Voter Outreach Program Will Highlight Civil Liberties and Civil Rights Issues at Stake
Phoenix—The American Civil Liberties Union of Arizona today launched its first-ever statewide effort to educate voters about the urgent civil liberties and civil rights issues at stake in elections. The U.S. Senate race is the focus of the voter education push.
The ACLU of Arizona does not support, oppose, or endorse candidates. This push will ensure that voters are aware of candidates’ past actions and current positions on important civil liberties issues such as racial justice, criminal justice, and immigrants’ rights. The ACLU of Arizona is launching the voter education campaign with a scorecard (available in English and Spanish) released today that shows where U.S. Senate Republican primary candidates stand on immigrants’ rights.
“There is too much on the line for communities across Arizona, including the most vulnerable, for us to sit on the sidelines,” said Alessandra Soler, executive director of the ACLU of Arizona. “We are putting candidates like Joe Arpaio, who was pardoned by the president and praised by the governor, on notice that voters are paying attention and will not ignore a history of civil rights abuses. Arpaio terrorized the Latino community in Maricopa County for years, tearing families apart with neighborhood sweeps that violated the rights of many people. Our volunteers and activists will fan out statewide to educate voters—on the left, right and in between, in Spanish and in English—about the importance of racial justice, immigrants’ rights, and defending our constitutional rights while choosing our next U.S. senator.”
Over the coming months, the ACLU of Arizona will talk to voters at their homes, on their phones, and in their communities via phone banks, canvasses, and a mobile text program, addressing the threats to our democracy and impact of civil rights abuses on families across the state. The organization’s voter education program will reach out to people in English and Spanish.
The ACLU is a nonpartisan organization that does not endorse or oppose any candidate for office. The ACLU’s goal is to promote voter education and voter participation. The ACLU of Arizona’s work in the 2018 election is part of a nationwide effort to increase voters’ understanding and awareness of civil liberties issues, insert a discussion of key civil liberties issues into elections, and build a base of voters who will factor these issues into how they vote.
The ACLU’s U.S. Senate Republican primary scorecard on immigrants’ rights is available at the links below:
- English: https://peoplepower.org/joe-arpaio/
- Spanish: https://peoplepower.org/joe-arpaio-es/
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