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FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
Contact:
Camila Gallardo, NCLR
cgallardo@nclr.org
(305) 215-4259 or (305) 573-7329
Town hall meeting highlights new voting rules; underscores need for increased civic engagement
MIAMI—Today, NCLR (National Council of La Raza), the American Civil Liberties Union (ACLU), Progress Florida, South Florida Jobs with Justice, Catalyst Miami, Florida Immigrant Coalition (FLIC), and other local partner groups held a public town hall meeting to provide potential voters with important information related to recent changes in voting procedures. Participants heard from the Miami-Dade County Elections Department about the voting process and were given an opportunity to try a sample touch screen voting machine.
In addition, representatives from the ACLU and NCLR spoke about the importance of voting and increasing civic involvement.
“There are so many issues at stake in this election—education, continued economic recovery, health care, immigration—that particularly affect Hispanics across the country. The state of Florida is certainly no exception; in fact, we’ve got some of the nation’s highest unemployment and foreclosures rates,” said Natalie Carlier, NCLR Regional Coordinator for South Florida.
“If our community doesn’t get to know more about these issues and potential solutions, or turn out to vote in November, we are giving away our ability to impact future policies at every level—from local, to state, to national,” continued Carlier.
While recent changes to the state’s electoral laws have shortened early voting periods and placed extra requirements on potential voters, speakers at the forum urged those gathered to take advantage of voting early.
“We want the community to take advantage of voting early or voting-by-mail as much as possible. It’s easy to have something come up at the last minute on Election Day, so we want folks to have a plan and schedule it like anything else important in their daily routines,” concluded Carlier.
NCLR is currently engaged in a national effort to register Hispanics across the country through its Mobilize to Vote campaign (M2V). Mobilize to Vote has full-time operations running in Florida, Colorado, Pennsylvania, and Nevada and soon will expand to other states, including California, North Carolina, and Texas, working in partnership with NCLR’s Affiliate Network. In addition, a web portal will allow Latinos nationwide to register to vote online.
This week, NCLR and partner organization Cuentame released a 2 minute video clip which details how to register and vote in the State of Florida. Watch it below:
For more information regarding NCLR’s voter registration and voter education efforts, please contact Camila Gallardo, NCLR Senior Communications Manager, at (305) 573-7329 or cgallardo@nclr.org.
NCLR—the largest national Hispanic civil rights and advocacy organization in the United States—works to improve opportunities for Hispanic Americans. For more information on NCLR, please visit www.nclr.org or follow along on Facebook and Twitter.
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