Job well done!

Hopefully many of you will take this opportunity to put your  feet up, pour yourself a glass of your favorite beverage and give yourself a  toast. Here's to making DuPage County history. DAWN Voter Advocates registered  somewhere between 5,500 and 6,000 new voters (  about 1000 registered in just the last several days!) and our group became the  largest voter registration organization group in DuPage County.

That didn't happen all at once . Many of you recall sitting for hours to  register 3 or 4 voters, while some others may have frantically registered  50 people in one day. Whatever the case, the few added up to the many.  Everyone's contribution was equally important, as each was done one by one,  person by person. Thank you.

As we thought, our leisurely pace became much more frenetic as the  registration deadline neared. The last two days at College of DuPage we  registered hundreds, and the students were standing in line, surrounding  the registration table. A one-day appearance on October 4th at Walmart in  Villa Park netted over 150 new voters. At Elmhurst College, we signed up 100 in 2  hours.

For those of us who were out on the front lines, so to speak, it was  energizing to hear the comments of those who were registering to vote. No matter  what happens in November, we know that we did the right thing- and empowering  youth and mainstream voters was simply the right thing to do.

Overwhelmingly, people were thrilled to be given the opportunity to  register to vote. The time-crunched shoppers at Walmart were delighted to see us  there, as were the folks at the libraries, the high schools, the craft shows,  the sidewalk sales, the nursing homes, the education and social service  agencies, the street fairs over the past year. This is the way it  should be.

The questions we received during this time revealed some gaps in voter  education. Many people asked us if they needed to re-register for every  election. Many thought that if they lost their voter ID they could not cast a  vote. Many were not sure if they were registered at all, and did not know how to  find answers. For every person that we were able to help, there are  thousands out there right now who are uninformed. Voter education needs to be a  priority for our nation to be truly a democratic society.

Another thing that struck many of us is the number of college students who  were not registered to vote. It was painfully obvious that our federal  government takes great care to register 18 year-olds for the military but  neglects to use the same energy to get these young people registered to vote.  That should change.

Our credentials expire on November 30th . Going forward, DAWN Voter  Advocates will try to arrange another voter registration meeting for those who  wish to update their credentials and continue to register voters. Those who wish  to do that may keep some needed supplies on hand. Those who are done with this  effort should return their supplies to DuPage County Election Commission, 421 N.  County Farm, Rd. in Wheaton.

Our pollwatching effort will be the "next big thing" for DAWN. We would  like to invite each and every DAWN Voter Advocate to be credentialed as a  pollwatcher on November 2nd, if only to pollwatch his own precinct on November    2nd. We will have a mini-training on Thursday October  28th, prior to our double feature at the Glen Ellyn Library - we will  be showing " Unprecedented" and "Unconstitutional," beginning at 6:30  pm- pollwatcher training and credentials will be distributed around 6:15 pm .

If there is a reason why you do not wish to participate as a pollwatcher (for example you are an election judge) please email DAWN . Otherwise you  are on the pollwatcher list. We will keep you informed of our efforts. It is impossible to find the right words to thank and congratulate you for  your hard work, your energy, and your passion to do this service for your  community and your nation.