Now that I have your attention, I’ll admit right now that my use of "virgin" in this case simply refers to new voters – those who have never voted previously in an election, mainly because they are just reaching the legal age to vote.

The attention to this election by young voters, and those young people even too young to vote, is refreshing to me and gives me great hope for the future leadership of our country.  After all, it will be these "virgin voters" who someday soon will be serving as leaders in organizations and communities that will influence the health of our social, economic, cultural, and ethical realities.

My tenth-grade neighbor is one of those leaders, but he jumped the gun on leadership and is already raising money for Barack Obama with an amazing project.  More about this amazing project is after the fold.

I've read many diaries over the past month on the need for election-day volunteers, phone banks and literature drops, and money in preparation for the upcoming election.  Operating under the educated assumption that we can expect fraud and disenfranchisement to continue through this mid-term election, this diary is a summary of information on election protection and reform activities for this upcoming election and beyond.  

I recently attended the Voting Rights Revival in Columbus, Ohio (October 13-15) and will attempt to summarize the election protection activities and voting reform efforts that were presented there.  

The knowledge and passion offered by the presenters and participants of this revival was quite powerful for me to witness - and humbling.  These people are doers.  They are activists unified in action.  I will be volunteering my time to help with voting reform, and I hope I can convince many of you to do the same.  (Please bear with me - this is my first diary here.)  Join me over the fold.