Election 2012: 5 Campaigns That Encourage Vets, Marginalized Groups To Vote
Four years ago, voter turnout was 49 percent -- the highest since 1968. Still, it remains to be seen if voters will come out in droves as they did during the election. To make sure that no avoidable factors -- ranging from intimidation to a lack of a photo ID -- keeps people at home on Nov. 6, five organizations are hitting the ground to do what they can to encourage all groups to get out and cast their ballots.
Get Out The Vet
Get Out The Vet, an organization where veterans help register fellow vets and military members overseas send out their ballots, is deploying former Special Operations Force members to patrol poll stations to reduce voter intimidation. According to "Bullies at the Ballot Box," a new report from Common Cause and Demos, intimidators may target voters based on race or ethnicity, and hover over them as they cast their ballots, or even purge voter rolls. Get Out The Vet hopes that stationing servicemen at the poll stations will ward off ballot bullies. Learn more here.
