By Nathan Henderson-James

In These Times' July 2008 cover story, Expand The Vote, posted to its website on June 11, prominently features Project Vote's work to create an electorate that is representative of the American citizenry. 

Adam Doster, an In These Times  senior editor, frames the
article by showcasing Project Vote's 1992 Illinois voter registration
drive, directed by young recent law school graduate Barack Obama, and
shows the impact that members of underrepresented groups can have in
elections, no matter who they choose to support. 

In stepped a young organizer named Barack Obama. Fresh out of Harvard Law School, Obama moved to Chicago to head up the local branch of Project Vote, a D.C.-based non-partisan voter registration organization focused in low-income communities of color. Recruiting staff and volunteers from community groups and black churches, he helped train 700 deputy registrars and devised a comprehensive media campaign based around the slogan "It's a Power Thing." His volunteers hit the streets and registered more than 150,000 black voters in only six months. According to a 1993 report from Chicago magazine, the elections "turned on these totals."

Sixteen years later, in the midst of his own presidential campaign, Sen. Barack Obama (D-Ill.) hasn't forgotten the crucial lesson he learned canvassing Chicago's South Side: Activating underrepresented communities can dramatically alter close elections.

Doster goes on to profile the work of several national organizations working to bring underrepresented groups into the electorate, including Project Vote's record-breaking effort. 

[A] slew of successful organizations will ramp up their own efforts in the coming months.

Among them is Project Vote, Obama's employer in 1992. Working in partnership with ACORN, the nation's largest community organization of low- and moderate-income families, Project Vote orchestrates comprehensive drives targeted in low-income urban communities. Organizers are trained to canvass outside of locations where residents generally congregate -- grocery stores, bus stops and religious institutions.

According to [Project Vote Deputy Director Michael] Slater, Project Vote registered more than 1 million voters in each of the last two cycles. Sticking to its time-tested formula, Project Vote has set a goal of 1.2 million new registrants.

Doster does a good job of contextualizing the work to expand the electorate by giving an overview of the current state of lagging voter particpation by underrepresented groups. 

"About 64 million Americans are eligible to vote but are not registered to vote," says Slater. "That's about one-third of the entire voting-eligible population. So the opportunity to expand the electorate is there."

Among underrepresented constituencies, the statistics are even starker. While the voting rate for young people between ages 18 and 24 shot up 11 percentage points from 2000 to 2004, the registration rate sits at a paltry 58 percent. It's not much better for voters of color: African Americans (69 percent), Latinos (58 percent), and Asians (52 percent) all trail non-Hispanic white voters (75 percent). (If people of color were to vote at the same percentage as whites, there would be more than 5.5 million [additional] votes.)

The unusual nature of this year's Presidential election with regards to participation from underrepresented groups is summed up by Michael Slater. 

"For many years, candidates ... tended to compete for people who are already in the electorate, rather than expanding the electorate," says Project Vote Deputy Director Michael Slater. "They thought of a slice of the pie rather than trying to grow the pie. So it's interesting to see a candidate that is really talking about growing the size of the electorate."

Nathan Henderson-James is the Director of Project Vote's Strategic Writing and Research Department (SWORD).