For a week in March, eight youth and young adult activists and UUSC staff joined nearly 100 others in Orlando to learn about and participate in voter registration and get out the vote campaigns. They joined Project Democracy, a national initiative to increase voter participation – especially among young adults.

Participants heard from many inspiring speakers, including Maria Elena Durazo, executive director of the Immigrant Workers Freedom Ride, and Lois Gibbs, an activist who gained fame during the Love Canal, Buffalo, N.Y., environmental disaster. Additionally, they heard from many knowledgeable speakers on a variety of topics specifically focused on assisting young people in implementing successful voter registration campaigns.

The Service Committee is committed to making sure that U.S. voters—especially youth and young adults—are educated and participate in the upcoming election process. Working with the Unitarian Universalist Association, we are creating opportunities through our Defending Democracy initiative for our members and supporters to register, educate, motivate and mobilize voters across the nation.

Everyone can participate in upcoming elections

Throughout the week, the group did door-to-door canvassing to register voters. The first day was Florida's election day and they worked hard to get out the vote for the presidential and mayoral primary races.

The UUSC participants returned to their homes in states all across the eastern half of the country to lead and participate in voter registration work. They emphasized the importance of participation by youth of all ages. Cadell Hornbuckle, 16, of Vero Beach, Fla., says, “I will not be old enough to vote in the upcoming election so I want to do everything I can to get others to do so.”

During March, UUSC program staff members also attended additional trainings sponsored by the NAACP in Alabama and Camp Wellstone in Illinois. In turn, UUSC will be hosting Defending Democracy forums and workcamps, which will encourage clusters of UU churches to come together this spring and summer to sponsor election-related activities in their own neighborhoods.

Posted Mar. 26, 2004