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MASNET – Nov. 10, 2006
Webb's thin margin of victory in Virginia
boosted by Muslim voter turnout
WASHINGTON, DC - The Muslim American Society's Center for Electoral Empowerment (CEE) has reported a significant increase in the turnout among Muslim voters for the 2006 midterm election. It attributed Jim Webb’s thin victory in Virginia against the incumbent senator George Allen partly to the Muslim vote.
There are approximately 60,000 Muslim voters in Virginia, with 85% of them living in Northern Virginia. According to MAS CEE Director Mukit Hossain, it is estimated that 47,700 Muslims voted for Jim Webb, which positively contributed to his narrow victory over Senator George Allen.
In a press release, MAS said:
The CEE Get Out The Vote (GOTV) campaign included numerous strategies for increasing Muslim participation in the 2006 mid-term elections: door to door canvassing, calls to Muslim voters by MAS Youth, Scout troops, member and student volunteers, providing volunteers at polling stations, making more than 100,000 automated phone calls to registered Muslim potential voters, encouraging (where applicable) same-day voter registration, and providing free taxi transportation to the polls, especially for elderly and disabled voters.
Statistics based on pre and post-election surveys indicate that an overwhelming number of Muslims voted for Democratic Party candidates. Thus, the margin of victory for Democrats in both House and Senate races in key states was directly impacted by the large turnout of Muslim voters.
Nowhere was this impact more evident than in the Virginia Senate contest between Republican incumbent George Allen and Democratic challenger Jim Webb. Webb was declared the winner in this election by a margin of about 7,000 votes, and his victory in this extremely close race insured the Democratic Party control of the United States Senate.
There are approximately 60,000 Muslim voters in Virginia, with 85% of them living in Northern Virginia. According to MAS CEE Director Mukit Hossain, it is estimated that 47,700 Muslims voted for Jim Webb, which positively contributed to his narrow victory over Senator George Allen.
The CEE also helped support a larger Muslim voter turnout in Virginia by recruiting 230 volunteers for some 200 election sites.
"Although the GOTV campaign was non-partisan, there is no doubt that our strategy to support a large Muslim voter turnout in areas with potentially close election races was a correct one," stated MAS Freedom Foundation Executive Director Mahdi Bray. "We looked at the states with close races and matched them up with states that had a large concentration of Muslims. We came up with a list of eight states, including Virginia."
"Since most Muslims voted for Democratic candidates, there is no doubt that Jim Webb owes his narrow victory, at least in part, to the pivotal Muslim voter turnout in Virginia. They were at least four other races where large Muslim voter turnouts were a critical factor in Democratic Party victories."
"Our objective was not to favor particular candidates or parties, but instead, to register, educate, and mobilize the Muslim community for voter participation. I think we were quite successful in this endeavor," stated Bray.
"I am truly proud of the MAS Freedom Foundation staff, our chapters, and the American Muslim community as a whole who responded enthusiastically to our Voting Is Power (VIP) campaign. CEE and VIP both demonstrated that Muslims can be effective in both civic involvement and political participation."
"With the election of Keith Ellison as the first Muslim to ever win a seat in Congress, and with our voter registration and education campaigns, we believe that we have moved the Muslim community to a higher level of effective political participation in America. This demonstrates to all political parties in America that Muslim voters have the skills and political savvy to play an important, and pivotal, role in electoral politics", Imam Bray concluded.
http://www.masnet.org/takeaction.asp?id=3890
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