CLEVELAND, September 17 — BLET members are encouraged to celebrate National Voter Registration Day on September 24 by ensuring their voter registration is current and encouraging their family, friends and fellow BLET members to register to vote.
The BLET and the Teamsters are participating in this nationwide drive with more than a year to go before the 2014 mid-term elections, when control of Congress and state legislatures will again be at stake.
As part of this effort, the Teamsters have compiled voter registration information from all 50 states into one easy to find section of their website. The information can be found here on the Teamster website. This is a password-protected area and the password has been placed in the members’ area of the BLET website. Also, the voter registration information is available on each individual state’s Secretary of State website.
“Over 60 percent of all members of the International Brotherhood of Teamsters are registered to vote,” National President Dennis R. Pierce said. “The IBT has set a goal to increase this number by an additional five percent. Registering to vote is an easy way to make a difference in both our industry and our country, and I urge all BLET members to do so.”
Another day of action for voter registration will take place on November 5, 2013, one year prior to the mid-term election.
“Voting is a fundamental right of all Americans,” BLET Vice President & National Legislative Representative John Tolman said. “All BLET members should be registered to vote, and should encourage their fellow railroaders, their families and their friends to register as well. Each election is too important to sit out, and even if only a small fraction of our members do not vote, that is too many.”