Dear Friend,

What would you do if you were harassed or turned away at your polling place?

As an ACLU supporter, chances are you'd probably confront anyone who challenged your right to vote. But there are hundreds of thousands of Americans who don’t know exactly what their rights are and might not be prepared to challenge authorities who try to prevent them from voting November 2.

That's why the ACLU is taking aggressive steps to protect the right to vote this year. And why I am asking you to make an urgent contribution to help the ACLU protect the right to vote and defend our civil liberties.

Here's what we are doing:

• Empowering voters. ACLU staff is distributing hundreds of thousands of Voter Empowerment Cards to people especially at risk of voter discrimination in 30 states (including Florida, Ohio, Pennsylvania, California and New York), informing them of their rights and how to exercise them.
  
  
• Fixing the technology. There is no excuse for the use of antiquated, error-prone equipment in the voting process. The ACLU is working to get rid of the “hanging chad” machines by challenging unreliable punch card voting machines in states like Ohio. We are also insisting that new touch-screen voting technology be audited, tested and verified.
  
  
• Preventing a Florida repeat. We have been working non-stop in Florida to ensure we don’t have a repeat of the chaos that occurred after the 2000 election.

Your gift of any amount will help protect the right to vote and protect basic freedoms during the most intense voting environment in decades.

The bottom line is that our work over the next four weeks could affect thousands of voters. The ACLU will be out in full force on Election Day to see that all votes – Democrat or Republican – black, white, or Hispanic – young or old – are counted. We’ll be carefully monitoring the voting process, intervening to help unjustly treated voters whenever we can, and gathering critical evidence that will be needed should post-election legal action be necessary to defend freedom.

Your contribution will help the ACLU ensure that every vote is counted on Election Day as well as carry out all of our other crucial work.

Thank you for your support.

Anthony D. Romero
Executive Director