July 18, 2016

In Cincinnati, Hillary Clinton Highlights National Voter Registration Drive

In Cincinnati on Monday, Hillary Clinton highlighted a new nationwide drive to register and commit to vote more than 3 million voters to be a part of this campaign. She featured an online voter registration tool in both English and Spanish, and encouraged supporters to volunteer for a voter registration shift. Clinton also reiterated her commitment to building an economy that works for everyone—not just those at the top—and an America that is stronger together. In the kick off week alone, Hillary for America and the state Democratic coordinated campaigns will host more than 500 registration or commit to vote events across the country.

Clinton's remarks, as transcribed, are below:

“Wow.  Yay!  Thank you.  Thank you so much.  I am so thrilled to be here with your great senator.  I saw some of you, ‘I love you, I love you,’ to Sherrod Brown.  I love him too.  I think his record of service to not only Ohio but now to the country is just extraordinary.  He stands up and works for and fights for the people of this state, particularly working people, middle-class families, day in and day out.  And it is such a great personal privilege to be here with him, to have worked with him, and to be his friend.  So I thank him for that kind introduction.  I thank him for what he did back when he was secretary of state, what he did when he was in the Congress, and what he’s doing now in the United States Senate.

And I have to say, it would be great to send him a Democratic colleague, so please remember Ted Strickland.

I want to thank Umeirra, our coordinated campaign organizer, who was out here just a little while ago introducing us, because really, I am just thrilled to see this gym packed with all of you who are interested in working with us, with Sherrod Brown and me and our campaign, to register voters and get voters to understand what’s at stake in this election.

Now, it is clear that we have a lot of work to do.  Every election is close, and we can’t take anybody or anyplace for granted.  So I’m going to do everything I can to draw the contrasts with the Republicans, who are currently meeting up in Cleveland, and I think it’s fair to say we’re going to hear a lot about taking our country backwards – because that’s really what they mean when they talk about making us great again.

Donald Trump and his vice presidential candidate and his team want to roll back the hard-won progress that we have made in our nation.  And a lot of Americans are upset about that, and they are asking, ‘What can I do?  What can I do to stop this dangerous, divisive candidate from getting within a thousand miles of the White House?’

Well, I can tell you, it is not enough to yell at your TV screen. It is not enough to send a nasty tweet.  That is not enough.  You have to get registered and get out to vote in November. Because Sherrod and I know that if we get people registered, and then persuade them to come out and vote, it won't even be close.

Because we know what the vast majority of Americans want.  They want a positive future.  They want more good jobs with rising incomes.  They want good schools with good teachers in every ZIP Code.  They want to be able to afford their healthcare, their prescription drugs.  They want us to honor the fact that we are a nation of immigrants.  Because it makes us stronger in our diversity.

And they want us to respect and support our police officers while bringing about criminal justice reform to make sure that we don't have any more tragic killings.  I mean, our nation experienced another horrific tragedy yesterday in Baton Rouge, and I spoke about it at length at the NAACP, where both Sherrod and I appeared earlier today.

Now, it was so heartbreaking to see another American city affected by this terrible gun violence that took, in this case, the lives of officers, just like it was in Dallas, just like before that, the two gentlemen in Baton Rouge and in Minneapolis, who died in police encounters.  This must stop.  We are better than this.  And we need to work together to deal with the complex of problems.  We need to put ourselves in the shoes of African-American families whose young people go out and they worry that they're not going to come back safely.

And we need to put ourselves in the shoes of our police officers who kiss their kids and their spouse goodbye in the morning, and go out and put themselves in danger for us. And we need to put ourselves in the shoes of every person in this country who has lost a loved one to gun violence.

Congress has done nothing.  And it's not just guns.  Congress has failed to address so many of the important issues that we face.  That's why this election, no matter what issue you care about  – and if we had time, every one of you could tell us what you care about. Every single one of you.  Nothing will get done if we don't band together right now and plan to turn out as many people as possible to win this election in November.

So that's why I’m here.  Because today, our campaign is launching a nationwide drive to get more than 3 million Americans to register and commit to vote in the election.  Today and in the ahead, we are hosting more than 500 registration events, from the Detroit Eastern Market, to minor-league baseball games in Lancaster, Pennsylvania, to college campuses in Wisconsin.  And if we cannot connect with people one on one, we’ve created an online one-stop shop voter registration tool in both English and Spanish.

And I hope each and every one of you will follow through on your commitment to volunteer to help launch this campaign, to get the momentum going.  To get others to sign up for a voter registration shift with our organizers here today.  They're holding clipboards – that's how you can identify them.  Look at all the clipboards.

And please come to one of our offices in Walnut Hills, or Woodlawn, and bring friends.  Bring five friends if you can.  And I want you to hear this.  We are also hiring. Go to Hillaryclinton.com […] We are actually hiring people of all ages.  As long as you can get out there and register voters, if you're interested, we want you.  Because I want […] to sweep Ohio. I want everybody to know we are doing this.  Now, we may not end up with ketchup on the form, Sherrod, but we’re going to end up – if we do this the way we're planning, with a lot of people – and that will enable us to fight for every vote in this state.  And with your help, we’re going to win it, because we are stronger together.  And I believe with all my heart that America's best years are still ahead of us if we do our part.

And that's important for all of us, but it's particularly important for our young people.  Because I want you to have the same confidence and optimism about our future that prior generations of Americans have had.  That doesn't mean you don't have to work hard.  It doesn't mean you don't have to be prepared to do the job that you get to do in life.

But it means the jobs will be there.  And they'll have rising incomes.  And we will tackle this problem of inequality, and get back to where we are growing middle class, creating more pathways into a better future.  That's ultimately what this is all about.  Register voters so that we can get them to the polls, so that we can win in November, and then we can get to work to make sure America has the future that every one of us deserves.  Thank you all very much.”


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For Immediate Release, July 18, 2016