The Rex Foundation presents...
This ain’t your daddy’s election. a guide to voting from HeadCount and Oxfam America
Get loud. Change the world. Believe in democracy. Exercise your rights. Make an impact. Be proud.
A guide to voting | HeadCount and Oxfam America
Vote. Did you know that less than 65% of American citizens over the age of 18 voted in the last presidential election? Wake up! This ain’t your daddy’s election. This one is going down in the history books. That’s one of the reasons that HeadCount and Oxfam America teamed up to create this election-year nonpartisan guide to help you register. However you vote, make an educated decision and cast your ballot this year. This guide includes: • FAQs about registration and voting (pp. 2–5) • Info about issues facing America and the world—the sort of things that your vote can affect. The info includes words from musicians, describing the issues that matter most to them (pp. 6–23), and a concise guide to a handful of issues that are often not discussed but can have a big impact on the lives of millions around the world (pp. 24–35).
HeadCount and Oxfam America | A guide to voting
Learn how. Visit www.HeadCount.org for more voter information, including contact information for your state and local election offices, registration deadlines, absentee ballot applications, and other resources.
A guide to voting | HeadCount and Oxfam America
I’m not 18, but will be by the election date. Can I register? YES. If you will be 18 by the day of the general election, you can register to vote. I have moved. Do I need to re-register? YES. You must re-register every time you change your permanent address (or the address to which you are registered to vote). How do I know where to vote? Find your polling place by visiting the web site of your state election office or calling your state election office. Links to all state election web sites can be found at www.HeadCount.org. Can I register to vote if I don’t have a driver’s license or don’t have it with me? Almost all states request a driver’s license identification number on the voter registration form. However, most will also accept the last four digits of your social security number while a few states require a full social security number. Check your voter registration form for the specific requirements. Can I check to see if I’m registered to vote? YES. Call your state or local election office to verify that you are registered. Contact information can be found on state election web sites.
HeadCount and Oxfam America | A guide to voting
Do I need to pick a party when I register to vote? NO. However, some states require that you be enrolled with a party to vote in that party’s primary election. If you do not choose a party, enter “Unaffiliated” on your voter registration form. To find out more information regarding your state’s political parties, visit your state election office web site. Why do they ask for my phone number? Can it be my cell number? Phone numbers are used to contact registrants if there is a problem with information on their registration form and can also be used for get-out-the-vote efforts. A cell phone number is acceptable. How long does it take to process my registration? You should receive a voter registration card in the mail within five to seven weeks after registering. If you do not, contact your state election office. Can I register to vote at my student address? YES. Federal law allows you to register to vote at your school address (including oncampus addresses). However, it is important to have some sort of proof of address and residency that can be presented at your polling place. If you receive mail at a student mailbox or post office box, you can sign an affidavit (or get a letter from your college’s residential life office) asserting that you live at your dorm address.
A guide to voting | HeadCount and Oxfam America
When is the deadline to register to vote? Generally 30 days prior to any election; however, this varies by state and may also vary depending on whether you mail in your application or deliver it in person. To find specific information regarding your state’s registration deadlines, visit your state’s election web site or www.HeadCount.org. How do I vote if I will be away from home on election day? You can generally vote by absentee ballot if you will be away from home on election day. Visit www.HeadCount.org for more information on absentee voting. I don’t live at the address on my driver’s license. Can I register my new address? YES. Bring a photo ID and proof of address (such as a bill) when you vote. Can I vote if I am a convicted felon? Laws vary from state to state. Check www.HeadCount.org for an updated state-by-state list of restrictions. I’m going to school, but I don’t know what my address will be. Can I register? YES. You can register at your permanent address and vote in most cases by absentee ballot or you can wait to register to vote until you know your school address.
For more information, go to www.HeadCount.org.
HeadCount and Oxfam America | A guide to voting
Listen up.
A guide to voting | HeadCount and Oxfam America
My issue. My voice. My vote. As a nonpartisan, nonprofit organization dedicated to registering voters and inspiring participation in democracy through the power of music, HeadCount asked musical artists to tell you about the issues that are on their minds this year. Whether you agree with them or not, they have stepped forward to give voice to what matters to them.
HeadCount and Oxfam America | A guide to voting
Bob Weir
Ratdog / The Grateful Dead
“
I would love to see democracy re-emerge in America. Right now, what we have is more of a plutocracy—government of the people by the elite, for the elite—based on the theory that if the elite are doing, well then the benefit will filter down to the people. I think it’s been aptly proven that it doesn’t work. There’s been a lot of talk about upsurge in youth involvement in government. The youth are the people who haven’t had a chance to become ingrained in the plutocratic system. If they get involved, it can be a democracy.
