September 17, 2008 | Read Time: 1 minute
The American Civil Liberties Union announced today its “I’m a Constitution Voter” campaign, which seeks to get Americans to pledge to consider civil-liberty concerns when they enter the voting booth in November to choose the next president.
On its Web site, the group asks visitors to sign a petition that demands that the next occupant of the White House close the Guantánamo Bay prison, among other moves.
In issues related to the nonprofit world, the organization also wants the next president to examine government-supported religious social-service programs to make sure they do not violate the Constitution and end “monitoring” by law-enforcement agencies of political activists.
In a related move, the ONE Campaign, an antipoverty group in Washington, is trying to influence next week’s presidential debate in Mississippi. The group wants supporters to sign a petition to persuade the moderator, Jim Lehrer of the Public Broadcasting Service, to ask John McCain and Barack Obama about what they would do to ameliorate global poverty.
So far, 37,000 people have signed the petition, the charity says.
