Students waited in the dining area of UM-St. Louis’ Millennium Student Center last Thursday to hear actor Don Cheadle, traveling the Obama campaign trail, urge people to register to vote before the Oct. 8 deadline.
As students wearing Obama buttons, T-shirts, hats and signs waited eagerly, Brian Owens stepped forward to sing Sam Cooke’s “A Change Is Gonna Come.”
The words could have served as a prophecy of the message that Cheadle delivered to the crowd for his candidate.
“It’s great to see so much energy around this campaign, and I hope you all take that same energy to the polls,” Cheadle said.
“Grab a friend. Don’t come to the polls in an empty car. See who needs to come with you. It’s too important to just hope for the right outcome. It’s too crucial to stand by and watch and be cynical about this process.”
Cheadle met Obama while the actor was advocating for a solution to the Darfur Crisis. Obama wrote the forward to Cheadle’s book about Darfur, Not On Our Watch. Obama asked him to help the campaign when he decided to run, but Cheadle’s words at UMSL made it clear that this was not an incident of mere reciprocity.
“If you look at voting records, it would be hard to argue that Sen. McCain has not been cut from a similar cloth as the administration we have now,” Cheadle said.
“I think we really need a different direction right now, and I think that Sen. Obama will take us in that direction. He is a reformer, not only in his home state of Illinois, but on the Hill.”
Cheadle praised Obama for his willingness to bear the burden of a country left crippled by the Bush Administration: “I thank God for Barack Obama,” he said.
Cheadle also expressed his appreciation for the students who helped to kick the primary campaign into overdrive.
“Earlier in this process, young people in large numbers were really making themselves a part of this,” Cheadle said. “I think that if that keeps going, we will have Barack Obama as the next president of the United States.”
However, he reminded them that their mission is not yet accomplished.
“It’s great to see so much energy around this campaign, but the important thing is not taking this energy, walking out the door and going on with your daily lives,” Cheadle said.
“You have to use what it is that has happened thus far in this campaign, put your money where your mouth is and move towards actions that matter. We need this to be the energy that continues for the next 40 days until it happens, and the senator is elected president.
“Then the real work begins.”
Ex-offender voter rights
The Campaign for Change is not only using star power to rev up students. Obama’s camp is also arming ex-offenders with knowledge and dispelling rumors regarding their voting status.
The campaign released the following points so that the entire voting population n including those presently or formerly incarcerated n can be informed of their rights.
• After conviction of a felony, a person regains his right to vote when he is discharged from probation or parole (unless the conviction was for violating an election law).
• People convicted of a misdemeanor do not lose their right to vote (unless the conviction was for violating an election law).
• After a person has regained his right to vote, he should register to vote in the city or county in which he lives. There is no additional procedure required for registration.
• A person who is in jail or prison, but not convicted of a felony or election-related misdemeanor, may vote by absentee ballot. For example, a person in jail for a misdemeanor conviction (unless the conviction was for violating an election law) is entitled to vote by absentee ballot and a person in jail that is awaiting trial is entitled to vote by absentee ballot.