WHEREAS:
In 2011, 18 states debated voter suppression legislation and measures were enacted in 14 states under the false pretense of preventing voter fraud and promoting election integrity; and

WHEREAS:
These voter suppression laws take many forms and collectively lead to the disenfranchisement of millions of eligible voters, particularly people of color, women, students and poor, elderly, infirm, and disabled Americans; and

WHEREAS:
These laws make it more difficult to organize voter registration drives, eliminate same day voter registration, reduce the duration of early voting periods, eliminate Sunday voting altogether, purge eligible voters from the rolls and make it more difficult to restore voting rights for previously incarcerated citizens who have paid their debt to society; and

WHEREAS:
Despite waging an unprecedented enforcement effort between 2002 and 2005, the federal government obtained only 26 convictions or guilty pleas for voter fraud, failing to find evidence of any organized effort to skew federal elections; and

WHEREAS:
In the highly-scrutinized 2004 Ohio gubernatorial election, the voter fraud rate was .00004 percent-less than a person’s chance of being struck by lightning during his/her lifetime; and

WHEREAS:
States that have passed voter suppression laws control 171 electoral votes (270 are needed to win the presidency) and contain five million eligible voters who will have a significantly more difficult time voting; and

WHEREAS:
Five of the 12 states that will be battlegrounds in the 2012 election have passed these restrictive laws; and 

WHEREAS:
Too few eligible voters even bother to register to vote. Between 60 and 65 percent of the voting-age population is registered to vote in a given year; and

WHEREAS:
Too few registered voters are exercising their right to turn out to vote. Voter turnout nationwide has hovered around 55 percent of the voting-age population in presidential election years and 40 percent in mid-term elections.

THEREFORE BE IT RESOLVED:
That AFSCME International, its affiliates and members will engage in efforts to protect the constitutionally guaranteed right to vote of its members and their families; and

BE IT FURTHER RESOLVED:
That AFSCME affiliates and members will join with allied organizations and individuals in efforts to stop the passage of and overturn federal and state laws designed to prevent or discourage American citizens from exercising the right to vote; and

BE IT FURTHER RESOLVED:
That AFSCME International, its affiliates and members support local efforts to educate disenfranchised eligible voters and help them to navigate the new processes required to vote in states that have already passed voter suppression laws; and

BE IT FURTHER RESOLVED:
That AFSCME continue to support other like-minded organizations in their efforts to increase voter registration and electoral participation among their membership and disenfranchised groups; and

BE IT FINALLY RESOLVED:
That people fought and died for the right to vote. AFSCME members will continue to uphold the proud tradition of this great union and engage in this fight for civil rights as we have done from Memphis in 1968 to the battles on the front lines of the fight for justice in 2012.

SUBMITTED BY:
Jeanette D. Wynn, Delegate
AFSCME Local 1963, Council 79
Florida

Ketha Otis, President and Delegate
AFSCME Local 2862, Council 79
Florida