Claim Democracy Conference

Posted by on October 17, 2003

CLAIM DEMOCRACY CONFERENCE: NOVEMBER 22-23

Tired of attempts to change electoral rules in the middle of the game? Wasted votes? Money-drenched politics? Bad voting equipment? Political failures to represent and inspire America’s magnificently complex and diverse population?

If so, please join a broad coalition of pro-democracy organizations that have organized a major conference on: “Claim Democracy: Securing, Enhancing and Exercising the Power of the Right to Vote.” Promising to be the largest gathering of its kind in years, the conference will take place at the Washington, D.C. Convention Center on the weekend of November 22-23, 2003.

The conference features an exciting mix of high-profile plenaries, hands-on workshops, book signings and break-out sessions specifically geared to youth, grassroots activists and democracy advocaes. Presidential candidates and Members of Congress are among those expected to address the conference.

The conference will include:
* A Friday evening pre-conference welcome at the Washington College of Law at American University, with music and showing of pro-democracy documentaries, and a Saturday evening program with spoken word poetry.

* On Saturday, two plenaries and break-outs organized in particular for youth, state reformers and democracy advocates. democracy. There will be three sessions for each break-out group, all addressing:
1) securing the vote (including steps being taken to protect and secure voting rights, such as the Help America Vote Act, voting rights residents of the District of Columbia, election day registration and felony disfranchisement laws; 2) enhancing the vote (including reforms that address voter motivation such as campaign finance reform, full representation, Section 2 of the Voting Rights Act and instant runoff voting); 3) exercising the vote (focused on efforts to encourage voter participation in 2004).

* On Sunday, there will be a series of four sets of 10-12 breakout sessions that will include a mix of workshops and trainings on different aspects of pro-democracy work, with some sessions organized around specific issues and some on tactics.

Participants can register on-line (http://www.democracyusa.org) or through the mail. There are significant savings for early-bird registrations (before Novemer 1) and for those registering with 10 people. There is a block of rooms at a reduced rate at nearby hotel. For information, contact the Center for Voting and Democracy at (301) 270-4616 or visit http://www.fairvote.org