In the wake of the 2000 presidential elections, many people - Americans and people across the world - are concerned that we could have yet another dubious outcome of this year's presidential race.  I spoke in late October with Alan Charney, the Civic Engagement Director of US Action Education Fund, who has been working to organize and mobilize communities of color and under-represented populations for 30 years.  In preparation for this year's election, the US Action Education Fund, a federation of local, state, and national affiliates that works to promote racial, social, economic, and environmental justice, joined with other such federations in a massive nonpartisan voter registration and "Get Out the Vote" campaign.  Their efforts resulted in the registration of 1.2 million new voters.  In addition, the groups targeted and provided assistance to five million low propensity voters to help get them to the polls on November 2nd in key areas regarded as having a significant impact in this election.

The US Action Education Fund is a 501(c)3 nonprofit group.  Unlike partisan "527" groups,  such as Swift Boat Veterans for Truth and MoveOn, which must report all donations, all money collected by US Action Education Fund is considered a charitable donation, the amounts of which people are not required to report.

This has been, by far, the largest and most highly funded voter mobilization in US history.

- Lorna Tychostup

Lorna Tychostup: What exactly have your pre-election voter registration efforts been?

Alan Charney: In terms of a major effort into voter registration this week and this year, with all our partners around the country - we're a federation of organizations - we've registered over 550,000 new voters.  Primarily under-represented constituencies, African-American and Latino [voters], with some concentrations of native peoples in New Mexico and Arizona - primarily Navaho - and also a separate project of registering unmarried women who are an under-represented constituency as well.  All together, the number is 550,000.  And quite frankly, we haven't completed that job yet because some of the registration programs go up until election day, because some states have same-day registration.

LT: How many organizations would you say are participating in your federation?

AC: I'll list the states.  We've done voter registration in Washington State, Oregon, New Mexico, Arizona, Colorado, Missouri, Iowa, Wisconsin, Michigan, Illinois, Tennessee, West Virginia, Florida, Maryland, Pennsylvania, a little in New York, New Hampshire, and Maine.  So as you can see you can see, it's a variety of states.

LT: Twenty states?

AC: Should be about 20 all-told, yes.  These are states in which we have affiliates.  A few of the states where we don't have affiliates didn't do registration, but most of them did.  Some of the registration numbers are quite large - in Florida we registered 87,000 people.  In Michigan about 55,000, in Washington State over 50,000.  In Missouri over 50,000, in Arizona about 48,000 - these are very large numbers.  You can't get to 550,000 without having some large numbers like that.  And our efforts have been done primarily on the ground, at sites and door-to-door: transit stops, various social service offices, street corners, grocery stores, Wal-Marts, places like that.

LT: Did you hire people to do this?

AC: We hired people and we had volunteers - a combination of the two.

LT: How many volunteers would you say you had?

AC: Hundreds of people volunteered.  We had over 400 people on the street that we had hired - maybe not at any one time except at the high point in the summer we might have had that many people on the street - and then we had hundreds of volunteers in addition.  It takes that kind of effort.  If you do four or five registrations an hour at the doors, you register about two or two-and-a-half people an hour.  So to get to 550,000 you have to tough it out day by day.

LT: How can you be sure when these people show up at the polls they'll be allowed to vote?

AC: We're part of a consortium of nonpartisan organizations that have been working together to register people.  We've databased all the new registrants and matched their names up against the voter files of the various states and jurisdictions.  And where we've seen problems - where we've seen there are people we have on our list and they are not getting on the rolls - we've taken action to work with those election authorities to make sure these people get on the rolls.  In several cases, we've actually sent people into the [election] boards and gone through the pile of voter registration cards that the boards have claimed weren't accurately filled out.  And we have gotten the information from the newly registered voters and called them up or visited them to rectify those cards.  So we've taken affirmative action consistently to make sure that everyone that we've registered gets on the rolls.  And through our "Get Out the Vote" program, we're taking as much affirmative action as we can, along with other partner organizations that we're working with around the country - such as Project Vote, ACORN [Association of Community Organizations for Reform Now], and NAACP - to make sure that as many of these newly registered voters as possible get to the polls and vote.  But we have created extensive voter files with their names on them, as well as  what we call "infrequent" voters - people from primarily black and Latin communities who don't vote that often.  And we're doing door-knocking and phone calling to get folks out to vote in a completely non-partisan way on election day.  And where there's early voting and vote-by-mail, we have encouraged people to do that as well.

