Tuesday November 4th is ELECTION DAY in counties across Georgia!

Do you have all the information you need to get to the polls and VOTE?

Poll-locator information
To find your polling location and to check if you are registered in this election go to the GA Secretary of State poll locator page at: http://tinyurl.com/4c5wvl

Voter ID - What to Bring
Check here for a list of acceptable identification: http://gaphotoid.com/

Sample Ballots for City of Atlanta Voters
Find a sample ballot for your district here: http://tinyurl.com/yffrbxv

Let's Get Out the Vote for Working Women and Families!

Why is it worth know knowing what you plan to teach?

By Leslie Hudson:

Take out a sheet of paper and write on it –democracy “for the people and by the people” and the word power; place your pencils down and let us begin....

Good morning and welcome to Introduction to Political Science 101. In this class we will learn about the different political theories and how they helped shape governments around the world; we will compare and contrast these world governments with the United States government and learn about the US democratic process. Also it is my great hope that each and everyone of you will leave this class valuing your selves more as US Citizens and Residents and use the knowledge gained here to improve upon how you see your American dreams and how you intend to live in it[this country].

In the syllabus is a layout of homework assignments, tests and projects that will facilitate two objectives. First, with your successful completion of these various assignments you will demonstrate what you have learned in this class and second, you will be fulfilling the Georgia performance standards for this class. In addition, by the end of this class I hope you will realize how great a country you live in and how your voices can be heard in the United States’ democratic process.

Now as you sit back in your desks with arms folded wondering why is this stuff so important outside of reaching educational standards, I want to share a quote with you from a wonderful professor, Dr. Finley, respectfully, “ The purpose of high school is to enculturate its students with how society works and the democratic concepts of all people having a voice in how they are governed and in understanding how they are governed and how to communicate such a way to be heard.”

In other words , I want you to walk away with the working knowledge of your role in the US democratic process on a local, state and national level and how to exercise your rights to vote, to lobby, to speak to your elected officials with concerns, to petition, and to organized in order to be heard.

Whether you realize it or not you are all unique US citizens. It is the way you walk , talk, dress , your political views, and where your live that determine your uniqueness and this is what shapes your voices in this democratic society. In the beginning of class I had you write on a sheet of paper the words, democracy “for the people and by the people” and the word power, you all are “the people” and your uniqueness is your POWER. Let me explain further, in the 2008 Presidential election “ for the people and by the people” is how Obama was elected to office. Whether some of you voted, made phone calls, had conversations about and/or wore t-shirts supporting the President- all of this could only take place in America. You class are “the people”, that possess exercisable power and voices that deserve to be heard and in this class I will give you the tools that will ensure they are heard collectively and individually.

Also in this class I want you to understand outside of your textbooks and notebooks that your social economic status in your communities is also your power to determine what in your communities you want to change or improve upon to enrich your American dreams and your quality of leisure time. An example an American’s Dream realized was your roles in the 2008 presidential election of Obama. How your leisure time can be maintained or improve upon by using the concepts and tools learned in this class about the democratic process is through petitioning for safer streets to skateboard on; or calling your local representatives about clean and safe parks to play tennis; or voting for street lights so you can play night ball may all be activities that are part of your leisure time, respectfully.

Now that Class is almost over take that sheet of paper and tape it to your notebook to remind you of the value of this class, and that you are the next generation who will have a significant say in how your government is to run, and you will be introduced to what and how democracy is and what your powers are in the democratic process in your lives and communities .

What I mean by power is your voices, each of you has a voice that deserves to heard individually and collectively around your concerns about your life, your community, your workplace and this country we share.

Comments by Leslie Hudson
9to5 Atlanta Chapter Member since 2008
Candidate for Master Degree in Secondary Education Social Science @ Mercer University
She looks forward to becoming a High School Political Science Teacher

TOMORROW!

Go vote!

By now you know how important it is that you cast a ballot in this runoff election. BUT...

Are you still not sure who you're going to vote for? 9to5 recommends you take one last look at the candidates' websites before casting your ballot.

