SEIU members across Oregon are working hard to close the Democratic nomination today for Barack Obama and turn out the vote for U.S. Senate candidate Jeff Merkley, Attorney General candidate John Kroger, Portland Mayoral candidate Sam Adams and other state and local candidates. With more than 50,000 members, SEIU is the largest union in the state.

SEIU's Oregon members have:

• Made 150,000 phone calls.


• Knocked on 22,000 doors.


• Worked more than 500 volunteer shifts.


• Sent 200,000 pieces of mail.


• United with more than 30,000 workers in Change to Win and other  unions to get out the vote.

"Today SEIU members in Oregon will make Barack Obama the indisputable nominee of the Democratic Party,"said SEIU Secretary-Treasurer Anna Burger. "SEIU members have knocked on millions of doors and made millions of phone calls to carry Obama across the finish line in the primaries. And now we're ready to step up our efforts to defeat John McCain in the fall and create the change working people need."

 

Adella Maza, a janitor in ABM, is voting for the first time as an American citizen. "I came to this country 23 years ago to give my family a better future,"said Maza. "And now I get to cast my very first vote as an American citizen in one of the most important elections in my lifetime. Barack Obama gives me hope that the promise of America is still available to everyone and my children will still have the future I dreamed of."

 

Lori Loher, a worker at Kaiser Permanente in Portland, is one of hundreds of members across the state getting out the vote for Obama. "I've been a registered Republican all my life,"said Loher. "But with families struggling to get by, people without access to health care, and an endless war in Iraq, we need a president who is committed to real change. I'm voting for Obama because he's the only one who can turn things around and give all families a piece of the American Dream."

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