”
A guide to voting | HeadCount and Oxfam America
HeadCount and Oxfam America | A guide to voting
A guide to voting | HeadCount and Oxfam America
Boyd Tinsley Dave Matthews Band
“
We need someone who can start moving the country forward. Right now, we’re stuck with war and people are sick of that. And people are fed up with the economy—the gas prices, the mortgage crisis. No doubt it’s a ripple effect. We’re spending so much money— trillions of dollars on a war—and there are so many better ways to spend money in this country, especially to help people. The majority of the mainstream of the country really want us to disengage from this war. We need somebody who’s going to lead.
”
HeadCount and Oxfam America | A guide to voting
A guide to voting | HeadCount and Oxfam America
Colin Meloy
“
The Decemberists he band and myself have always been fervent supporters of T same-sex marriage. The Republican side is pretty staunchly against it, and the Democratic side tends to be conservative in their progressivism, adopting this line about a compromise being civil unions or domestic partnerships, which many states have adopted. But in my opinion, both civil unions and domestic partnerships are a crass update of a separatebut-equal dogma. The basic things that are afforded people through marriage—from tax benefits to hospital visitation rights, as well as the symbolic power of marriage—should be something that anybody can enjoy, regardless of their sexual orientation.
”
HeadCount and Oxfam America | A guide to voting
Jerry DePizzo O.A.R.
“
obbying the government and big oil to find new ways to power L vehicles, power homes, and power your everyday life is extremely important in this election year. Finding alternative sources is really essential. People need to figure out ways in their everyday lives to have less impact on the environment.
A guide to voting | HeadCount and Oxfam America
�
HeadCount and Oxfam America | A guide to voting
A guide to voting | HeadCount and Oxfam America
Oteil Burbridge The Allman Brothers Band
“
One of the issues that’s on my mind most is the insanity of the health care industry. Look at what elderly people are having to go through—what their medicines cost. Social security is not going to cover the medicine they need, let alone other living expenses. I have to pay for my own insurance. Fortunately, I can make enough money to do that. But, man, if I was just a regular Joe out there, this would be killing me.
”
HeadCount and Oxfam America | A guide to voting
Chris Wood Medeski Martin & Wood
A guide to voting | HeadCount and Oxfam America
“
hy is it so hard for our government to make real changes that benefit W more people? We need a president who will go to great lengths to promote transparency in government. Otherwise democracy will never work the way it’s supposed to. A few initial steps on this path would be requiring lobbyists to disclose the candidates, leadership PACs [political action committees], or political parties for whom they collect or arrange contributions and the total amount of contributions. We also need accountability in military and security contracts. One reason the war is so expensive is because companies overcharge the government for their services. Politicians are supposed to enact policy that helps people, not just corporations. This is a corruption of democracy and capitalism that has a huge negative effect on individuals and the environment.
”
HeadCount and Oxfam America | A guide to voting
Marc Brownstein The Disco Biscuits
“
I think that the credit crunch and the mortgage crisis and the deficit— these are the prime issues. The Fed was lowering the interest rates to make it really easy for people to borrow and we’re feeling the effects of that now. The economy is so bad that people are just worried about their money. Businesses are making less money because people don’t have money to spend. Gas prices are insane, so people don’t have money to travel. It’s all connected.
”
HeadCount and Oxfam America | A guide to voting
Liz Berlin Rusted Root
A guide to voting | HeadCount and Oxfam America
“
he thing that’s been most on my mind this election is the breaking T down of the historical barriers to positions of power in this country. I think it’s beautiful. We as a nation are pushing the envelope on the nation’s concept of presidential viability. I believe this will have enormous impact on our nation as a cultural whole and hopefully on the future of our political leadership. Regardless of who ultimately wins the presidency, I think a lot has been won for the cultural diversity that is America. I truly hope that we as individuals will actively seek to move beyond our habitual comfort zones and embrace the inherent value of every American. It is only from there that the road toward true equality can be taken.
”
HeadCount and Oxfam America | A guide to voting
Speak up.
A guide to voting | HeadCount and Oxfam America
Your issue. Your voice. Your vote. Don’t avoid voting because you can’t sort out the issues. There are plenty of easy ways to learn more. By visiting the candidates’ web sites, you can get info on where they stand on basic issues. But as a nonprofit organization that creates lasting solutions to poverty, hunger, and injustice, Oxfam America wants to call your attention to a few critical issues that sometimes get overlooked. Here’s how Oxfam recommends addressing them. Make your vote count. HeadCount and Oxfam America | A guide to voting
Fight climate change. It’s not just polar bears that are at risk because of environmental change. At a human level, poor people—who have generally done the least to cause climate change—end up getting hit hardest. Did you know that 97% of all natural disaster-related deaths take place in developing countries? During the 1990s, nearly two billion people in these countries were affected by disasters related to climate. And if we don’t take immediate action, things will only get worse.
