The AAUW Action Fund’s It’s My Vote: I Will Be Heard voter education and turnout campaign represents an unprecedented investment in making women’s voices heard in the 2012 election. Follow us on Twitter and on Tumblr for the latest updates, and check out our biweekly Campaign Update for news, resources, and ideas.
The AAUW Gainesville (FL) Branch has been working with the League of Women Voters of Alachua County, Florida, and the supervisor of elections to get information to eligible voters about local, state, and national candidates as well as information about voter registration requirements. This nonpartisan effort — part of the AAUW Action Fund’s national It’s My Vote: I Will Be Heard campaign — aims to reach hundreds of voters in Alachua County with multiple reminders and encouragement to participate in the democratic process and vote in the 2012 election!
AAUW Gainesville (FL) Branch President Marjorie Ayers, left, and Branch Membership Director June Littler put up posters at Santa Fe College.
We developed a series of four small, colorful bulletin board-appropriate posters to be distributed throughout the county to remind and encourage eligible residents to register and vote. These notices were posted approximately 10 days apart beginning on September 20. The last of the four will be posted October 22. The first two focus on encouraging people to register and provide information on how to do this, while the second two posters focus on voting and help educate voters on the issues.
One of the positive points of this campaign is the broad spectrum of the population of Alachua County that we have reached so far. We contacted the Alachua County Housing Authority and the Gainesville Housing Authority, and they posted the notices so that the message would reach their clients. We also did half-sheet flyers that these clients could take home. Notices were posted on 10 kiosks on each of the campuses of the University of Florida and Santa Fe College. Two copies of each notice were displayed in two retirement facilities in Gainesville, and each notice was posted on bulletin boards in 10 Publix supermarkets throughout the county. Finally, the public library system in the county assisted by displaying the series of posters in each of the 12 library branches.
I am excited about the possible impact that the Gainesville Branch’s It’s My Vote campaign will have. Because I know that people need to be reminded repeatedly to do something, I believe that this drive may have an effect on the 2012 election, which is important to all of us. We all need to vote to make democracy work!
This post was written by AAUW Gainesville (FL) Branch It’s My Vote campaign organizer Evelyn Rooks-Weir.
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