Vote!

The coming year promises to be key in the future of the fight against AIDS. Although there are signs of recovery, three years of a flagging economy and national spending priorities focused on security and war rather than healthcare and research have already begun to erode the gains the AIDS community experienced in the 1990s. This is the backdrop for the upcoming election cycle.

It has been a long time since HIV could be considered a partisan political issue; this new reality exemplifies the power of a community of concerned citizens speaking with a united voice. Your opinion must be heard and respected. Registering to vote, knowing the issues and effectively expressing your opinions are vital to regaining the momentum the AIDS community seems to have lost over the past few years. It's time now for all of us to recommit ourselves to the fight.

The links on this page will help you to register, find your elected officials and polling place, and getvoting guides and information on elections. They will also direct you to an important new website, AIDSVote.org, launched on World AIDS Day, December 1, 2003, to educate candidates and voters in the 2004 presidential election of the public policies needed to make progress against HIV/AIDS in the U.S. and around the world.

The AIDSVote.org site includes a model presidential platform on HIV/AIDS developed by a coalition of groups to help candidates formulate their own positions to address the AIDS pandemic. In the coming weeks, the site will also post the responses by candidates to a detailed questionaire based on the AIDSVote.org platform. AIDS Survival Project is a proud endorser of the organization's sample platform.