United States Senate candidates:
Jim Martin
Saxby Chambliss

Public Service Commission - District 4 Representative candidates:
Jim Powell
Lauren ("Bubba") McDonald

Georgia Court of Appeals judicial candidates:
Sara Doyle
Mike Sheffield


Do you know where to vote? If not, find your polling place on the Secretary of State's online poll locator!

AND, don't forget:

• Polls are open from 7am - 7pm tomorrow. If you are standing in line by 7pm, you can still vote.

• If your work schedule does not allow you enough time to vote, state law requires your employer to give you up to 2 hours off work to cast a ballot!
  

• You must bring a form of photo identification with you to the polls (see a list of approved IDs).

And never forget:
Your vote counts!

Women Spoke Out!

On November 4th, women spoke! Women took the polls and voted for Barack Obama in strong numbers! Nationally, 56% of voting women elected Obama while here in Georgia, 54% of voting women did. Great credit should be given to African American and Latina women, whose HUGE voting percentages, helped him win. 96% of African American and 68% of Latina women voted for Obama-Biden.

How many of you studied the agendas of both candidates before voting? Now that we have spoken, hopefully President-Elect Obama and Vice-President Elect Joe Biden will listen. We can’t forget that we need help from Congress to pass their agenda. Let’s contact our local and national representatives to tell them that our vote counts and we want to see changes like these! Call on 9to5 Atlanta if you need any help in contacting your legislator.

Obama and Biden have outlined an agenda of issues for working women and families that could bring big changes and relief to many working moms. Here are a few items they would like to do, taken directly from their new website, http://www.change.gov/. Read through them and let us know which items would be most helpful to you, as working mother!

· Provide a Making Work Pay Tax Cut for America's Working Families: Barack Obama and Joe Biden will restore fairness to the tax code and provide 150 million workers the tax relief they need. Obama and Biden will create a new "Making Work Pay" tax credit of up to $500 per person, or $1,000 per working family. The Making Work Pay tax credit will completely eliminate income taxes for 10 million Americans.

· Raise the minimum wage: Barack Obama and Joe Biden will raise the minimum wage, index it to inflation, and increase the Earned Income Tax Credit to make sure that full-time workers earn a living wage that allows them to raise their families and pay for basic needs.

· Expand the Earned Income Tax Credit: As president, Obama will reward work by increasing the number of working parents eligible for EITC benefits, increasing the benefit available to parents who support their children through child support payments, and reducing the EITC marriage penalty which hurts low-income families. Under the Obama-Biden plan, full-time workers making minimum wage will get an EITC benefit up to $555, more than three times greater than the $175 benefit they get today. If the workers are responsibly supporting their children on child support, the Obama-Biden plan will give those workers a benefit of $1,110.

· Extend Paid Sick Days to All Workers: Half of all private sector workers have no paid sick days and the problem is worse for employees in low-paying jobs, where less than a quarter receive any paid sick days. Barack Obama and Joe Biden will require that employers provide seven paid sick days per year.

· Expand the Family and Medical Leave Act (FMLA): The FMLA covers only certain people who work for employers with 50 or more employees. Barack Obama and Joe Biden will expand the FMLA to cover businesses with 25 or more employees, and to cover more purposes including allowing: leave for workers who provide elder care; 24 hours of leave each year for parents to participate in their children's academic activities at school; leave for workers who care for individuals who reside in their home for 6 months or more; and leave for employees to address domestic violence and sexual assault.

· Expand High-Quality Afterschool Opportunities: Barack Obama and Joe Biden will double funding for the main federal support for afterschool programs, the 21st Century Learning Centers program, to serve one million more children. They will include measures to maximize performance and effectiveness across grantees nationwide.

· Expand the Child and Dependent Care Tax Credit: The Child and Dependent Care Tax Credit provides too little relief to families that struggle to afford child care expenses. Barack Obama and Joe Biden will reform the Child and Dependent Care Tax Credit by making it refundable and allowing low-income families to receive up to a 50 percent credit for their child care expenses.

· Expand Flexible Work Arrangements: Barack Obama and Joe Biden will address this concern by creating a program to inform businesses about the benefits of flexible work schedules for productivity and establishing positive workplaces; helping businesses create flexible work opportunities; and increasing federal incentives for telecommuting. Obama and Biden will also make the federal government a model employer in terms of adopting flexible work schedules and permitting employees to petition to request flexible arrangements.

