By now you would have to be living under a rock or not have heard about the rumors of folks being turned away at the polling place for wearing Pro-Obama (or any candidate’s) paraphernalia.  The frenzy surrounding the rumor has caused a national stir and has made each of us the target of dozens of “informative” email forwards.  Some of these voter suppression tactics are real and some are well…rumors but like it says on the masthead above “knowledge is power.”

To avoid this and other voter suppression tactics and confusion at the polls, the American Urban Radio Networks (AURN) and the National Coalition on Black Civic Participation (NCBCP) have recruited Angela Bassett, Jay Leno’s whipping boy Kevin Eubanks, LisaRaye and Brandy to voice public service announcements encouraging heads to participate in Early Voting or be first in line on Election Day.  The joint initiative announced today is part of a nonpartisan radio campaign aimed at ensuring African Americans cast a ballot that counts on Election Day.  What a concept!

“We’ve already received numerous reports of possible voter suppression.  It’s essential to get the word out to vote early or be first in line to avoid the drama on November 4th,” said Melanie L. Campbell, executive director and CEO, NCBCP. ”

Jerry Lopes, president of program operations and affiliations for AURN adds, “I am pleased to join hands with Unity ’08, a group of prestigious organizations working to protect the rights that our ancestor’s fought and died for.

In addition to appealing to African Americans to vote early the PSA campaign encourages people to call the NCBCP’s Unity ’08 voter assistance hotline (866-MYVOTE1), to locate their polling place in advance. VERY IMPORTANT!  In effort to discourage BLACK voters certain the powers that be may have actually CHANGED your polling place eventhough you’ve been voting at the same location for years.  So don’t wait until election day to find out.  For an update on these and other tactics used to supress the black vote keep it locked to the Nation or visit my boy Malcolm the Conservative Republican Obama Supporter over at My Two Cents.