YWCA’s Haverhill office.
YWCA Haverhill, 107 Winter St., is taking part in a bi-lingual voter registration and new early voting awareness campaign across the Merrimack Valley and North Shore, now through Oct. 19.
Launched this week by YWCA of Greater Lawrence, voter registration cards in English and Spanish will be available at the Haverhill building, as well as the main YWCA office, 38 Lawrence St., Lawrence; YWCA Fina House, Haverhill Street, Lawrence; YWCA Enrichment Center, Broadway at Arlington Mills, Lawrence; and YWCA North Shore Rape Crisis Center, 20 Central Ave., Lynn. The voter registration effort is also an educational campaign to inform voters about Massachusetts’ new early voting process, according to a statement. For the first time, Massachusetts voters will be able to vote before the Nov. 8 general election day. From Oct. 24 through Nov. 4, voters may cast ballots at the designated location in their municipality, typically a city hall or town offices.
“The YWCA played a role in the women’s suffrage movement nearly 100 years ago when the 20th Amendment was passed. Encouraging voters to exercise that hard-won vote is part of our mission,” said YWCA of Greater Lawrence Executive Director Mary O’Brien. “The YWCA has been active in winning and maintaining voters’ rights for decades.”
“In Lawrence, known as the ‘immigrant city,’ we serve many new U.S. citizens. It is a privilege to think the YWCA can play a small part in introducing some of them to the election process,” she added.
The registration and early voting awareness effort is being held in conjunction with MassVote, a “statewide organization devoted to educating voters and encouraging participation in the political process.”
YWCA Haverhill was founded in 1891. It became a YWCA of Greater Lawrence site in 2013. It is scheduled to complete a $1.7 million restoration project to re-open the YWCA Haverhill Residence this fall. It will provide ten single-room-occupancy housing units to low income women.
A lot of Spanish-speakers around Lawrence and Haverhill are Puerto Rican. They are natural-born US citizens.
What you say may very well be, BUT does anyone check to make sure they are natural-born US citizens, or do they simply take their word for it? AND if natural-born citizens, WHY DON’T THEY KNOW HOW TO SPEAK ENGLISH IF THEY HAVE BEEN IN THIS COUNTRY FOR THEIR ENTIRE LIFE? Why is it necessary to provide this bi-lingual nonsense?
Jack, you already know the answer to that one. The answer is, NO STEPS ARE TAKEN TO ENSURE THAT THOSE WHO REGISTER TO VOTE ARE US CITIZENS!!!! If verification of citizenship is required, I would like to hear how they verify citizenship.
Bi-Lingual voter registration? This is absolutely OUTRAGEOUS!!!! If you can’t even speak English you shouldn’t be allowed to vote….period!!! What steps is the YWCA taking to ensure the people who register during this voter drive are US Citizens???
Lawrence was know the “immigrant city”?
With it’s traitor Mayor and city council making Lawrence officially a sanctuary city is it now the “criminal illegal trespasser” capital of the state!!!