AARP 2008 Annual Report Download - page 15

Outreach to Voters
AARP state offices sponsored nearly three dozen candidate debates. All were issue-focused, mature and
nonconfrontational. They enabled voters to hear first-hand how candidates would work to enhance health
care and financial security.
AARP’s voter education efforts helped increase participation in some areas with historically low turnout.
For example, hundreds of older Hispanics in the sprawling, rural 23rd Congressional District of Texas
voted for the first time after AARP staff and volunteers held hands-on demonstrations of local voting
machines, distributed bilingual voter guides and participated in call-in radio shows.
More than a million people starred in their own videos about ending partisan gridlock. Our light-hearted,
pre-election video featured each participant’s name plastered all over a town in which people seek to
change politics for the better. A post-election video enabled people to encourage President-elect Obama to
take action on health care and lifetime financial security.
Better Government
AARP members in California took a big stand for good government by helping to pass a ballot initiative
designed to make state legislators more accountable to voters. Proposition 11, developed in part by AARP,
will place responsibility for drawing the boundaries of state legislative districts in the hands of an
independent panel of citizens—not politicians—starting after the 2010 Census.
"The budget gridlock and last year's failed health care reform effort are all examples of a legislature that is
so entrenched that they refused to come together to work on issues that voters care about," said Jeannine
English, president of AARP California. "With Proposition 11, voters can be assured they will have a say in
who represents them."
Housing and Mobility
In 2008 AARP made further progress in influencing changes in communities so that people can stay
connected with family and friends, and live independently as they age.
Although the largest 50+ generation in U.S. history is entering their mature years, society has not kept up
with this demographic shift. Homes and transportation systems designed for families of the 1950s and
1960s are often ill-suited to people with physical limitations. More than 20 states identified local
opportunities to engage with AARP members, volunteers and public officials to advance our housing and
mobility priorities.