A guide to voting | HeadCount and Oxfam America
As the richest country in the world, the US has the resources and responsibility to help avoid this crisis. We can tackle climate change by leading the effort to reduce global warming emissions and by providing financial support to help communities that will be hardest hit. Any climate policies should be fair and equitable and ensure that low-income people are not overlooked.
> Oxfam calls on the presidential candidates to do the following: • Demonstrate how their climate policies will help vulnerable communities respond to the serious global climate changes they are facing, support low-income energy consumers here in the US, and promote clean energy and energy-efficient technologies internationally. • Present their plans to reduce emissions sufficiently to avoid a global temperature rise of 3.6°F—the point at which the world would experience huge shocks to our water resources, food production, sea levels, and ecosystems.
>W hat will you call on the next president to do? Whether you agree or disagree with Oxfam’s ideas—make your vote count.
HeadCount and Oxfam America | A guide to voting
Make foreign aid work. The US foreign aid system is meant to meet the long-term needs of people around the world and reflect the compassion of the American people. When it fails to do that, it damages our global reputation and does not support American values. We can create a better foreign aid system that will help millions of people lift themselves out of poverty and improve US standing in the world.
A guide to voting | HeadCount and Oxfam America
America gives 50% of foreign aid to 10 of our top political allies. Only 5% goes to the world’s poorest countries. Our current aid work is crippled by conflicting claims and political pet projects. Moreover, 70% of foreign aid is spent on buying US goods and services, calling the very purpose of our aid programs into question. If the US used aid money to address the inequalities that give rise to global threats, we could make the world safer.
> Oxfam calls on the presidential candidates to do the following: • Present their plans to use aid money to fight poverty. • Create and present their ideas for a national strategy that will modernize aid and limit bureaucracy. • Demonstrate what they will do to be sure that the people who need aid are central to the solution. America has an opportunity to interrupt rather than perpetuate the cycle of poverty, but it’s up to the next president to champion policies that will truly support the efforts of poor people to lift themselves out of poverty.
>W hat will you call on the next president to do? Whether you agree or disagree with Oxfam’s ideas—make your vote count. HeadCount and Oxfam America | A guide to voting
Save lives. Disaster can strike anyone, but it’s the world’s poorest people who are often hit hardest, frequently living in vulnerable areas and with the fewest resources for recovery. Each year around 30 million people are forced from their homes by war, crime, political unrest, and natural disaster. In places like Darfur, people are killed, raped, terrorized, and pushed further into poverty because the global community has failed to ensure their safety.
A guide to voting | HeadCount and Oxfam America
When conflicts erupt or an earthquake or cyclone strikes, governments are expected to ensure that their people are safe from harm. If a government can’t or won’t, the international community—the world’s governments and the UN—has a responsibility to take action to save lives and prevent suffering.
> Oxfam calls on the presidential candidates to do the following: • Make a public commitment to protect civilians if elected. • Provide their plans to ensure that diplomats stationed in key areas or hotspots are trained in conflict prevention and resolution. • Demonstrate their commitment to conflict prevention around the world. • Structure foreign assistance accounts in a manner that can be used to address new emergencies as they occur. • Control the global arms trade.
>W hat will you call on the next president to do? Whether you agree or disagree with Oxfam’s ideas—make your vote count.
HeadCount and Oxfam America | A guide to voting
Save the Gulf Coast. When Hurricanes Katrina and Rita hit the Gulf Coast in 2005, it exposed how inequitable life is in the US. Today, the Gulf is a reminder of how much remaining work we must do as a nation. The vast majority of housing damaged or destroyed by Katrina was affordable to low-income people, but only a small fraction of this housing will be rebuilt. Meanwhile, over 30,000 families—almost all of them very poor—continue to live in small trailers, in conditions that have been linked to illness.
A guide to voting | HeadCount and Oxfam America
Conditions on the Gulf Coast have put America’s moral standing at home and abroad at stake. With effort, not only can we help Mississippi and Louisiana recover, but we can also transform the current situation into an opportunity by tackling the poverty that existed in these states—among the poorest in the US—long before the storms of 2005.
> Oxfam calls on the presidential candidates to do the following: • Make a full and equitable recovery of the Gulf Coast a priority. • Devise plans to create affordable housing and access to quality jobs in the Gulf Coast. • Require transparency and accountability for the use of federal funds in rebuilding. • Structure the new administration in a way that makes rebuilding efforts accountable to the people affected, and with access to proper government resources.
