorded,

Randy Block, Co-Chair, UU Social Justice Network
248-549-5170, beelock47 at comcast.net