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November 22, 2007
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Seeks SF for possible LTR The New Hampshire Citizens Alliance is working to register 10,000 unregistered, unmarried women in Manchester to vote in the upcoming presidential primary. It’s called the WAVE project, Women’s Action for Voter Empowerment, and if it’s successful in the city it might be duplicated in other primary states. “We really felt that women in Manchester were not participating as much as they should be,” said Sarah Chaisson Warner, project director of WAVE. Using voter files generated by “Women’s Voices. Women Vote,” a national organization whose goal is to spur more women to vote, paid canvassers will go door to door to solicit unmarried women to vote. The project is also sponsored by USAction Education Fund and Northeast Action. Women’s Voices estimated that 20 million women did not vote in the 2004 presidential election, a sizable chunk of the voting populace, says Jennifer Lucas, assistant professor of politics at Saint Anselm College. “Of the eligible voting pool, they make up about a quarter of it,” she said. “Unmarried women often are very busy, and they are less likely to turn out to vote.” There were national efforts in 2004 to get more unmarried women to vote, which did yield some success, as 59 percent of unmarried women voted in that election, up seven points from the 1996 election. In comparison, 72 percent of married women voted. “There’s a pretty big gap,” Lucas said. While the NHCA alliance stresses that the get-out-the-vote campaign is nonpartisan, the USAction and Northeast Action groups do promote progressive issues, and recent history suggests that unmarried women tend to vote more Democratic than Republican. In 2004, 62 percent of unmarried women voted for Massachusetts Sen. John Kerry for president; 44 percent of married women did. “They are the untapped group who will tend to support candidates who support social issues,” Lucas said. “It’s a very important constituency for Democrats, especially.” Dante Scala, associate professor of political science at University of New Hampshire, agrees. “In this cycle, young single women, especially the working class, would probably lead towards [Sen. Hillary] Clinton,” Scala said. “Partly because of her gender and partly because of the economic issues she’s stressing.” A spokesperson for Sen. Clinton’s campaign says the campaign is reaching out to all voters. “We certainly support more people being able to participate in the democratic processes, and we’re glad to hear that New Hampshire Citizens Alliance is helping women to do that,” said Kathleen Strand, press secretary for Clinton’s New Hampshire campaign. A spokesperson for Sen. John McCain’s campaign says that campaign is reaching out to women in general. “Women voters are an important constituency. They vote on a wide variety of critical issues like national security and health care, issues that John McCain is best suited to take on from day one,” wrote McCain’s New Hampshire press secretary, Barry Flynn, in an e-mail. “Senator McCain’s New Hampshire campaign has released the Women for McCain committee that will continue to activate women leaders into the growing grassroots organization on behalf of John McCain’s candidacy in New Hampshire.” How much sway unmarried women voters could have in the primary is uncertain, Scala said. “Ten thousand votes, if they went in one direction, could sway an election. But that’s a big if,” Scala said. Warner said unmarried women are the largest group of non-voters, though Lucas notes that the unmarried women voter is slightly more likely to vote than unmarried men. “But unmarried women are a larger segment of the population,” Lucas said. She said married women are most likely to vote, followed closely by married men, then unmarried women and finally unmarried men. WAVE plans to start canvassing two weeks before the election — Warner is betting on a Jan. 8 primary — and is currently recruiting canvassers. Both men and women can canvass. Mailers will be sent out and calls made to unmarried, unregistered women voters, urging them to register. Warner said a personal touch works well with women voters. “Women are more likely to vote than men are if they are contacted,” she said.
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