Runoff Election FAQ

The runoff has been confirmed! If you haven't already, please mark your calendar for TUESDAY, DECEMBER 2nd. This election is just as important as the first election! Three important races are still up in the air: the Senate race, the District 4 representative to the GA Public Service Commission, and the Georgia Court of Appeals race.

Who can vote? Every registered voter in the state of Georgia can vote in all three elections!

How can I vote? You can vote on Tuesday, December 2nd, at your regular polling place OR you can request an absentee ballot or early/advance vote!

To vote absentee: Download an application for an absentee ballot here - and send it in immediately! Applications must be returned to your county Board of Registrars Office. Find contact info for your county's office here.

To vote early or in advance: According to the Secretary of State's website, early voting will take place Monday, November 17-Friday, November 21 and advance voting will take place Monday, November 24-Wednesday, November 26. Polls will be closed that Thursday & Friday because of Thanksgiving. To check your early/advance voting locations, please click here.

Who's running?
Senate:
Saxby Chambliss
Jim Martin
Public Service Commission:
Lauren ("Bubba") McDonald
Jim Powell
Court of Appeals:
Sara Doyle
Mike Sheffield



Note: 9to5 is sending out weekly election update emails until the runoff election. If you'd like to be added to the list of people receiving these emails, please let us know!

It's still unclear whether Saxby Chambliss and Jim Martin will have to campaign for another month, before settling their race in a runoff election next month. Votes are still being counted across Georgia, and neither candidate has received a clear majority of the votes. CNN is reporting that Chambliss currently has 50% of the vote, while Martin has 47%. A majority of 50% plus one is needed to win the race.

If this race needs to be settled in a runoff, it will take place on Tuesday, December 2nd. Also on that day, the race to elect representatives to the District 4 Public Service Commission and the Georgia Court of Appeals will be decided. Neither race saw a candidate win a decisive victory. In the District 4 race, Democrat Jim Powell is running against Republican Lauren ("Bubba") McDonald, and in the Court of Appeals race, Sara Doyle and Mike Sheffield are on the ballot.

It's important that you cast a ballot in this runoff election! The outcomes of these elections could be vital in determining public policy in the state of Georgia and across the nation in the coming years! If getting to the polls again on December 2nd will be difficult for you, please vote absentee. You can download a printable application for an absentee ballot here. Complete the application and mail or fax it to your county Board of Elections office. Contact information for this office is available here.


Congratulations to all on a record turnout at the polls in Georgia on Tuesday -- extra congrats if you were a first time voter! This was a big election, and only time will tell what the outcome will be for working Americans.

Election Connection continues...

The 2008 election is over, but it looks like 9to5's Election Campaign will continue on. The Georgia Senate race is so close - neither candidate has the necessary vote of 50% plus one to win - so there will likely be a run-off election next month between the incumbent Saxby Chambliss and his challenger, Jim Martin.

Please check back tomorrow for further updates about what this next phase of the Election Connection will entail!

One working mom weighs in…

As I sit here at my desk, eyes burning red from strain of staring at this computer, fall allergies causing my head to swell and ache, 3 moderately well tempered children entertaining themselves in the other room, I’m thinking and feeling like I’ve some how lost myself in all this election craze. I have with colleagues from work, fellow community organizers, activists and varieties of “concerned citizens” participated in a range of Election Connection Outreach activities. I have registered voters, trained numerous volunteers to do the same. I have passed out voter education materials explaining everything from voter ID laws to how to find and understand a sample ballot. I have called more folks than I ever would want to be in touch with, (as I am really not a phone person, I’m still riddled over the fact that you can get cancer right in your cranium for talking on the darned cell for too long, Not to mention my own family is lucky to hear from me every blue moon, my voice live and in person for them to choke a surprised “hey to” out of their throats, anyway I digress)… encouraging the masses to go vote; vote early, vote absentee, vote on the 4th, vote in advance, but for God’s love GO VOTE!

