Day 122: Florida Freedom Summer of 2024:  Mass media understandably will be focused on the Mid-Term Election results at least through Sunday publication with continuing reports on the Georgia U.S. Senate run-off until the new year.

 

Those of us committed to blunting the Trump mania and election deniers haven’t got the luxury of time to marshal every resource to that end.  Democrats did better than expected as several reports have indicated because of the new votes being cast by young voters, particularly young women.   Our objective is to have the youth vote, the GenZ vote expanded to such an extent that the volume will blunt any attempt to claim the 2024 outcome to be a fraud.  Voter registration starts now.

 

The push to get out the youth vote proved to be successful in several states in 2020 and 2022, Now the object should be for Democrats to pick up all the states they did in 2020, including Georgia, and turn North Carolina or Missouri around.  That will be necessary to offset results in Arizona and Nevada by 2020 by election deniers,  They  will make enough of a fuss in those states to negate any meaningful outcome,

 

But the key in 2024 will be the size of the turnout, which will set records, if the young people who become eligible to vote this year, next, and early 2024, as they turn 18, are registered to vote and ready to go.   Especially critical are young blacks who have not been encouraged by the actions and antics of each party.  No, they won’t vote Republican, but they too often won’t vote at all.  They’re especially likely to be indifferent, if they are not registered to vote.

 

Publicized voter registration drives have to begin immediately.  Holiday parties should include references to voter registration. 

Democrats should be proposing automatic voter registration for 18-year-olds in states which do not already have such provisions (See attachments.)  

 

I have suggested proposing compulsory voter registration akin to previous compulsory military draft registration for men.   Why couldn't or wouldn't Congress pass a law to require every person regardless of gender to register on their 18rh birthdays?  The birthdays could also be tracked.  Conscientious objections would be allowed for religious groups which do not participate in earthly affairs.   

 

However, I have gained little support for the idea,  primarily in the belief  by others that Republicans would automatically oppose that idea.  But just the suggestion might be enough to trigger empathetic reports in some places.

 

 

Automatic voter registration (AVR) on a state level certainly is a viable solution.  The registration kicks in when a person gets a driver’s license, or intersects with government agencies some other way. Certainly the issue should be raised on every college campus across the nation.  Fraternities, sororities,  independents should have voter registration parties. 

 

What can’t be doubted after the Mid-term 2022 elections is that the Republican explosion might have happened if not for the turnout of voters under 35.   Just as the public has been informed about voting habits among certain blocs—blacks, Jews, Asian-Americans, Latinos, women, etc. -consciousness clearly was raised this time about the actions of GenZ and its actual and potential influence on several races.  (see attached).

 

Youth persistently has favored Democrats for years.  A key obstacle to their voting is the registration process which puts the burden on the individuals to take action to register within a certain amount of time usually announced just BEFORE an election.  But any citizen who turns 18 can register immediately during normal business hours, particularly at offices in many jurisdictions maintained by the local or state supervisors of elections.

 

Publicity before the voter registration period rarely equals that before the election. So some will wake up 24 hours or more too late and decide to vote, only to learn they can’t because they aren’t registered. 

 

That unhappy philosophy has to be turned in this election cycle.  Democrats have to get as many new voters registered as soon as they come of age, i.e. 18 years old, for federal election purposes.

 

If Republicans blocked any and all attempts to encourage automatic voter registration  that could be held against them.   Also propose this for states as well, if the federal legislation is blocked.   Any reason to shoot this down will be welcomed.  I  was just getting ready to vote when this inspiration came to me. 

 

Forty years ago, my boss called me into his office to congratulate me on  an idea I had to challenge the constitutionality of exams given only in English to determine eligibility to enter a secondary technical public high school in Connecticut.  I had to pass such a test in Mathematics and English to enter Bronx High School of Science.  Such exams have been shown to contain bias in some of the questions, i.e.,  for example, in hypotheticals, in which English fluency is required.  The Connecticut barrier came down and Puerto Rican students especially those who came from the Island after being educated in Spanish there, passed the exam in Spanish,  and began to learn about veterinary science, radio mechanics, draftsmanship, etc.

 

The agency director added that I seemed to have such a good idea every day.  I beamed as I headed out of his office, until I heard him say, loudly, that the trouble is, he never knew which of the ideas I floated on any given day was the good one.   I hope as I keep posting one article every day you readers will figure out which one is it on any given day.

 

Gabe Kaimowitz, Esq., aka Gabriel Hillel for Florida Freedom Summer of 2024