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Conduct a Voter Registration Drive
Getting back to school is a wonderful opportunity to help your community get ready to vote in November. Help them get registered to vote. The last date to do that is October 4.
The simplest way is to get blank voter registration forms from your county election superintendent and announce that they are available at your PTA meetings and in the school office. The voter applicant fills one out and puts it in the U.S. mail for delivery, postage paid. The form is also available on the Secretary of State Election Division web site, www.sos.ga.gov/elections.
Or you may arrange to have a deputy registrar available who can help the applicant fill in the forms and take them to the county voter registrar.
Each voter applicant will receive within three or four weeks a voter registration card with the location of the polling place itemized as well as the districts for which the voter can vote. Once registered, the voter can also get that information on the Election Division web site by entering information in the MVP, My Voting Precinct, section. Local races, not filed with the state, will not be listed, but the federal and state offices will be identified. This exercise also confirms that the voter is indeed registered, even if the voter registration card has not yet been delivered.
MAKE A DIFFERENCE. BE COUNTED. VOTE.
DOS & DON’TS FOR PTA DURING THE ELECTION SEASON
Election season is upon us and the candidates are campaigning. They are very anxious to meet and get support from voters and all types of community groups, including PTA. Therefore a review of PTA allowable activity is timely and necessary.
- PTA CAN sponsor voter registration efforts. This kind of project activity is strongly encouraged. In order to be effective advocates for children, a citizen must be registered to vote and educated on the issues. First time voters, our high school students, and newcomers to the community should be encouraged to register and to vote. This is teaching and supporting basic civic education.
- PTA CAN encourage citizens to vote, publicize election dates and location of the polling places. Again, this is actively advocating and supporting basic civic education.
- PTA CAN support or oppose ballot questions such as: educational special purpose local option sales taxes (SPLOST), bond issues for schools and tax assessment questions. However, PTA action in these matters must be based on a position adopted through resolution at the national, state, district, council, or local level. Speaking to a ballot issue, which may happen to be a part of a political candidate’s or party’s platform, does not constitute support for that political candidate or party. Instead, it indicates advocacy on a position of record for the organization.
- PTA CAN sponsor political forums or candidate meet-and-greet meetings. All candidates for a specific office must be invited to participate and each candidate must be given equal time to speak at the forum/meeting. Invited candidates who choose not to attend will not invalidate the PTA activity. Make sure an announcement is made at the beginning of the forum informing the audience that all candidates were invited and that candidate X, Y or Z declined to attend.
- PTA CANNOT support or oppose a candidate or a political party or body. Never lend the PTA local unit's name or your personal PTA title to a political campaign. Never write messages of support or opposition on PTA letterhead or use a PTA distribution medium, such as a directory or an e-mail list, for a candidate.
- PTA CANNOT solicit or accept sponsorships or donations from a political campaign fund. Such sponsorships or donations are often publicized in PTA newsletters and other media, and when paid with political campaign funds, the appearance is that PTA supports that candidacy. Candidates, like any other citizen, may use their personal funds to support local PTA units.
- PTA CANNOT link in any way the PTA name or logo with a political candidate or party.
PTA encourages all members to cast a ballot for candidates of one's choice and to be as active as one desires. PTA Board members should exercise restraint in visible support of candidates, such as yard signs, bumper stickers, campaign pins, adding one's name to a support list for a candidate, etc. If an observant citizen concludes that a PTA leader's support of a candidate constitutes PTA organizational support, then the PTA leader should refrain from the overt activity.
If you have any questions or concerns about any of the above statements, please contact your Local, Council, District or State Legislative Committee member. We’ll find the answer for you.
Resources from Advocacy Conference, September 25, 2009
Other Resources
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