Today I’m trying to figure out if I have done myself and you, the beloved object of my Election Connection obsession, any good deed. Did I even help to make a change in this “historic” election season? Will my efforts be counted as “part of history”? Well you see it’s not that I’m looking to have my name recorded in the history books, though I think my home schooled daughter would find that rather kool, she certainly made enough of a personal contribution of time, paper cut fingers and unwanted guest appearances at every pro-vote activity in Metro Atlanta. But like I said it’s not the recognition I seek, it’s really knowing my efforts made a difference in the life of a disenfranchised person. Then I thought, do I even need to look outside of myself to evaluate my own effectiveness?

When have my issues been uplifted in any of the debates promoted more heavily and in quite the same fashion as the MTV or BET Awards shows I don’t have the time and can’t afford the cable (bill) to watch? I have heard no one, NO ONE speak about the need for family flexibility policies so that this hard working, civically involved mom can take time from a hectic schedule of organizing the disenfranchised, on behalf of the electoral process to actually go and vote! Yes, yes, I know I have 2 hours with which to “make my voice known” and I am blessed (not lucky, BLESSED) to have a job that informs and educates me about my rights, but what about the masses of other women out there, blessed only to be alive during these “historic times”? Sure my efforts have touched many, but I dare say luck has not made a long term visit at their crib for many a moon. What about them? They are registered, with polling places confirmed, rides to the polls set up, and not a clue about who to vote for or why? Not one tangible piece of evidence that their vote will insure the passing of crucial (local) legislation such as the Georgia Minimum Wage Bill or the Parent Protection Act or uplift the need for national recognition of issues surrounding workplace equality, and social-economic equity. Who are the candidates really and why aren’t they talking about what they are really going to do to positively and productively enhance my life, my financial outlook and guarantee the promise of a healthy future for my children? Certainly they (my children) gave enough (of me) to have me wonder why aren’t the issues really being discussed. And I don’t mean discussed amongst the “enfranchised” voting elite, but why aren’t those in power calling me at home between 5pm – 9pm begging for my opinion on this catastrophe of and economy they created and I work like a slave (yes I said it) to bail out! When will someone stop trying to make me feel like its all too complicated for me to understand, while ensuring me that they are acting now (have always) and have every intentions to act after November 4th on my best behalf. They need to be asking me about “how I can pay a car note, pay rent, purchase food and buy gas every month, not to mention household items, seasonal clothing for both of my children, and even rent a movie every once in a while. I manage to take my children to culturally engaging events and activities, support a variety of social justice causes with time (&YES money), and visit my mother twice a month in a nursing home in Macon (not by my choice, that’s our great Healthcare system not working for working families such as mine) where she convalesces from a massive stroke and aneurism that devastated her, my brother, myself and my two small children almost 3 years ago now. How do I do it? What’s my secret, and am I willing to accept a cabinet post to help the rest of the country do it, balance their damn checkbooks and live within their means?

Well, that may be going too far, I like my job, my little townhouse and my life here in Atlanta, Georgia, but my point is until I see, hear, taste and smell more [dialogs] that reflect my reality, I’m not really moved. I’m not at all inspired. I haven’t yet, but will go vote. I intended to go today, but I had work to do. And I will continue to motivate the masses, but I am hoping many will join me and say “WHAT ABOUT US REALLY?” And the only reason why any of this election stuff matters is because I matter. I am working like a slave (again, if I wanna claim that ancestral heritage bond I feel deep in my soul and see reflected in every face in my community) and now you greedy massa’s want the chitt’lins for yourselves too!

www.votesmart.org

In solidarity,

Shyria C.

Do you know how to vote in Georgia?

There are multiple ways to cast your ballot in Georgia. Which way is right for you?

Your first option is to vote at your polling place on Election Day. After you registered to vote, you should have been sent a voter registration card, which tells you where your polling place is located. If you have lost your card or do not know where to vote, check your polling location here. At your polling place, you will complete a voter certificate, which asks your name and address. You must present an accepted form of photo identification (see the list of approved IDs below) to the poll officials before casting your ballot.

