Friends of Florida,
Thank you for visiting the Florida Chamber of Commerce's interactive elections tool to the 2008 elections. As the results of the last few elections have shown, races can often be won or lost by only a few votes. Yet despite the competitiveness of these elections, voter registration and turnout have plummeted over the past 50 years and the United States now has the lowest average voter turnout among mature democracies. Despite changes in election law making it easier to register and to vote, the turnout for the 1996 Presidential Election was 49% - the lowest turn out since 1924. During the heated 2000 campaign, turnout reached just 50% and while turnout was better in 2004, the simple fact is that many people continue not to register, continue not to vote or enter the polling booth under informed on the issues and candidates.
One-in-five non-voters reported they were too busy to vote. But frankly, we're all busy and are challenged to find time to do things we know we should do but often don't - like voting. Simply put, the stakes are too high to neglect this important right and civic obligation, stakes that will eventually affect both our personal and business lives.
To help, the Florida Chamber of Commerce is continuing its groundbreaking, bi-partisan effort with the U.S. Chamber of Commerce that offers you a one-stop website that provides helpful information to make voting easier. On the pages within this site, you can register to vote, apply for an absentee ballot, learn more about candidates and link to their individual websites, locate where you go to vote, contact your elected officials, and much more. We've also added advocacy components to allow you to contact legislators on issues important to you.
At times, you'll be asked to provide some personal information before entering the different components of the site. The information is used to properly match you to your elected officials and to assist you with registering to vote or requesting an absentee ballot. You can also opt into a network to receive additional election and voting information for the rest of the year.
I encourage you to do all you can to participate in the 2008 elections. Voting is a sacred right that many of us take for granted. Millions of people throughout the world cannot cast a meaningful ballot and many have died for the right to do so, but we can and should.
Your vote will make a difference. I encourage you to visit www.VoteForFlorida.org to learn more.
Mark Wilson