With the 2016 election season entering its critical phase over the next several months, Local 3 is once again mobilizing its members to participate in this all-important presidential election. While the Republican candidates have created a circus-type atmosphere with their debates, town halls, outlandish comments and direct attacks on unions and working people, everyone must understand what truly is at stake: the continued growth of the country’s economy; a chance to implement policies that encourage a shared prosperity that raises the well-being of all working people and closes the income inequality gap; the potential to appoint a number of Supreme Court Justices over the next eight years; to create policies that combat climate change while creating good, union jobs in the Green economy; and to ensure that working peoples’ rights are not stripped away but in fact expanded.
It is the right of every citizen of the United States to vote and it is imperative that every Local 3 member acts on that right each and every Election Day. Your right to vote holds every elected official accountable for their decisions and actions in representing you ‰ÛÒ a working American. Your vote counts every Election Day. As working people, we need to ensure our voice is heard loud and clear across our great country. This obligation to vote cannot be taken lightly. Attention is paid by elected officials to those who actively participate in the voting process. Unfortunately, the opposite is true ‰ÛÒ if you don’t vote, what right do you have to gripe about the process or the outcome?
The first step in ensuring you are fulfilling your democratic responsibility is to be registered to vote. It is a simple process to check your voting status online through your state’s Board of Elections website. A surefire way to ensure you are registered to vote with your current information is to fill out a new voter registration card. There are a number of reasons why you may need to fill out a new voter registration card, such as moving to a new address since the last election or changing political parties.
Local 3 has organized a Voter Registration drive that is currently underway to appeal to all of Local 3’s unregistered members. With the help of active members and the Local 3, IBEW 3rd District Youth Committee,
a sub-committee of the IBEW’s Reach Out and Engage Next Generation of Electrical Workers (RENEW), we are mobilizing an outreach effort to grow our politically active ranks. You will be contacted by a Local 3 sister or brother, either on the phone or with a friendly knock on the door. Local 3 volunteers will provide you with a voter registration card that is quick and simple to fill out. No one will tell you which political party to support or for whom to vote. While Local 3 encourages you to keep you and your family’s economic interests in mind when you vote, choosing who you will vote for is a personal and serious decision. So, if you receive a voter registration card in the mail, a phone call, or a knock on the door from a Local 3 sister or brother, be sure to take a few brief minutes to fill out the form and send it right back. The strength of Local 3 derives from being a politically active and engaged group of working men and women who know how to stand up and make sure our collective voice is heard on Election Day.
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