Miami Herald - June 19th, 2008 - Daniel Shoer Roth

Five miles away, a group of volunteers from the Miami Workers Center in Liberty City were painting seven giant cardboard skulls they will use in a march outside the Hotel Inter-Continental, where the mayors will meet this weekend. A trio of teens was printing ''Racial Justice'' on sashes.

(Click the image to download a copy) 

Introduction
Internal disputes within the Democratic party may render Florida’s primary meaningless. While political pundits guess the implications of an empty contest in the sunshine state, Floridians went to the polls at record numbers to cast their votes for candidates and initiatives. Florida voters approved a tax cut for homeowners and in Miami-Dade County, we voted for slot machines at racetracks for revenue generation. Statewide, Florida had 29% voter turn out compared to 12% in 2000. Electoral participation more than doubled at a time when Democratic presidential candidates deliberately chose not to campaign in the state.
    Miami Workers Center (MWC), in a concerted effort with our grassroots projects, Miami en Accion (MIA) and Low-Income Families Fighting Together (LIFFT), ran a voter mobilization program: Take Back the Vote. We studied voting patterns in our communities, mapped precincts, identified occasional voters, and walked precincts encouraging voters to participate and use their power. We monitored the closing of polls and watched the results on television, late into the night.
    In the months following the primaries MWC is still fighting for housing, still fighting for jobs, still trying to change the world. We are still trying to win justice for working class people of color by building collective power and developing organic progressive leadership from the grassroots. We have been on this mission since 1999 with some hefty victories and rough defeats.  Increasingly, though, we are committed to integrating civic participation with our community organizing.  
    We believe in Integrated Voter Engagement (IVE) or voter engagement work that is integral to our organizing strategies. Voter work can address ongoing issues we organize around and include the ideological work we do. We can integrate voter registration, education, mobilization, and protection into the toolkit we use to build social movements for justice.