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Sunday, November 8, 2009
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November 03, 2008 - If young voters expect to make a difference in Tuesday's election, they must turn out in large numbers. Several organizations are working hard to make sure that happens. Even though most polls indicate that Democratic Presidential Candidate Barack Obama is leading the field, the groups that are working to make sure young people show up at the polls are all preaching the same message: every vote counts.
Matthew Segal is the executive director of the Student Association for Voter Empowerment, or SAVE, a group that will operate car pools and shuttles on college campuses across the country to get young voters to the polls.
"It's absolutely crucial that young people speak to one another, reminding them to go vote, reminding them that it's Election Day, asking them if they need any help getting down to the polls," he said.
Eshawn Rawlley works for the George Washington University Chapter of Students for Barack Obama. He says his group will be in Arlington, Virginia early on Election Day.
"Basically it's a midnight canvas," he says. "Instead of knocking on doors, waking people up, we are going to be hanging door-hangers on the doors of IDed supporters."
Groups like Rawlley's are hopeful this will make a difference. Matthew Segal of SAVE is confident that young people will turn out on Tuesday.
"Most of these voters ideally understand the huge significance of this election and are willing to overcome as many obstacles as they can to get down to the polls," he said. "But it certainly doesn't hurt to make things a little easier on people."
Even though some organizers are concerned about long voting lines on Election Day, they are still emphasizing the importance of every voter casting a ballot.
Brian McCabe reports...
November 03, 2008 - (Through Nov 16) SUSPICIOUS ACTIVITIES Claudia Gibson-Hunter presents Suspicious Activities at the DC Arts Center through November 16th. Her paintings and multi-faceted works portray recent and ongoing crises and conflicts, from the Iraq war and Hurricane Katrina to unsolved murders in D.C., exposing the slippery slope of language, media and politics and exploring the "suspicious activities" that pervade our political climate. image: Aziza Claudia Gibson-Hunter, Collateral Damage, Bleach color pencil and acrylic, 2007.
(Nov 9) LAND OF THE HEADHUNTERS Edward Curtis's landmark 1914 film Land of the Headhunters is restored, re-framed and re-screened in the East Building of the National Gallery of Art this Sunday at 6:30pm. The all-Native American Coast Orchestra Ensemble plays the original score to accompany this melodramatic, silent film that chronicles life in the Pacific Northwest before European contact. The film is presented in honor of the gallery's exhibit of paintings by George de Forest Brush. For jpegs of the film original billboard - Taylor Hobson t-hobson@nga.gov t-hobson@nga.gov
(Nov 4) ELECTION NIGHT PARTY If you're still looking for an election night party complete with big screens and free munchies, you can head to the Rhino Bar off M Street in northwest D.C. Tuesday starting at 7:30pm. You can watch and discuss the results as they pour in for the presidential race and other contests throughout what is expected to be an exciting, and - for some - nerve wracking night.
November 03, 2008 - Police in D.C. continue to work with federal authorities to monitor sex offenders.
Paul Brennan, with the sex-offender unit from the Court Services and Offender Supervision Agency, or CSOSA, says his unit and M.P.D. work together every day. They meet with offenders at lease twice a week, and his unit monitors others by satellite.
Jessica Forre has more...
November 03, 2008 - In Northern Virginia, some taxi drivers are volunteering their time to help voters get to the polls tomorrow. Driving a mini-van, Mulugeta Yimera taxi driver, picks up a passenger at Braddock Metro Station in Alexandria. His meter is on today, but tomorrow he will turn it off.
He and 23 cab drivers with Union Cooperative Cab will provide free transportation to the polls. Yimer is orginally from Ethiopia and is now a U.S. citizen. By giving people free rides to the polls, he says he can help them take part in the democratic process.
Voters in need of transportation can call Union Cab at 703-683-1200 or Virginia New Majority at 703-967-7325.
Jessica Forres has more..
November 03, 2008 - Katie Knapp takes a look at the presidential race in Nebraska, and Elizabeth Wynne Johnson previews a new study about the effects of late-night comedy on news consumption.
November 03, 2008 - Two U.S. Senate candidates in Virginia are trying to buck the trend of electing candidates from the two major political parties. Last week we profiled Libertarian William Redpath. Now Tommie McNeil takes a look at Independent-Green Party candidate Gail Parker, who says transportation should be the focal point of political campaigns...
November 03, 2008 - Tewnty-seven people from Maryland have been released from prison early this year because of a change in federal sentencing guidelines to try to close the gap in penalties for crack and powder cocaine. It's been a year since the guidelines were amended. The U.S. Attorney's office in Baltimore says in addition to the twenty-seven prisoners released, another 113 offenders remain incarcerated but have had their sentences reduced. Other requests are pending. The U.S. Sentencing Commission initially projected about 280 Maryland residents might be eligible to have their sentences reduced, but authorities say in the first year more than twice that number have asked. U.S. Attorney Rod Rosenstein tells the Baltimore Daily Record the unexpected caseload has required a significant use of his office's resources but he says it hasn't obstructed other work.
Matt McCleskey reports...
November 03, 2008 - Some say the answer to youth crime is to "lock em up" and throw away the key but commentator Vincent Schiraldi says a very different approach is already proving a success. Schiraldi directs DC's Department of Youth Rehabilitation Services...
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November 03, 2008 - As voting-rights groups continue to question the ability of Virginia to handle tomorrows voter turnout, the city of Alexandria has been repeatedly singled out for potential problems. But the city's top election official is confident tomorrow will run smoothly.
Alexandria Registrar Tom Parkins is no novice when it comes to historic elections. Before joining the city, he worked for years in the Balkans helping several countries administer their first ever elections. But he admits this contest is special. The challenge and the reward for Parkins has been the unprecedented level of interest in the campaign. He estimates that an amazing 85 percent of all active registered voters in Alexandria will cast ballots tomorrow. But he dismisses claims that his city will be overwhelmed.
He says his office is over-estimating on purpose how many voters are expected to show up. Still he warns there will be long lines tomorrow and expects wait times of over two hours. His best advice: avoid the early morning rush and try to vote during the mid day.
Patrick Madden reports...
November 03, 2008 - An election watchdog says Virginia is seventh in the country when it comes to calls to the group's hotline about voting problems. Election Protection runs a non-partisan Web site that documents all the voting problem calls it receives at its phone number, 866-OUR-VOTE. Virginia ranks seventh one day before the election according to Jonah Goldman, the director of the National Campaign For Fair Elections. Statewide, eight voter intimidation incidents have been reported. One happened in northern Virginia. Saturday, a woman in Arlington received a phone call, telling her she could only vote on Tuesday. The woman intended to vote absentee in person on Saturday.
Matt Bush reports...
November 03, 2008 - Volunteers have been helping D.C.'s homeless people register to vote. Even without permanent addresses, they can register because the forms include a box in which they can draw a map of the intersection where they sleep. Tuleen Ozdeger, with the National Law Center on Homelessness and Poverty, says anyone who lives outside or on a street corner can put down that street corner as their home address.
But there's a catch. Many states and D.C. ALSO require a mailing address where they can send a voter registration card.
During a recent registration drive in Franklin Square, volunteers helped people like Ralph Hudnall navigate that obstacle by writing in the address of a shelter. Volunteers will man the polls on Tuesday to make sure no one is denied their right to vote.
Asma Khalid reports...
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