As unpatriotic as it sounds, some people would deny American citizens the right to vote, even those who are fully entitled to cast their ballot. The only way to make sure to avoid being the victim of such tactics is to know what your rights are and know who to talk to if you have a problem.

This originally appeared on the Connecticut AFL-CIO website. 

After a long workweek, it can be hard to imagine dedicating your time to another cause. But, for union members such as Fatima Rojas and Theresa Ashe, getting out and getting people to vote is worth the effort.

As large right-wing groups double down on spending and continue to pour huge sums of money into this year’s election, it is the work of union members like Rojas and Ashe at the grassroots level that will truly make the difference come Nov. 6. In fact, so far, Connecticut union members have managed to visit the homes of more than 16,000 people and reached more than 2,500 by phone.

When Newt Gingrich came to Kansas City, Mo., to raise money for U.S. Senate candidate Todd Akin—who became infamous for his comments about so-called “legitimate rape” and pregnancy—working family voters were there to greet them.

Berry Craig, recording secretary for the Paducah-based Western Kentucky AFL-CIO Area Council and a professor of history at West Kentucky Community and Technical College, is a former daily newspaper and Associated Press columnist and currently a member of AFT Local 1360. Craig sends us this.

The hours are long but, says Kentucky United Steelworkers (USW) member Chris Ormes, “I'm loving it. I'm at ground zero, and that's where I want to be."

Ormes, 37, president of USW Local 1241 in Bardstown, Ky., says ground zero is Ohio. The state's electoral votes likely will decide who wins the presidential election. He is a foot soldier in a small army of union volunteers who are toiling 12- and even 14-hour days to help President Obama take the Buckeye State.

This is an excerpt from the Huffington Post, "Game Changer in Ohio: Cars," by AFL-CIO President Richard Trumka.

This election may come down to cars. That’s right, cars. 

Nothing illustrates the choice between the two presidential candidates better than the 2009 rescue of the auto industry.  And, despite Republican presidential candidate Mitt Romney’s efforts to distort the contrast with patently dishonest claims and a new TV ad, the auto rescue may turn out to be the deciding factor in the presidential election.    

Romney can’t seem to Etch-a-Sketch that now-famous op-ed headline—“Let Detroit Go Bankrupt.”

Despite bad weather brought on by Hurricane Sandy, voters in Franklin County, Ohio—home to Columbus—showed up more than any other day of early voting up to this point.

With more than a dozen states still reeling from the massive impact of Hurricane Sandy, the Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA) is coordinating the complex rescue, recovery and repair response. But last year, Mitt Romney said disaster and emergency management should be left up to the states and private corporations.

After the Sunday afternoon service at Grace Temple Baptist Church in Tucson, Ariz., a crowd of more than 30 churchgoers filed into the adjacent hall for a voter education forum presented by the A. Philip Randolph Institute’s (APRI's) Southern Arizona chapter. The crowd was a mix of young voters and those who’d been voting since before the 1965 Voting Rights Act was passed. It was a chance for everyone to learn the ins and outs of various ballot initiatives, as well as how and where they could vote early.

Mitt Romney wants to end project labor agreements, repeal the Davis-Bacon Act and enact "right to work" for less laws. And his audience is cheering him on. Check out this new YouTube video from the Electrical Workers (IBEW), "Mitt Romney: Union Buster," and make sure you get out and vote Nov. 6. 

If there is a “war on coal,” as Mitt Romney and his corporate coal operator backers have trumpeted throughout coal country, especially in the vital swing state of Ohio, the man behind that war is Mitt Romney himself, AFL-CIO President Richard Trumka said in a telephone press conference Monday.   

Today, Romney says he will be a “coal” president. But he is actually anti-coal. It wasn’t too long ago that he stood in front of a coal-fired power plant in Massachusetts and said, “Coal kills people. Shut this down.” Now, he goes into the field and says there is a war on coal….Mitt Romney is a political chameleon who will say anything he thinks people want to hear.