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September 5, 2003
AMPCC campaign to register
one million Muslim voters
for 2004 elections
The American Muslim Political Coordination Council (AMPCC), an umbrella organization that includes four major groups, has agreed to make civil rights a top issue in any endorsement of a presidential candidate in next year’s elections and launch an intensive drive to register one million Muslim voters.
Leaders of the four organizations, - the American Muslim Alliance, the American Muslim Council, the Council on American-Islamic Relations and the Muslim Public Affairs Council - who met at the sidelines of the ISNA Convention at the Labor Day weekend in Chicago, have announced establishment of a taskforce to achieve this objective.
The AMPCC has also released an open letter to the American Muslim Community saying: We are challenged by the after effects of 9/11, erosion of civil rights, and the general tone of anti-Muslim sentiment emanating from Washington D.C. and some elements in the media.
However, Mr. Nihad Awad, CAIR Executive Director, who attended the AMPCC meeting on behalf of CAIR, was more specific: The message is to reflect widespread "dissatisfaction" in the Muslim American community with the Bush administration's treatment of Arab and Muslim Americans since the September 11 attacks. "Feelings are running strongly against Bush in the community … We feel that civil liberties have deteriorated in this country," he added.
Defending civil rights has been the single most important challenge before the seven million-strong American Muslim community as the consequences of the 9/11 tragic terrorist attacks continue to unfold. The erosion of civil rights came in the form of various programs and legislations such as the USA Patriot Act, which effectively nullifies Amendments 4, 5, 6, and 8 directly and indirectly amendments 1 and 9 and the INS Special Registration which targeted men from Muslim countries.
The Muslim community is virtually under siege. The fallout continues to impact the daily life of Muslims at schools, in the workplace, in general public encounters and mistreatment at the hand of federal government personnel. Many Muslim homes and businesses were raided while profiling-based interrogations and searches continued.
According to a recent CAIR report, government policies are contributing to the anti-Muslim bias. Despite Muslims protest, President Bush appointed in August Mr. Daniel Pipes, an outspoken anti-Muslim scholar, to the board of the government-funded U.S. Institute of Peace. Surely such an appointment – that by passed the Congress because of its possible rejection - along with other actions helping discrimination against Muslim and Arab Americans could lead Bush to lose the Muslim and Arab support base in the coming presidential elections.
There are about seven million Muslims and about one million Arabs in the United States. Muslims constitute a potential swing-voting bloc in states such as California, New York, New Jersey, Illinois, Michigan and Ohio.
The AMPCC was instrumental in delivering a Muslim bloc vote for George Bush in 2000 presidential election. Only few weeks before the elections on October 23, 2000, the AMPCC-PAC announced its endorsement of George W. Bush for president, citing his outreach to the Muslim community and his stand on the issue of secret evidence.
The former Congressman, Paul Findley, in his latest book Silent No More: Confronting America's False Images of Islam, estimates that about 3.2 million Muslims turned out for vote and 65 percent voted for President Bush. Mr. Findley said: The importance of Muslim bloc voting arises from its magnitude as well as its focus. Best estimates put the national Muslim population at seven million, 70 as the percentage of those eligible to vote, and 65 as the percentage of those eligible who actually voted. This means that the national turnout of Muslims on Nov.7 came to 3.2 million.
The AMPCC member organizations have already begun voter registration campaigns at mosques and Islamic centers across the nation to ensure a strong turnout in the 2004 presidential elections. It has more than one year to motivate and mobilize the community while in 2000, it was able to mobilize the community in two weeks only.
The AMPCC has established a taskforce that will seek to involve all major organizations in order to achieve its objectives. The taskforce will seek to educate the Muslim American Community though monthly/weekly reports, community forums, candidates’ forums, town hall meetings, and special reports. It is also establishing a website about Muslim voters (www.americanmuslimvoter.net).
The AMPCC has adopted a four point criteria to extend support to a presidential candidate. The criteria envisages: a) Accessibility of the candidate to the Muslim community Position on key issues, c) Track record, d) Feedback from the community.
However, the Muslim American community has very little choice in presidential as well as congressional elections as the nation has a virtual two party political system. In order to be politically effective and make its voice heard, the community has to join and support either Republican or Democratic Party, although it may not agree with its full agenda.
End Note: The recall election for California’s Governor Gray Davis is scheduled for October 7, however, the Muslim American organizations have so far failed to guide the community on how to react and if the recall vote is successful then to which candidate it may vote.
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