AFL-CIO launches voter protection site MyVoteMyRight.org

Because voting is a fundamental RIGHT

Buying alcohol is a privilege. Getting to see an R-rated movie is a privilege. Driving is a privilege. On the other hand - and despite what conservative commentators and right-wing politicians would have you believe - voting is NOT a privilege.

Voting is a fundamental right of every American citizen and a cornerstone of our democracy. Voting is a right generations before ours fought and died to secure, expand, and protect. Comparing exercising your constitutional and inalienable rights to cashing a check or buying a beer cheapens that sacrifice.

Voter ID laws are poll taxes in disguise. They are solutions in search of a problem. They are about politics; about a party in power trying to stay in power, consequences be-damned. They are an assault on our fundamental freedoms. And they are being pushed by the same people who would deny your right to collective bargaining and would elect an outsourcer-in-chief in the White House. Don't be fooled into thinking otherwise.

Voter ID laws are voter suppression laws. "In this country, 11 percent of Americans who would be eligible to vote do not have voter ID," says AFL-CIO Executive Vice President, Arlene Holt Baker:

AFL-CIO has launched a new site, MyVoteMyRight.org, to inform voters and track the attacks on their fundamental right to participate in the democratic process. There you can find information about registering to vote and view a map of vote suppression legislation by state:

Map of Shame: Voter suppression laws in the USA.

Click here to check out MyVoteMyRight.org.

No Voter ID in N.C. - not yet, anyway

North Carolina is lucky to have a governor in Bev Perdue who proved she would not be a radical, right-wing rubber stamp for our out-of-control state legislature's plans to disenfranchise hundreds of thousands of law-abiding, tax-paying citizens of our great state Once in elected to power under the current rules, Republican leaders on Jones Street - Thom Tillis and Phil Berger - tried to pull up the ladder to power by changing the rules. It is ONLY because of Governor Perdue's veto and the determination of enough legislators to sustain that veto that the sham of Voter ID did not become law... this time. When voters go to the polls in North Carolina November 6th, we will decide whether we want our out-of-control legislature to get another chance at passing Voter ID, at repealing same-day registration, at ending one-stop early voting, at ending Sunday voting, and at denying college students the right to vote where they go to school. Voters will also decide whether we want a rubber stamp for said legislature to occupy the governor's mansion. Click here to learn more about Voters' Rights and voter suppression laws.