It's what we call shoe-leather election activity.  We're not relying upon the media, we're not even relying upon mail for this.  We're relying upon person-to-person contact to energize and mobilize people to exercise their constitutional right to vote.  Just our organization alone will be contacting about 1.2 million people this way.  And when you add in all the other nonpartisan organizations participating, it will be about 5 million people.  These are very large numbers.  We couldn't do this, by the way, if there wasn't a ground swell of interest in participating in this election.  In other words, you can't dragoon people to register and then to vote.  The fact is that this election has sparked a lot of interest for a lot of people.

LT: Why?

AC: Why?  Two reasons.  I think that people look to the last election and they realize that because they didn't participate, things may not have gone the way that they would have liked.  And secondly, they understand that this time there is perhaps more at stake for the future of this country and this election than in many other elections in the past.  That's a perception that many people have, and that people we work with feel rather strongly.

LT: Your efforts are nonpartisan?

AC: They are completely nonpartisan.  We don't advocate for the election or defeat of any candidate.  But we advocate for participation, and we rely upon the fact that there's tremendous interest in this election, to motivate people and make sure they get to the polls.

LT: When they fill out their voter registration forms, are they required to put down what party they belong to?

AC: No, they are not required.  In some states you actually enroll in a party and in other states you don't.

LT: Have you been registering Democrats as well as Republicans?

AC: We don't even know.  We don't even keep records of who we've registered in terms of Democrat versus Republican.  In other words, on this database we've created there is no field that says how they've registered.  We are a nonpartisan operation.  We register people based upon the premise that certain constituencies in America - African American, Latino, single women, native peoples - have been historically underrepresented in the electorate.  And that we have a right and a duty to register and mobilize those constituencies so that their voice is heard as loudly as the other constituencies and groups that participate in the elections.  We are doing this so that we have a fuller and richer democracy.  I know that sounds like mom and apple pie, but that's how you approach things in a nonpartisan way.

LT: OK, it is November 2. What efforts will be made this day?

AC: On November 2 we're going to knock on everyone's door three times.  People will get two robo-calls from prominent individuals urging them to get out to vote.  We will be offering people rides to the polls in some areas.  Particularly with the single women consistency, some of who obviously are single mothers, we will actually be offering them free day care.  In Florida we have set up a 1-800 number: 1-800-MOM-VOTE.  And we've gotten day care centers to donate some of their time and services, which is quite spectacular.  So we're making every effort to make it as easy for people to vote as possible.  In areas where there's early voting - that is, where polling places are open before election day, or where there's vote by mail - we're encouraging people to do that.

LT: Have you pinpointed specific areas where you think people might be intimidated when they attempt to vote?

AC: No.  We don't do special work in areas based upon that.  We do, however, work in conjunction with a wide variety of organizations in a national election protection program to make sure that there is a network of lawyers and poll-watchers.  So if any activity arises where there is direct voter-suppression or there is misinformation - deliberate or benign - given out at polling places, we will know about that and be able to get appropriate legal teams and move them into action as quickly as possible.  For example, we expect that in some jurisdictions, in some polling places, the poll workers may give the people who come to vote and whose names don't appear on the rolls the wrong information and tell them that they're not allowed to vote.  In fact, that's not true.  They have the right to cast a provisional ballot.

LT: Is that true in all states?

AC: That's true in all states.  If a person claims that they are in fact registered and they're not on the rolls, they can cast a provisional ballot.  A determination will be made after the election as to whether that particular vote counts or not, but they have a right to vote - they're innocent until proven guilty, in other words...if we can use that term.  It used to be the other way around.  New legislation since the 2000 elections made that possible.  It was part of the response to what happened in the 2000 election.

LT: Was that part of the Vote America Act?

AC: It was part of the Vote America Act.  The biggest problem we expect will be problems around provisional balloting - that people will come in and their names won't be on the rolls for one reason or another and that they'll need to cast provisional ballots.  Another problem we expect is that people will come in and will need to show IDs in certain cases and they won't have requisite IDs.  But they'll still be allowed to vote through provisional ballots.  Provisional balloting is the main thing that needs to be enforced.  We expect to see some voter suppression - deliberate attempts to stop people from voting.  And that will be dealt with through this election-protection network that we're part of.

LT: It is absolutely shocking to hear you say this, even though I've heard it before that people would be suppressed from voting in America.