>W hat will you call on the next president to do? Whether you agree or disagree with Oxfam’s ideas—make your vote count. HeadCount and Oxfam America | A guide to voting
Make trade fair. The US trade policy affects Americans as well as people around the world. Poverty, disease, and lack of economic opportunity in developing countries are a human tragedy, but they also have implications for America’s long-term security and prosperity.
A guide to voting | HeadCount and Oxfam America
Current US trade policy is mostly about gaining access to more export markets and pursuing rules that favor US investors. But trade policy also presents an opportunity for the US to make overseas economic development a core objective, recognizing that the welfare of the American people is linked to the well-being of people around the world.
> Oxfam calls on the presidential candidates to do the following: • Present their plans for a trade deal with the World Trade Organization that will support development efforts in poor countries. • Affirm their commitment to increase market access to leastdeveloped countries. • Explain their proposed approach to bilateral free trade agreements and publicly address criticisms that these agreements can make poverty worse.
>W hat will you call on the next president to do? Whether you agree or disagree with Oxfam’s ideas—make your vote count.
HeadCount and Oxfam America | A guide to voting
> Register to vote. > Learn about the issues. > Tell your friends to do the same. > Vote.
A guide to voting | HeadCount and Oxfam America
Stand up.
HeadCount and Oxfam America | A guide to voting
A guide to voting | HeadCount and Oxfam America
> Want to do more? Get involved. Join Oxfam’s online community to receive crucial email updates on social justice issues, humanitarian crises, and our other work around the world. Go to www.oxfamamerica.org/join.
Take action. Make sure that your issues are priorities for elected officials. Keep it simple; just tell them why you are calling and ask for their support: • Call the White House at (202) 456-1111. • Email your members of Congress. If you need to identify who they are, just go to Oxfam’s web site, www.oxfamamerica.org/lookup.
Spread the word. Get your friends to register to vote. For further information about voter registration and voting, go to www.HeadCount.org. HeadCount and Oxfam America | A guide to voting
HeadCount is a nonpartisan, nonprofit organization dedicated to registering voters and inspiring participation in democracy through the power of music. Its board of directors includes Bob Weir of the Grateful Dead, Al Schnier of moe., and Marc Brownstein of the Disco Biscuits, who serves as the organization’s co-chair. HeadCount enjoys affiliations with over 50 touring bands including Dave Matthews Band, Pearl Jam, Jack Johnson, John Mayer, O.A.R., The Allman Brothers Band, Phil Lesh & Friends, Gov’t Mule, Sound Tribe Sector 9, and Spearhead. For more information on HeadCount or to register to vote, visit www.HeadCount.org.
PHOTOS: Provided by Headcount (pp. 9, 10, 12, 15, 16 18, 20, 22). Artist interviews by Jesse Jarnow. Special thanks to Sandy Sohcot and Andy Gadiel of the Rex Foundation, and the board of directors of both HeadCount and Rex. To volunteer for HeadCount or to learn more, visit www.HeadCount.org.
A guide to voting | HeadCount and Oxfam America
Forty percent of the people on our planet—more than 2.5 billion—now live in poverty, struggling to survive on less than $2 a day. Oxfam America is an international relief and development organization working to change that. Together with individuals and local groups in more than 120 countries, Oxfam saves lives, helps people overcome poverty, and fights for social justice. To join our efforts or learn more, go to www.oxfamamerica.org.
PHOTOS: iStockphoto.com (pp. cover, inside front cover–1, 2), Fotolia.com (pp. 6–7), Rajendra Shaw (pp. 24–25), Jerry Galea (p. 26), Rebecca Blackwell (p. 28), Evan Abramson (p. 30), Steve Liss (p. 32), Toby Adamson (p. 34), Eva-Lotta Jansson (pp. 36–37), Liliana Rodriguez (p. 38). Special thanks to Jessica Meehan, our graphic designer, and Bob Ferguson, our music and media outreach coordinator. Oxfam America does not support or oppose any candidate for public office. This information is provided to allow readers to engage in more effective advocacy on critical issues.
HeadCount and Oxfam America | A guide to voting
The Rex Foundation aims to help secure a healthy environment, promote individuality in the arts, provide support to critical and necessary social services, assist others less fortunate than ourselves, protect the rights of indigenous people and ensure their cultural survival, build a stronger community, and educate children and adults everywhere. The Rex Foundation was established as a public, nonprofit charitable organization by members of the Grateful Dead and friends in the fall of 1983. Since 1984 the Foundation has granted $8.3 million to over 1,000 grassroots programs across the US and internationally that are often under the radar of larger funding entities, yet do outstanding work to address challenging situations. Learn more and get on board the Rex Community Caravan at www.rexfoundation.org. The Rex Foundation is proud to support the work done by HeadCount, including the distribution of this voter guide, to encourage voting and overall participation in democracy.