Get Out the Vote

AAUW  Tools to Engage Your Community

Learn where candidates stand on issues of importance to women and girls – and hold them accountable to their commitments. Use the following tools to assist you during the election process.

Feeling motivated? Now’s the time to carry that energy to the polls. After all, when women vote, we change the conversation.

Election Matters: Part I

In our busy lives, it is easy to lose track of key dates and voting requirements. If you are a resident of a state other than Arizona, go to the League of Women Voters’ web site: www.VOTE411.org and get all the information you need regarding registration, absentee ballots, and on-site voting in your particular state.

Arizona Residents: there are two web sites that you should explore. They are simple to use and give you voting history, plus a wealth of voting information.

  1. www.azsos.gov (AZ Secretary of State)
  2. http://recorder.maricopa.gov. 

While on these web sites, it is important that you review these categories of Information:

    • Registration requirements,
    • Proof of citizenship,
    • When you need to re-register,
    • What you need to show as proof of identity at the polling place,
    • Differences of early voting vs. election day voting,
    • What and who you can take into the voting booth with you.

Arizona is one of only a handful of states which offer online voter registration.

  • Use the above websites or you can update your information at the same time as your Driver’s License information or auto tags at the ServiceAZ website: www.servicearizona.com.
  • Four to six weeks after registration you will receive your Voter Card in the mail.
  • It is important to verify the correct spelling of your name, your address, date of birth and party affiliation.
  • Make note of your assigned precinct and districts.
  • All voters can participate in Regular Primary Elections regardless of party affiliation (including Independents). The exception is Presidential Primaries. Voters must be registered in the respective party in order to vote in a Party’s Presidential Primary.
  • If registered to a party you will receive that party’s ballot.

Arizona residents have a number of voting options:

    • Vote by Mail;
    • Vote at Early Voting Site;
    • Vote with help from Special Election Board for people in nursing homes or homebound;
    • Vote at Polls on Election Day;
    • Vote a Federal Write In Absentee Ballot for those overseas.

No matter how, just DO IT!!!

Election Matters –  Part II

We pride ourselves in being educated women – now apply that pride to your knowledge of political issues and the positions of the women and men who are our candidates. Some key questions to ask:

    • What are the candidates’ educational and professional histories; organizational memberships?
    • Which groups and individuals have the candidates allied themselves with? (Getting harder to discover with all the facades with patriotic labels)
    • Which groups have endorsed them?
    • Who are the candidates’ key advisors? Do they have women’s issues and education liaisons?
    • If incumbent, what is the candidate’s record on AAUW issues?

Some key resources to help you answer the above questions – all at your fingertips:

Making a Difference

Unfortunately too many women moderates still feel it is unladylike to be political. This year particularly while the moderates are sitting quietly on the sidelines, many women’s rights – our rights – are being chipped away by groups and legislators working against us.

We often hear – “it doesn’t make any difference who is in office; nothing changes”. But it IS changing bit by bit, right under our noses. So become educated about the issues, dig under the rhetoric of campaign sound bites and speak up for women’s issues.

It is time to show the candidates and policymakers that we take ourselves seriously. And, of course, use our votes – our most powerful tool – to speak loud and clear.

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