POLITICAL ACTIONS - OVERVIEW

Every day, laws are being enacted that affect your daily life. They may be as modest as a city council vote to change the hours of your local library … or as life-changing as a vote in Washington D.C. allowing your company to send your job off-shore! Regardless of the impact, it's our responsibility as citizens of this great country to participate in these votes … in these decisions by our representatives!

How do we participate? By staying current on the issues … by involving others … by writing or calling your elected officials to let them know your position on upcoming legislation … and most importantly, by going to the polls on Election Day and voicing your opinion through the vote!

The intent of this new section of our Website is to let you know what's going on … in Washington, in Trenton, and wherever else laws are being enacted that will impact you and your families. More importantly, we'll keep you abreast of what's going on in this year's campaigns. 2004 will perhaps be one of the most important election years we'll see … and it's vital that we all stay focused on the issues. Lots will be said by the candidates over the coming months - some true, some not so true. We hope you check back often, to get help sifting through all the campaign rhetoric, so that you have the best information to help you make the important decisions we'll all be facing in November!

YOUR ELECTED OFFICIALS

Do you know who your elected officials are? Do you know your Congressional district? How about the State Assembly District in which you reside? If the answer to any of these questions is "No," we're here to help!

IBEW Local 164 invites you to visit "Project Vote Smart," a non-partisan information bank. By simply entering your nine-digit home zip code, you'll instantly find out which Federal and State Districts you live in, who your current elected officials are and information regarding their past voting records, who has contributed to their campaigns, and their ratings according to a variety of special interest groups.

By the way, if you don't know your nine-digit zip code, you may either find it using a tool at the Project Vote Smart Web site, or you may visit Visit the U.S. Post Office Website here.

Not sure about your Congressional District?

Visit Project VoteSmart!

GET OUT TO VOTE

In the past 50 years, the United States has had two key elections determined by the slimmest of margins. In 2000, the difference in votes between George Bush and Al Gore was about 540,000 - about ½ of 1% of the total votes cast in the election! That wasn't even the closest race in the last five decades. In 1960, John F. Kennedy won the presidency over Richard Nixon by less than 120,000 votes. In fact, that was less than one vote per precinct! As you can see, one person can make a difference! That person could be you!

In this day and age, voting is one of the most important actions you can take as a citizen. Are you registered? If not, IBEW Local 164 would like to help!

The State of New Jersey has voter registration forms available on its Website. Instructions may be found at

http://www.state.nj.us/mvc/Licenses/VoterRegistration.htm

The actual registration form may be found at:

http://www.state.nj.us/state/elections/voter-registration-application.html

Simply complete this form (after printing it out) and follow the instructions on page 2 of the above pdf form.

If you're registered, but will be away from home at election time, you may vote by mail. Simply complete a Vote By Mail Ballot Application, which may be found at:

http://www.state.nj.us/state/elections/mail-in_doe.html

Voting isn't just a right, it's a responsibility! Be responsible. If you're not registered, do it now! And if you are registered, be sure to vote in the next election!