Feminist Leader, Actor Urge Students to Get Out Her Vote

Feminist Wire - October 22, 2004

Feminist Leader, Actor Urge Students to Get Out Her Vote
Eleanor Smeal, president of the Feminist Majority Foundation, and Amy Brenneman, star of television's "Judging Amy," urged students at the University of Wisconsin, Milwaukee to register and vote on November 2. Speaking before a large crowd of students on Wednesday, the last day Wisconsin students could register on campus before Election Day, Smeal and Brenneman urged young women, and men, to vote as if their lives depended on it.

Smeal and Brenneman are traveling to spearhead the Feminist Majority Foundation’s national Get Out Her Vote Campaign, which is a voter registration, education, and mobilization drive aimed especially at young women on college campuses. Smeal and Brenneman were joined in the rally by UWM College Feminists (an affiliate of the Feminist Majority Foundation) Wisconsin and Milwaukee chapters of the National Organization for Women, UWM Women’s Studies, UWM Women’s Resource Center, Milwaukee LGBT Community Center, VOX (an affiliate of Planned Parenthood), and People for the American Way’s Election Protection Project. Wisconsin is one of only three states in the country that allows voter registration on Election Day.

“I traveled here today and to Washington, DC for the March for Women’s Lives to add my voice and sound the alarm young women’s rights and lives are at stake in this election,” said Brenneman. “Young women have the lowest voting rates among all women. Yet young women are deeply affected by key issues at stake in this election: reproductive rights, economic equality, peace, civil and human rights, and the environment.

“I especially fear for the future of the United States Supreme Court,” continued Brenneman. “The next President and Senate will fill two to four vacancies on the Supreme Court. The appointment of just one more anti-choice justice could overturn Roe v. Wade and abortion could become illegal in many states, forcing young women into the back alleys once more.”

“The mobilization of young voters, especially young women, has the potential to change the political landscape in the country as a whole,” said Smeal. “If we want women’s issues to count, and women want their reproductive freedom, they must vote.”

“Moreover, we can not allow young people’s, especially young women’s, votes to be suppressed,” said Smeal. “And we must make certain there are enough ballots for every person in Milwaukee to vote. We urge all students to not only to register and vote, but also to give us your Election Day to help mobilize the largest 18-24 year-old turn out since the passage of the 26th Amendment in 1971.”


Copyright © 2004 Feminist Majority Foundation. All rights reserved.

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