New York - The NAACP Legal Defense and Educational Fund, (LDF), recently unveiled its new comprehensive non-partisan voter awareness program, "Prepared to Vote."
"Prepared to Vote is a program designed to raise every voter’s awareness of the many obstacles in the electoral process that could affect their right to vote in the 2008 election. Through Prepared to Vote we hope to ensure that every eligible voter cases a vote that counts," said John Payton, LDF President and Director-Counsel.
Inspired by the Freedom School Model from the Civil Rights Movement, the Prepared to Vote Campaign seeks to empower communities of color by providing essential information prior to Election Day. Program components include community-based workshops, the dissemination of user-friendly materials, meetings with election officials, and a dynamic educational website (www.preparedtovote.org).
The Prepared to Vote program will help reveal and address voting barriers, such as voter ID requirements, voter purges, faulty voter rolls, poorly trained elections officials, felon disfranchisement statutes and a host of other potential obstacles.
With record voter participation anticipated in the upcoming Presidential Election, the Prepared to Vote Campaign will help protect the rights of voters and ensure that America’s democratic processes are administered uniformly and fairly in communities of color.
LDF is proud to continue its long tradition of protecting the rights of voters across the spectrum of American life.
LDF will be deploying attorneys to 10 states to conduct field operations in an effort to prevent acts of omission that could result in disfranchisement reminiscent of the 2000 election. The Prepared to Vote Program covers: Alabama, Delaware, Indiana, Louisiana, Missouri, Maryland, Mississippi, Texas, South Carolina and North Carolina.
ABOUT LDF
The NAACP Legal Defense and Educational Fund (LDF) is America’s legal counsel on issues of race. Through advocacy and litigation, LDF focuses on issues of education, voter protection, economic justice and criminal justice. We encourage students to embark on careers in the public interest through scholarships and internship programs. LDF pursues racial justice to move our nation toward a society that fulfills the promise of equality for all.
