Please Vote on November 5!

by Patricia Dowd, Equality State Policy Center

The vote is the building block of democracy. Economic status, race, creed and color are shed at the voting booth, where all Americans become truly equal.

As a rule, elected officials listen to voters. They are much less interested in constituencies they feel will neither hurt nor help them on election day.

Yet only about half of Wyoming's eligible voters are actually registered.

In response, the Equality State Policy Center (ESPC) is conducting three voter registration projects this fall in areas where voter registration and turnout have been historically low. These projects are part of our overall program to help underrepresented communities gain more political clout.

The first campaign is a continuation of our highly successful North Casper registration project in 2000, when we registered more than 200 new voters as part of a community event held on election day. A similar project is now underway in downtown Cheyenne, along with a long-term voter registration and education campaign on the Wind River Reservation.

It's critically important for members of the conservation community to exercise their clout in elections. County commissioners, state legislators and five elected state officials make many decisions affecting Wyoming's clean air, clean water, open spaces, wildlife and access to public lands. We as conservationists need to learn about candidates' views and hold them accountable for their voting records.

Information on Wyoming legislators' past campaign contributions and voting records can be found on ESPC's website at www.equalitystate.org; look for the buttons for The Wyoming LAP* (Legislative Accountability Project) Book. You can also read legislators' answers to the Wyoming Conservation Voters' (WCV) 2002 questionnaire on WCV's website at www.wyovoters.org.

Other sources of information on elected officials' voting records and campaign contributors include Project Vote Smart at www.vote-smart.org; the League of Women Voters at www.lwv.org; the Center for Responsive Politics at www.opensecrets.org; and the National Institute for Money in State Politics at www.followthemoney.org.

If you are not registered to vote, you may register on election day (Tuesday, November 5) at your polling place. You may also simultaneously register and vote early at your county clerk's office after October 1. Contact your county clerk for information on where to register, where to vote, voting at home by mail and other voting-related questions.

This November 5, please vote, and take a friend with you!