Elections Office folk were part of an array of guests on hand today at Self-Help for the Elderly’s annual Citizenship Day at their San Mateo Senior Center in Central Park.
In between socializing and a nutritious lunch for about 50 of the center’s elderly – and primarily Chinese-American – clientele, the message was all about civic involvement, voter participation and demystifying elections.
“It is important for citizens to know that there’s a face to what we do,” said San Mateo County Elections Manager David Tom. “That we are communicating to help the community better understand the what’s and why’s of elections.”
To that end, Tom, at the behest of Self-Help’s matriarch Rosalyn Koo, explained to the crowd what to expect election-wise in the next year. To many – with a Presidential Primary in February, Statewide Direct Primary in June and Presidential Election in November 2008 – it can be downright confusing. Add the Consolidated Municipal, School and Special District Election this November – making for a record four elections in 12 months - and it’s enough to make your head spin.
San Mateo Deputy Mayor Carole Groom and Councilman John Lee also joined in the festivities. Other Elections Office staffers were on hand to demonstrate eSlates, our electronic voting machines.
For many Self-Help clients whose English might be shaky, there were Mandarin and Cantonese translators on hand for the day. And there was plenty of reassurance that eSlates, paper ballots and all other official voter publications are available in Chinese.
Democracy 2.0 Declaration – Mobilize.org
On Thursday, October 4th, 2007, 50 youth leaders worked together at the Democracy 2.0 Summit in Washington D.C. The Summit, a national movement instituted by Mobilize.org, is a way to bring attention to the ideas that America’s youth has to offer. Democracy 2.0 is designed to address the civic participation needs and interests of the Millennial Generation (targeting the 16-30 age group).
Mobilize.org has worked for the past year to survey young people about what they feel is an issue in both their own community and on a national level. This consensus among the youth of America has been addressed during the Summit in order to produce the Democracy 2.0 Declaration. This declaration represents what the youth believes is working and is not working in the current democracy of the U.S.
The declaration serves as a foundation for political candidates to understand what the youth of America feels strongly about. The Declaration will be shared with 435 youth representatives at Mobilize.org’s Party for the Presidency, an event in Hollywood, CA that will take place December 29-31.
Democracy 2.0 was launched to upgrade and renew our political process in America by providing guidelines for positive social change that take advantage of both the tremendous passion of today’s youth leaders and the powerful social networking and technology tools they are using to create communities.
Mobilize.org is here to listen and help instigate change within the youth of America. You can get involved by going to http://www.mobilize.org for more information.