Committee of Seventy teams up with Phanatic, Gritty to encourage residents to register to vote
PHILADELPHIA (CBS) -- Tuesday is National Voter Registration Day. Several organizations joined forces to make sure everyone eligible to vote is registered. Among those getting the word out included the mayor, Phillies, Flyers and Sixers.
There are just 49 days until Election Day and to guarantee everyone can vote, organizations came together to make sure people have everything they need.
"Voting is extremely important," Michael Cogbill with VoteRiders said. "It's so important they try not to let us do it. Showing up to the polls is important for everybody. Especially the folks in this community."
The Committee of Seventy, which advocates for better elections, teamed up with the Phanatic and Gritty to register people to vote outside of City Hall.
The Committee of Seventy is also expanding its We Vote initiative to encourage businesses to promote a culture of voting.
CBS Philadelphia spoke with Al Schmidt, the committee's president and CEO.
"We work with our partners in business, in the universities, hospital systems, all the major employers and organizations in and around Philadelphia to help distribute election information to their employees and to their members," Schmidt said. "It's a time where there's a lot of questions about elections, a lot of misinformation out there and it's important that people rely on trusted sources of information to learn more about registering to vote and making sure that their vote is counted."
The Philadelphia branch of the NAACP and the nonprofit, VoteRiders held a voter ID clinic Tuesday. The clinic will be held each Tuesday through the end of October to help people obtain materials they will need to register to vote, such as a birth certificate or driver's license.
"When you go to vote, you may not be required to have an ID or ask for an ID, but if you are, we want to make sure you're prepared," NAACP Philadelphia President Catherine Hicks said.
The last day to register to vote for the upcoming election is Oct. 24.
