[COMM-ORG] ACORN and voter registration

[Discussion list for COMM-ORG]

From:     ACORN <newsacorn at acorn.org>


Dear Friends,

We would like to take a moment to thank you for all of your support 
during these past few weeks. Thanks to you, we were able to not only 
fight but overturn the attacks from the right, and as the Secretaries of 
State in Minnesota, Missouri, and Ohio all said on election night, there 
were no Election Day problems..Thanks to your help, ACORN was able to 
ensure that the voters we helped register were able to get to the polls! 
In states like Indiana and North Carolina, ACORN helped register almost 
the same number of voters as the margin of victory. With your 
assistance, voters were out in record numbers, and reports of voter 
suppression were minimal.

In Pennsylvania, 100 year-old ACORN member Lillian Allen went to the 
polls with the assistance of ACORN Organizer Maryellen Hayden. Ms. Allen 
said it took a long time for her to get the right to vote in America, 
and now, every time she gets the chance, she votes. Not only did she 
vote, but she also went door-knocking to make sure her neighbors voted 
as well!

Cincinnati ACORN had 80 canvassers knocking on over 40,000 doors of 
first-time African-American voters, leaving flyers to let them know what 
they needed to bring to the polls. Organizer Amy Teitelman was at the 
grocery store picking up supplies for her canvassers when she met 
Jennifer Daniel, who was very excited to vote. Jennifer told Amy that 
she didn't think she could vote because she lost her ID, but then she 
got a flyer from ACORN listing all the other acceptable forms of ID, and 
was on her way to vote.

In Florida, ACORN helped mobilized the vote across the state, including 
Leroy Bell in Orlando. Echoing sentiments from ACORN members across the 
country, he said "I have never seen anything like this in my lifetime. 
People are taking pictures of themselves next to the signs, they are 
bringing babies to have their pictures taken, everyone is saying how 
they want to tell them 'you were there.'"

We couldn't have done this without you! Over 13,500 people signed the 
petition in support of ACORN and against the organized attacks on our 
work and with your support we didn't let that stop us from helping 
create one of the largest turnouts in electoral history. Thank you for 
helping us fight back and being a part of history.

In solidarity,

ACORN

ACORN is the nation's largest community organization of low- and 
moderate-income families, with over 400,000 member families organized 
into neighborhood chapters in 100 cities across the country. Since 1970 
ACORN has taken action and won victories on issues of concern to our 
members. Our priorities include: better housing for first time 
homebuyers and tenants, living wages for low-wage workers, more 
investment in our communities from banks and governments, and better 
public schools. ACORN is an acronym, and each letter should be 
capitalized. ACORN stands for the Association of Community Organizations 
for Reform Now.


ACORN's website is at http://www.acorn.org.