“Midnight Madness” Registers Nearly 3,000 New Voters
Press Releases
10/23/2008
A unique partnership between Alameda County and AC Transit to make registering to vote as easy as possible burst across the finish line on Monday, October 20 with a “Midnight Madness” voter registration drive that helped an estimated 3,000 people register to vote for the November 4 election.
The event outside Oakland’s Rene C. Davidson Courthouse allowed voters to register right up to Monday’s midnight registration deadline. It was marked by larger-than-expected crowds from 5 p.m. to midnight, and wrapped up what was a busy final weekend for the Alameda County-AC Transit registration drive, which used AC Transit’s colorful Voter Registration Bus to register voters and raise awareness about the November 4 Election at locations throughout Alameda County.
“By combining our strengths, Alameda County and AC Transit found an effective new way to reach out to our residents to allow as many of them as possible to participate in this important election,” said Susan Muranishi, Alameda County Administrator.
The Voter Registration Bus was the centerpiece of the registration drive, visiting community festivals, sporting events and college campuses to tap growing community interest about the November election.
Together, AC Transit and Alameda County registered close to about 4,000 voters through this joint effort. In all, Alameda County has seen a surge in registered voters this year: there are now nearly 800,000 registered voters in the County, a figure that represents more than 100,000 additional registrations since the beginning of 2008. About 350,000 vote-by-mail ballots have been issued for the November 4 election in Alameda County.
“We at AC Transit are pleased that our Voter Bus was able to make a difference by helping to raise public awareness and hopefully making registering to vote as easy as possible,” said Mary King, AC Transit Assistant General Manager. “Beyond transporting people, we take great pride in working with „Ÿ and indeed being a part of „Ÿ the communities we serve.”
The Alameda County-AC Transit partnership made a concerted effort to engage voters of all age groups, reaching out to college students, seniors and ethnic communities to make the voter registration process easy and accessible. The Voter Registration Bus helped sign up voters at an Oakland Athletics baseball game in September, and paid visits to festivals, college campuses and other events in Dublin, Livermore, Castro Valley, Fremont, Newark, Alameda, Hayward, Berkeley and Oakland.
In the days before the registration deadline, the Registration Bus was on hand to help register voters at a panel discussion at Youth Uprising in East Oakland and at a “Hip Hop Summit” at Laney College in Oakland. On October 19, the bus set up outside Santa Rita Jail in Dublin, to offer voter registration to people attending the regular Sunday visiting hours at the jail. The unique Santa Rita outreach effort came as a result of discussions involving top Alameda County officials, including Sheriff Greg Ahern, and inmate advocates.