Toledo Union Journal

REGISTRATION DRIVE GETS UNDER WAY: Organized labor has launched a new offensive to get all trade unionists and their families registered to vote. The key feature of the drive will be the establishment of permanent registration committees in all local unions and central labor bodies.

The kickoff came at a meeting Feb. 27-28 of the Operating Committee of COPE to which top officers of International Unions were invited. COPE Director James L. McDevitt, former Co-Director Jack Kroll, who retired on March 1, and staff members outlined plans for the campaign.

Recommendations and suggestions of the International Union officers were sought and received. All angles of the problem were canvassed to make sure that no "gimmicks," gadgets or basic ideas which might help to speed victory had been overlooked.

Writing as Chairman and Secretary-Treasurer of COPE, respectively, George Meany and William F. Schnitzler addressed a letter to all International Unions asking them to establish permanent registration committees at their central offices and to call on their affiliated local unions to do likewise.

McDevitt and Kroll, as one of his last official acts, wrote to all state and local labor political education committees and central bodies, relaying the instructions, asking statewide organizations to pass along essential information such as registration dates in their states to local organizations, and to stimulate their activity. They also pointed out that the local committees must carry the brunt of the battle.

After a great amount of experience with the registration problem over the years, labor is now convinced that efforts made only immediately before Election Day are inadequate.

Work must be carried on systematically all around the calendar.

Particular emphasis is placed on the need to establish a permanent card-index system at central labor union headquarters under the direction of the local COPE, which will contain an accurate and up-to-date record showing whether each trade union member and his family are registered to vote.

The local unions affiliated with the central body and the local COPE supply the lists of members and addresses. Teams of workers then transfer the names to cards and take the cards to registration headquarters where they are checked against the official records to find how many people are signed up to vote.

The unregistered names are parceled out to other workers who visit people at their homes and urge them to be good citizens. Every man is free to vote as he pleases in the sanctity and privacy of the polling place, but he owes his union and his country the duty of taking part in the election.