However, voters are expected to turn out in record numbers in Georgia on Election Day, so we recommend that you vote early or in advance. Early voting allows you to cast your ballot in person, weekdays from 8:30 am to 5:00 pm. Early voting began Monday, September 22, and ends Friday, October 24. Advance voting allows any registered voter to cast a ballot in person Monday through Friday of the week prior to the election. This year, advance voting will be held October 27-31. You will need to bring a photo identification to vote early or in advance (see list below for approved IDs). To check your early and advance voting locations, please click here.

Note: you cannot vote on the Monday right before the Tuesday election.


What are Georgia voter identification requirements?

Georgia law requires that you bring a photo ID when you vote in person. Bring one of these six forms of identification to vote:
1. a Georgia driver's license, even if expired
2. A valid state or federal government-issued photo ID, including one issued by the Dept. of Driver Services or your county registrar's office
3. a valid U.S. passport
4. a valid employee photo ID from any branch, department, agency, or entity of the U.S. government, Georgia, or any county, municipality, board, authority, or other entity of this state
5. a valid U.S. military photo ID
6. a valid tribal photo ID


Can I look at the ballot before I go to vote?

Yes! You can request a sample ballot from your county Board of Elections office. Sample ballots contain important information, so it will not be unfamiliar to you when you go to vote. Save time on Election Day by reviewing your sample ballot to research candidates and resolutions, and mark your choices before going to your polling place.


What if I need assistance at the polling place?

A voter may receive assistance at the polls if they are unable to read the English language or have a physical disability that renders them unable to see or mark the ballot, operate voting equipment, or enter the voting booth. If you need assistance, please contact your county registrar's office.


Who can I contact with further questions about voting in Georgia?

GA Secretary of State, Elections Division
404-656-2871
404-656-1787 (for hearing- or speech-impaired)
888-265-1115 (toll-free)
website

League of Women Voters (Atlanta)
404-577-8683
website

Note: If you would like to contact your county Board of Elections office and do not know how to reach them, please contact the Atlanta 9to5 office at 404-222-0037 and we will give you this information.


Who should I vote for?

9to5 is a non-partisan organization and we do not endorse any candidate for political office. We recommend that you visit one or more of the following websites for non-partisan information about the candidates, or you can download the 9to5 Election Connection Voter Guide here.

Project Vote Smart
Declare Yourself
League of Women Voters
Vote Gopher


Election Day is Tuesday, November 4th. Make sure to vote as soon as possible! Call the Atlanta 9to5 office at 404-222-0037 if you have any more questions about voting.

Blog Action Day 2008: Vote to end poverty on November 4th!

The 2008 election is shaping up to be one of the most important in this nation's history. The candidates are talking about the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan, rising fuel costs, education, healthcare, and a stagnating economy. The decisions that will be made to solve these and many other problems will directly affect America's low wage workers -- those living paycheck to paycheck, those struggling to put gas in their cars, and those who want to make sure that their kids stay in school, but who can't take time off work to take them to the doctor or even to enroll them in classes.

That's why it's essential that working women head to the polls and cast their ballots this November 4th. Your opinions matter!

During the last few months, 9to5 staff and volunteers have been distributing Election Connection Voter Guides, helping working women learn more about the issues that are important to them in this election. While the candidates are out debating and campaigning, you can use this guide to help you determine where the candidates stand on these crucial issues. If you would like to download a copy of this voter guide, please click here.

By acting together, working women have the power to determine the outcome of elections -- and to forge new public and workplace policies. Let the candidates know how you feel about the following issues!

What do working women value?

We value work-family flexibility and vote for politicians who support basic labor standards to ensure a family-friendly workplace. Working women need more accessible and affordable family and medical leave, including paid family leave insurance.

We value equal opportunity. We vote for politicians who support an end to all forms of discrimination in the workplace. Low-wage women will never be able to pull themselves out of poverty until they earn a fair wage for the work they do.

We value family-supporting jobs and an end to poverty. We vote for politicians who recognize the dignity of all people and the right to a higher quality of life for working families. Working women deserve strong safety net policies that support families as they transition from poverty to economic self-sufficiency.

Tell us: What issues matter most to you as a working woman in this election?