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Citizens Group
Hopes to Increase Kentucky Voter Turnout for November
Paula Harrington, Gretchen Tucker, and Shannon Cope aren't out to change the
face of Kentucky politics; they just want more people to get informed and
involved in Kentucky government.
The three western Kentucky housewives took a
ten-dollar investment in stamps and a few hundred dollars worth of phone calls
and turned it into a statewide grass roots campaign to invigorate the political
process.
Their most recent project has been to recruit Kentucky celebrities to do public
service announcements encouraging people to pay attention to the candidates,
understand campaign issues, and then go vote in November.
Last year's release of felons to help balance the Kentucky budget led
the women to kick off their campaign. In one of their
regular three-way phone chats, the "thirty-something" moms were expressing their
disgust with the prisoner release and someone suggested that they call
the Governor's office to find out why the state budget was more important that
their children's safety.
"We were just complaining to each other about
the early releases when someone said, "I wish we could ask the next governor
what they would do about this.'' Harrington recalls. "Someone else piped in and
said, "Let's call them!"
Early this year, the three moms formed the
non-partisan group Concerned Citizens of Kentucky and started requesting other
Kentuckians send questions that the three women later used to interview the
candidates. The extremely low 18 percent voter turnout in the May primary
prompted the housewives to take their project to the next level with a statewide
campaign to encourage voter turnout for the fall.
"We contacted several Kentucky
born celebrities and asked if they would be willing to record public service
announcements for a statewide radio campaign to encourage the people of Kentucky
to vote. Of the 25 contacted, 12 agreed, and 8 actually recorded. We named the
campaign Vote Kentucky!," Harrington said. "We wrote several
30-second radio scripts urging people to get informed on the candidates,
register, and vote."
So far, Doug Pelfrey, Kyle Macy, Montgomery Gentry, Steve Wariner, Nick Clooney,
The Kentucky Headhunters, Lily Tomlin, and Rodger Bingham (who gained fame on
the "Survivor II" reality TV show) have cut spots and many radio stations have
agreed to run the spots.
"We contacted other celebrities who have agreed to cut spots, but we ran out of
time to record them. We may send out another batch later if we get some late
PSAs and if they are well received by the radio stations and the public," said
Gretchen Tucker.
Most of the spots are written specifically for the individual. For instance,
Kyle Macy references hitting free throws. Lily Tomlin provided some statistics
about Kentucky with her signature line "And that's the truth!" The Kentucky
Headhunters
aimed their spots at younger voters.
"We have been so busy, we didn't get them out in time to promote voter
registration before the deadline," Tucker said. "Rick Pitino, Billy Ray Cyrus
and Naomi Judd all wanted to participate, but we couldn't work cutting the spots
into their schedule. Others are interested in helping out with future
campaigns."
Harrington had a computer program that allowed her to edit the spots at home to
hold down expenses. About the only out-of-pocket cost was ten dollars for
postage. "We're moms so we know how to budget," Harrington joked.
"Now, we hope people will respond and pay attention to the issues and what the
candidates are saying," Harrington said. "We want to get people
informed and get them involved in the democratic process. So many people have
turned away from politics. People don't mind complaining about it, but often
they don't want to get involved. We're just three moms doing this on our own. We
have small children so we don't have a lot of time but we've fit this into our
schedules and we do hope to get people motivated and excited about voting."
The first batch of spots went into the mail October 2nd.
"We're sending the spots to 22 station managers, but many of the companies have
multiple stations spread around the state, some have four or five stations. We
had a couple who didn't promise to run it, but they did say they'd listen and
consider scheduling them," Harrington says.
Meanwhile, Concerned Citizens of Kentucky
continues to share comments from the candidates on key issues, and provide
Internet links to web sites that provide information on where the candidates
stand on issues. Candidates who were initially skeptical about the motives of
the three housewives have responded to their inquiries for interviews or
information.
"We have around one thousand people on our email list. A lot of those people
forward the info-letters to friends and family. We get several new subscribers
every time we send something out." Harrington said.
Cope, who lives in Graves
County, says a big part of the concerned citizens project is to get candidates
for statewide office to move the campaign beyond superficial sound-bites and
commercials.
"When issues are distilled down to a 30-second commercial or one-minute story on
the news, it's tough for voters to get meaningful information about where a
candidate stands. As a group we don't support any one party or candidate, we
just want people to understand the issues and go vote their conscience. We're
also disappointed that the major media outlets are discounting the lesser-known
candidates. We're sending information out on them as well as the other better
known candidates." Cope explained. "There are a lot of people out there who
don't feel their vote makes a difference. We're trying to overcome that apathy
with information."
Tucker, who lives in Paducah, joins Marshall County's Harrington and Cope in
regular phone calls to discuss new ways to get people interested in the
political process. Tucker said the group isn't interested in any outcome, other
than a good voter turnout on November 4th.
"We're really curious to see what CCKy can accomplish." Harrington said. "We've
never been involved in politics. We know there are a lot of Kentuckians like us
and we just want to make a difference, or at least a strong effort."
For more information on Concerned Citizens of
Kentucky call 270-395-7110 or contact the group online at
ccky@vci.net.
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