League Registers Voters at More Than 260 Community Events

National Voter Registration Day Provides Thousands with Entryway to Political Participation

Washington, DC – – The League of Women Voters is proud to participate in the fourth annual National Voter Registration Day 2015 (NVRD), a nationwide effort to register hundreds of thousands of voters on a single day. As a founding partner of NVRD and the single-largest on-the-ground organization, the League and more than 1,800 partner organizations have helped register 350,000 new voters on this day of action in past years.

“We are excited to once again be a part of NVRD across the country,” said Elisabeth MacNamara, president of the League of Women Voter of the U.S. “Hundreds of volunteer League teams have stepped up to the challenge this year in places like the middle of downtown Richmond, Virginia, where statewide elections are happening this year, at ten locations across Marin County, California, in nine locations across Eastern Alabama, and much more.  Hundreds of League teams are finding new voters at bike races, supermarkets, gyms and new citizen ceremonies. With each voter we register, the League is helping to get as many people participating as possible. This is our democracy, and for it to work best, we need everyone to weigh in so our elected officials hear from all of us on Election Day.”

“We’ve said it before but it is so important that it bears repeating: Voter registration is the key to helping Americans participate in the political process. Research shows that simply asking a friend or relative to vote can have a major positive impact,” noted MacNamara. “We all have people in our lives whose voter registration isn’t up to date. Send them a text or email today, make a phone call or share a cup of coffee. You can help them get started by visiting the League’s election information website www.VOTE411.org.”

NVRD, founded by the League and other voting rights and community organizations in 2012, has been a highly effective nonpartisan campaign to register hundreds of thousands of eligible voters through on-the-ground neighborhood events as well as online. Embraced by President Obama earlier this year on the 50^th anniversary of the Voting Rights Act, as well as a host of celebrities, bipartisan elected officials and organizations, NVRD 2015 will showcase hundreds of events as the primaries and caucuses for the 2016 elections quickly approach.

“There’s a lot at stake in next year’s election: our economic and national security, the environment, health care and the well-being of our neighborhoods and schools. National Voter Registration Day is the perfect day to ask our neighbors to register for the first time, update their voter registration if they’ve moved, or ask your friends and family to make sure they’re registered and ready to weigh in,” said MacNamara.

“Eligible voters can continue to count on the League of Women Voters for help navigating the election process and our community-based education, registration and get-out-the-vote activities in every election,” MacNamara said. “We host candidate and issue forums and registration drives while also providing trusted and timely elections information on VOTE411.org. We do this because we believe our democracy is strongest when every voice is heard.”

“This National Voter Registration Day 2015 gives League supporters another opportunity to exercise our commitment to Making Democracy Work®,” concluded MacNamara. “The League of Women Voters has 95 years of history as a powerful national network that empowers people every day to tackle important issues and improve government. On this National Voter Registration Day, we will be working to touch as many eligible voters as we can so they can all participate in our great democracy.”

###

 Contact: Kelly Ceballos, 202-263-1331, [email protected].

 “Like” the League on Facebook. Follow us on Twitter: @LWV.