HelpingAmericansVote.org Launches Voter Information Service
Tuesday June 15, 12:01 pm ET

WASHINGTON, June 15 /PRNewswire/ HelpingAmericansVote.org today launched a new non-partisan, online information service for early voting and vote-by-mail. The service offers a way for private-sector groups corporations, associations, affinity groups and others to help employees and customers learn more about early voting (in-person or by mail). It provides voters with simple, easy-to-understand instructions and official state-approved forms using existing e-mail and corporate communications systems.

HelpingAmericansVote.org is the only service that provides voters with information and assistance for both "vote by mail" and "in-person" early voting the emerging method of choice in a number of states.

For 25 years, states have been working to simplify the voting process and shorten lines at the polls on Election Day. In the case of mail-in-voters, officials want to move voters entirely off the precinct rolls and into the mail-in ballot universe. In all but one state, legal changes are altering the electoral landscape:

    * California In the 2000 presidential election, one in four voters
      2.7 million in all cast their votes early. Among California voters,
      more than 1.2 million have opted into permanent mail-only voting.
    * Tennessee In 2000, 38 percent of the vote was cast early. "Election
      Day" spans 16 days.
    * Iowa "Election Day" is 40 days long, with in-person voting beginning
      Sept. 23.
    * Oregon An all-mail state. No polling places. All voters receive their
      mail-in ballots more than two weeks before the election.
    * Florida, New Mexico and Washington State Elections are 14, 15 and 20
      days long, respectively. Washington also offers a permanent absentee
      mail option.

"The old system of absentee voting is quickly giving way to no-excuse, early voting," said Bob Babbage, former Secretary of State in Kentucky and President of HelpingAmericansVote.org. "I believe this service is a great way to get the word out to voters and increase turnout in the future. Our hope is to provide this new information to over 50 million registered voters in 2004."

"On behalf of the Secretaries of State, I want to commend HelpingAmericansVote.org for providing this valuable information," said Mary Kiffmeyer, Minnesota Secretary of State and President of the National Association of Secretaries of State. "It will help more Americans take advantage of new state laws that make voting easier and more convenient."

HelpingAmericansVote.org is advised by a distinguished, bi-partisan Technical Advisory Board of current and former secretaries of state and chief election officers. All 50 states and the District of Columbia have worked with HelpingAmericansVote.org on developing this new service.

A number of top corporations and trade associations are already using the service including Boeing, Charles Schwab, Kodak, DaimlerChrysler, Southern Company, Walgreens, Amgen, Bristol-Myers Squibb, the National Association of Home Builders, the National Restaurant Association and the Credit Union National Association.

HelpingAmericansVote.org has also developed a fun and informative tool an interactive Electoral College Calculator. The Calculator is available to clients and the public free of charge. The program allows the user to designate which candidate they think will win each state, shows the 2000 vote total for each state as a reference, and calculates the Electoral College votes. The calculator also has historical electoral voting information for all previous presidential elections. The calculator can be found at http://www.helpingamericansvote.org/calculator

More information on this new service can be found at http://www.HelpingAmericansVote.org

Brian Lunde is the Lead consultant for HelpingAmericansVote.org. He has more than 25 years of campaign management and grassroots organizing experience at the national, state and local levels. Mr. Lunde specializes in working with corporations and associations who wish to adopt a more aggressive role in managing issues and public policy. Lunde is a former Executive Director of the Democratic National Committee and served as campaign manager for Senator Paul Simon's campaign for President in 1988.