Vote for Change in Philadelphia

The Vote for Change effort continues to register and mobilize new voters in all 50 states. Barack Obama and his supporters have had great success in bringing in people who had never been involved in the political process before.

These new voters and volunteers will play a key role in winning the general election.

Here's a post from Amanda Scott at the official blog on registration events in Philadelphia on July 4.

Vote for Change: July 4th In Philadelphia

by Amanda Scott, Saturday, July 05, 2008 at 09:32 PM

David in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, has been active in voter registration efforts since March. And yesterday he held three events, at the Party on the Parkway, the local July 4th Parade, and the fireworks show. Each of these events is part of the “Welcome America Festival” held in Philadelphia for a week.

I chose this week to do voter registration because Welcome America draws huge crowds, especially on the night of the 4th and 5th, when there are fireworks. We had 61 volunteers sign up to help at the events today, although because it started raining around 7pm, only about 12 showed up.

Despite the rain, we got a total of 112 registrations for the day. People seemed eager to register, probably because the connection between the holiday and the idea of civic participation and patriotism.

I started doing voter registration back in March, for the Pennsylvania primary. I stood on the corner next to the grocery store near my house and registered 394 people over the course of 10 days. When I wasn't doing voter registrations, I was in the Philadelphia headquarters doing data entry and voter protection.

After the Primary in Pennsylvania, David traveled to North Carolina to help with the Get Out The Vote efforts. He then got involved with the local volunteers in Philadelphia.

I attended the kickoff for Vote for Change and have tried to either organize or attend a voter registration event every week. I really love doing voter registration because I find it satisfying to have a tangible result - a stack of completed forms - at the end of the event. Also, people really seem to appreciate that you are out there volunteering and helping others vote.

Philadelphia has a lot of colorful characters, and I like interacting with people on the street and answering their questions about voting, if I can. We've really increased Democratic voter registration in Pennsylvania since last year, and I feel like we will do even better as the summer goes by. My goal is to help Sen. Obama win Pennsylvania by a record margin of victory.

Nothing is more patriotic than making your voice heard by voting. Like David says increasing Democratic voters can make the difference this November. Sign up for a voter registration event in your town and then tell us about it at blog@barackobama.com. And if you attended an event this weekend, send us your pictures at photos@barackobama.com.