AC: It's a fact of life.  It's not shocking.  Every election things like that happen.  The question, and this is something I can say from a nonpartisan point of view, is whether it's just random little groups here and there, and individuals doing it, or whether it's a coordinated national effort by groups.  Obviously, the former is not something we want to tolerate but is something that you would expect in any election to a certain degree.  But coordinated attempts to suppress the vote is something which you know is tampering with people's fundamental constitutional rights, and the kind of response that needs to be given really can only take place, unfortunately, after the election and not before because a lot of the damage has already been done.

LT: You've mobilized what sounds like an army of people to help people get registered to vote.  November 3 has arrived.  It sounds like you're going to have a ton of these provisional votes and that they're going to need to be counted.  People are concerned that they will wake up on November 3 and they will not know who is president for another few months.  Do you have any contingencies set up based on potential scenarios, to deal with post-election issues?

AC: Well, that's one possibility.  If there is a challenged election we will make our volunteers and our staff available on November 3 and beyond - to work with other nonpartisan groups and the legal network that's been set up, to do what we can to unravel any of the problems that arose as a result of November 2. In other words, we'll be available to go in and to volunteer in any election jurisdiction to do recounts and to work with authorities to make sure that all the provisional ballots are looked at and adjudicated in the correct way.  We don't have a particular plan separate from the plan of the whole election-protection network that's been set up to continue our work past November 2 - if that's necessary.

LT: You don't have a plan?  Have you talked amongst yourselves about the different possibilities?

AC: Oh, yeah, and we have.  We prefer not to dwell on the potential problems that can emerge right after November 2. The reason is very simple.  We believe that because of the massive work that we and other organizations have done this year, that there's going to be an outpouring of folks to vote this year.  And even if there are problems at various polling places, that those problems will not get in the way of an election that will have a result that people will be able to feel, I wouldn't say not comfortable with, but that people will feel the results from this election are in fact not in dispute.

LT: Are you predicting a landslide?

AC: Not landslide.  No, I'm not talking about a landslide.  What I'm talking about is that the participation level will be much higher and as a result of that - let me back off.  Let me say it this way.  Of course, there is a probability that we will have a very close election in several states and not know the result of the election November 3, but it is also true that our job now is not to focus on November 3 but to get the biggest possible turn out on November 2.

LT: Yes, I understand that.

AC: If there are problems after November 2, our job will be to mobilize all those people whose votes have been thrown into question, to get them active to put pressure on the election authorities to make sure their votes are counted.  We will organize and join with others to organize a campaign that will carry forward from November 2 to make sure that that all steps are taken to have the most accurate count of all those who voted on that day.

LT: In the last election major election people were caught kind of unaware of what could be done -

AC: Right.

LT: Do you have -

AC: Look, what's the key here?  Most of the battle after November 2 is a legal battle.  It's a legal battle because it requires you to go through and do recounts, you have to go through the provisional ballots, you have to look at questions of why certain people who registered didn't get on the rolls.  You have a whole series of legal things you have to go through.  What was missing last time - even though many people were outraged - what was missing is that kind of mobilization of voters.  And we are capable of mobilizing newly registered voters whose votes may be in jeopardy, because we've talked to them and because we have them on lists.  We're capable of mobilizing a campaign to make sure that there will be a fair count and a fair adjudication after November 2 if that's necessary, whereas we weren't in that position four year ago.

LT: Well, some would say it's not just a legal battle but it is going be a political battle because it may come before Congress.

AC: It may very well.  And again, we will be organized and have sufficient numbers of staff and volunteers to be able to mobilize people to put pressure on Congress to make sure that the election is adjudicated in a fair way.  There's nothing more we can say at this time about it because we don't know exactly what's going to happen.

LT: I go around talking to people all around the country, and the biggest issue that I hear coming out of people's mouths is that they feel that their vote won't count, that they feel powerless, that they feel disenfranchised and powerless to do something in the event of such an occurrence.  Where can I send my readers if on November 3 they wake up and don't know who's president and they want to do something about it?

AC: Tell them the number to call to find out what to do after the election is 1-866-OUR-VOTE.  That is the number that's used now by anyone to report any problems related to voting, so that's the number that people would call afterwards as well.

LT: Anything else you would like to add to this?

AC: Just that the voter registration activities that the US Action Education Fund, its affiliates, and other groups have done is the largest nonpartisan voter-registration "Get Out the Vote" program in American history.

LT: And the most expensive, would you say?

AC: And the most expensive.  You can't have the largest without it being the most expensive.

LT: Because it's nonpartisan, you've been able to gather funds without people having to report how much they've given.

AC: Exactly.  Who told you that?

LT: I've been reading.

AC: The answer is yes, and we'd like to keep [the unreported giving] that way.