Did you know in 2008, 6 million Americans didn't vote because they missed the registration deadline or didn't know how to register?

Make sure all your friends and family are ready to vote this November. Send them to www.aflcio.org/register.

If you’re not sure, go ahead and register now. Visit www.aflcio.org/register to double check. 

Just in case you were concerned about the more than 750,000 Pennsylvania voters who would be disenfranchised this November—thanks to the state's new voter ID law—Rep. Daryl Metcalfe (R-Pa.), who sponsored the law, assured Pennsylvania residents during a radio interview that the law would only disenfranchise "lazy" individuals. 

Astonishingly, Metcalfe took a cue from Mitt Romney and claimed these individuals who are "lazy" are also the 47% "living off the public dole, living off their neighbors’ hard work."

Actually, the "lazy" 47% are the working poor, senior citizens (who paid into Social Security and Medicare throughout their working lives), active military personnel, students and people with disabilities. How dare these people want to vote?

Ohio coal miners at a Murray Energy mine (a nonunion mine) lost a day's pay when they were forced to attend a mandatory Mitt Romney campaign rally in Beallsville last month. 

The Cleveland Plain Dealer reported:

Because the company's mine had to be shut down for "safety and security" reasons during Romney's visit, [Murray Energy Chief Financial Officer Rob] Moore confirmed workers were not paid that day. He said miners also lose pay when weather or power outages shut down the mine and noted that federal election law doesn't let companies pay workers to attend political events.

Now, the Romney campaign is featuring these coal miners in its new attack ad claiming President Obama is "anti-coal."

Think voter fraud is a problem? Think again. The chance of voter fraud occurring in a federal election is 1 in 2.3 million. A person is more likely to be struck by lightning or attacked by a swarm of bees than commit voter fraud. 

Thirty-four states introduced voter ID requirements that would effectively disenfranchise more than 21 million eligible voters who don’t have the required IDs—mostly people of color, low-income voters, students, seniors and people with disabilities.

The NAACP recently released this video, Dangerous World, which shows voter fraud isn't dangerous but stopping 21 million people from voting is. 

The Pennsylvania Supreme Court decision to send the voter ID law back to the lower court for evaluation on whether the law disenfranchises voters "is a positive step," says AFL-CIO President Richard Trumka. 

But it is also a reminder of how cumbersome voter ID laws have become to voters. We are less than 50 days away from a critically important election, and many voters are going to face problems voting because of confusing voter ID laws. In Pennsylvania alone, more than 758,000 residents lack a state-issued ID and nationally the problem is even bigger. 

Toledo union members pitched in during United Way's Week of Caring to help build a home for a local family. Volunteers, including members of UAW Local 14 and AFSCME Local 544, along with AFL-CIO Labor Community Services liaisons Micheal Alexander and Laura Harrison, joined Habitat for Humanity on the project.

Volunteers, organized through United Way of Greater Toledo, helped install siding on the house. The entire project will take several months to complete. 

See more photos from the United Way of Greater Toledo's Week of Caring 2012.  

A little rain never hurt anybody and it certainly didn't stop hundreds of Pennsylvania voters from getting their voter IDs today at the Driver & Vehicle Services office in Pittsburgh. 

Pennsylvania voters who need IDs—thanks to a new state law that disenfranchises hundreds of thousands of Pennsylvania residents, including civic-minded seniors— were assisted by representatives from the NFL Players Association (NFLPA), along with the Pennsylvania AFL-CIO and various community groups. Because of the new law, Pennsylvania state officials say that more than 785,000 voters don’t have a state-issued photo identification.

Grassroots activists will be able to direct how the field program operates with Workers' Voice's new, innovative online tool called RePurpose. 

RePurpose is a way for campaign volunteers to gain points based on activities through Workers' Voice, whether it is phone banking, knocking on doors or taking action online. 

Munger Elementary School in Detroit will have a new garden, thanks to Ford employees and members of UAWLocal 600. As part of this year's Ford Global Week of Caring, UAW Local 600 will help build raised garden beds for Bridging Communities to support students at the school. 

Voter ID laws are real threats to our democracy.

Join us at the AFL-CIO to discuss Tova Andrea Wang's book, The Politics of Voter Suppression: Defending and Expanding Americans' Right to Vote, Wednesday, Sept. 19, at 1 p.m. Wang, a senior democracy fellow at Demos, says today's voter suppression tactics have roots going back a century and a half and pose a serious threat to the democratic process. 

RSVP here.