About a week ago I attended the launch event for the Hip-Hop Team Vote campaign here in Philly. Spearheaded by Russell Simmons (see my cellphone pic at left), Ben Chavis and others, the campaign’s goal is not only to get young voters out to the polls, but to turn them into voting activists — registering their immediate and extended family members and spreading the word about voting rights in general. The animating logic here is that communities must take the initiative, but it goes without saying that the U.S. must take concrete steps to facilitate access and remove all undue obstacles to the polls. I’m hardly the first to ask why, for instance, Election Day is on a Tuesday. Open the polls on a weekend and wouldn’t the turnout spike automatically? Democratic participation isn’t necessarily that simple, but a few simple steps would almost certainly help.
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