The importance of voter registration and voting has taken on added significance for the upcoming mid-year elections. National and local voter registration and education programs are sprouting up all over.

Recently, the Democratic National Committee has launched its"Every Vote Counts" campaign. This large-scale voter registration, education and mobilization program will be a part of Democratic coordinated campaign in every state.
"Every Vote Counts is designed to increase participation and make our government more representative of and more responsive to the people it serves," DNC Chair Terry McAuliffe said in announcing the program recently. "It will target those citizens who have historically been left behind by the political process and victimized by barriers to civic activism."

News reports of this effort with said celebrities, such as Michael Jackson, are being enlisted to get the word out. Smart move. Candidates would be wise to attract new, first-time voters and get them in the habit of voting.

In Texas, the Ron Kirk campaign for U.S. Senate and the remaining sting from the 2000 Presidential election fiasco has made voter registration a priority. In Austin, a new voter registration, education and mobilization effort is gaining momentum.
ROB-Register 100 Blacks-is the brainchild of Joyce Hunt, owner of Mitchie's Fine Black Art gift and art gallery. Hunt recalls the feeling she had when she witnessed the selection of George W. Bush as president of the United States. "We have just been robbed. It came to me," she said of the acronym for the voter program.
Hunt has been a pioneer in this effort before ROB. She was the owner of the first Black small business in Austin to become an early voting site in 1991. Since that time, she has become convinced that the key to electoral success of candidates sensitive to the needs of African- Americans goes beyond registration.
"Registration is just part of the three-step process," said Hunt. "We have to get people registered, we have to educate them on the process, the importance of voting as well as the issues, and we must motivate people to vote," she explained. "Voting is a product we have to sell. We have to market it."
Hunt is using her own money to spread the word about ROB.She has purchased airtime on community radio station KAZI and she barrages people on her email list with voter information. Why is she willing to invest so much time, money and effort?

"We have an obligation to our ancestors who died for this right," she explained. Hunt is a deputy voter registrar and is spending her precious free time studying Texas election law. She encourages other to follow suit.
"If you would like to become a volunteer duty registrar or register to vote apply online at http://www.texasonline.state.tx.us/travisco/voter/home.htm.   Remember you do not have to be a Volunteer Duty Registrar to pass out voter registration cards, encourage, and educate our people on their right to vote. We all need to get involved," she said. She added that her ROBTOVOTE.COM website will be coming soon.

Also in Texas, RegionVII of the NAACP will continue its aggressive voter mobilization program into November, under the direction of Claude Foster. In the March primary, the NAACP was a key reason for the record turnout of African-American voters.  The NAACP targeted their voter registration and mobilization efforts in 25 key counties. This fall, African-Americans should vote as if their life depends on it-because at some level, it probably will.