Library helping voters REV UP Column: Library helping voters REV UP

This week, the Delaware County District Library is participating in a national effort to help ensure that disabled voters’ voices are heard. This effort, known as the REV UP Campaign, has designated July 17-21, 2017 as National Disability Voter Registration Week. REV UP stands for Register! Educate! Vote! Use your Power!

There are five reasons that you’ll want to pay close attention to the REV UP campaign.

5. The disability community has a huge stake in the results of state and federal elections. Justin Dart, father of the Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA), said “Vote as if your life depended on it, because it does.”

4. At a level that has never been achieved before, national and state disability organizations are actively registering disability voters leading up to Election Day. REV UP partners include the American Association of People with Disabilities (AAPD), National Disability Rights Network (NDRN), National Council on Independent Living (NCIL), EveryLibrary, state protection and advocacy agencies, centers for independent living, councils on developmental disabilities, local libraries, and several other state and local organizations.

3. The REV UP Campaign has kicked off in many states already, with the goal of reaching every state.

2. National and local elections will be affected as REV UP increases the political power of the disability community, while simultaneously engaging candidates for public office and the media on disability issues. The REV UP campaign is committed to continual engagement in communities across the country through 2017 and beyond.

1. There are over 35 million people with disabilities eligible to vote when registered. This number does not even include “the ripple effect” of family, friends, and service professionals who will vote in-line with disability interests. During National Disability Voter Registration Week, REV UP Campaigns around the country will make a concerted effort to get more people with disabilities registered to vote, educate voters about issues and candidates, promote turnout of voters with disabilities across the country, engage candidates and the media on disability issues, and protect eligible voters’ right to participate in elections.

This year, AAPD is pleased to announce a partnership with EveryLibrary to bring National Disability Voter Registration Week 2017 to libraries across the country. Hundreds of libraries in nearly all 50 states have signed on to promote the goals the July 17 -21, 2017 National Disability Voter Registration Week through programming, outreach, public education, and voter registration partnerships or on-site services.

For more information on the REV UP Campaign, National Disability Voter Registration Week, and how to help in your state please contact AAPD, the national REV UP Coordinator, at www.aapd.com/REVUP. The REV UP Campaign offers a host of information on registering to vote, ways to drive civic engagement, and a compilation of state-specific resources and events.