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

Tue Aug 24 18:56:31 EDT 2004

-----Original Message-----
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