WOMEN VOTE! to Mobilize Voters for Illinois Special Election

WASHINGTON -- EMILY’s List, the nation’s largest financial resource for women candidates, today announced a new WOMEN VOTE! project in Illinois’ fifth congressional district. As the nationwide voter mobilization and education project of EMILY’s List, WOMEN VOTE! will reach out to key voters in the Chicago-area district through an extensive mail program.

The Illinois WOMEN VOTE! program hopes to reach nearly 17,000 households throughout the district leading up to the special election on March 3rd. The program will target likely female Democratic primary voters across the district and seek to educate them about state Representative Sara Feigenholtz’s background as an effective, progressive leader and advocate for women and families. The first in a series of five mailings will reach voters next week.

EMILY’s List WOMEN VOTE! has worked for more than a decade to inform and engage women voters in the electoral process on the premise that when women vote, women win. "Chicagoans are really ready for a change, and the more voters learn about Sara Feigenholtz and her progressive record of fighting for the middle class, the more excited they are going to be about voting for her,” said Maren Hesla, EMILY’s List WOMEN VOTE! director. “It is our hope that through these efforts, voters in the fifth district will be better informed on the issues that we know are important to them and that they will act on that information on election day.”

Launched in 1995, the historic EMILY’s List WOMEN VOTE! project combines polling and research, advanced information technology, sophisticated message testing, and precinct-by-precinct field work to mobilize millions of women voters across the country. EMILY’s List designed WOMEN VOTE! to build a progressive political base that will elect more Democrats, especially women, by helping to increase turnout among women voters year after year.

EMILY’s List is the nation’s largest financial resource for women candidates. In the 2007-2008 cycle, EMILY’s list raised more than $43 million to support its mission of recruiting and supporting women candidates, helping them build strong campaigns, and mobilizing women voters to turn out and vote. EMILY’s List and its members directly contributed more than $9 million to EMILY’s List candidates for federal and gubernatorial office. With more than 100,000 members across the country, EMILY’s List is one of the largest political action committees in the nation. Since its founding in 1985, EMILY’s List has worked to elect 79 pro-choice Democratic women to the U.S. House, 15 to the U.S. Senate, nine governors, and hundreds of women to the state legislatures, state constitutional offices, and other key local offices.