Women’s Voices. Women Vote Announce Launch ‘20 MILLION REASONS TO VOTE’ Campaign

WASHINGTON, D.C. – What do an actress, a magician and a cop have in common?

They are women urging other women to register and vote in a new public service announcement campaign sponsored by the non-partisan organization Women's Voices. Women Vote. Some of Hollywood's leading actresses and women from all walks of life are part of the campaign being launched one year out from the 2008 elections aimed at registering and turning out the vote. The PSA’s are set to a powerful rendition of “America the Beautiful” performed by Barbra Streisand.

“The goal is to motivate the 20 million American women on their own - single, separated, divorced and widowed - who didn't vote in the last election to register and go to the polls on November 4, 2008, ” said Page Gardner, founder and President of WVWV, of the ad campaign. “The economic, social and political implications reflected in the power of this important new voting bloc are profound. We want their voices heard in our democracy.”

Women on their own make up the largest bloc of non-voters in the nation, and are the fastest growing large demographic. The Public Service Announcements are set in the Oval Office, evoking the importance of having the women’s voices heard and their power felt in electing candidates to every office.

To view the public service announcements, click here.

The PSA campaign is created by Producer Julie Bergman Sender and Academy Award nominated director Stuart Sender. Their Production firm, Balcony Films specializes in creating and distributing visual content and large-scale campaigns for television, the internet, radio, and theaters.

Unmarried women represent 26% of all eligible voters and half of all women in this country. While 27 million single women did vote in 2004, 20 million single women did not vote. Compared to their married sisters, they are 9% less likely to register and 13% less likely to vote.

“There is a marriage gap in this country. The difference is between how married and unmarried women live, work, and participate in our democracy. Women’s Voices. Women Vote is dedicated to one proposition --- that the voices of women on their own are heard, that their lives and their concerns are addressed by candidates and that their voices are heard in our democracy. America loses when the voices of these women are not included,” said Gardner.

“The extraordinary women from all walks of life who gave their efforts to our PSA’s -- an exercise in democracy to make sure women on their own participate – are performing a uniquely American act in volunteering to help make our country stronger through greater democratic participation,” said Gardner.

The women in the public service ads include:

* Barbra Streisand, singer, actress, composer, and film producer and director. Streisand has enjoyed critical and commercial success, winning multiple Oscars, Emmys, Grammy and Golden Globe awards, among many other accolades.

* Tina Gainsbrough and her daughter Sandy Price. Tina is 87, and first voted during the Great Depression. Tina’s mother was pregnant with her when she marched for women's suffrage.

* Julia Louis Dreyfus, actress and environmental activist. Julia is an Emmy and Golden Globe Award winning actress and comedian. She starred in NBC’s Seinfeld and was a member of the Saturday Night Live cast for two seasons. She currently stars in the CBS sitcom The New Adventures of Old Christine.

* Rachel Pusak, young nurse practitioner. After Hurricane Katrina, she raised money to go to New Orleans and help victims of Katrina.

* Christine Lahti, Oscar winner, political activist and mother of three. She won an Emmy and two Golden Globes for her role in Chicago Hope.

* Jasmine Segura, single mom of a young son and fights fires for the Los Angeles County Fire Department.

* Amber Tamblyn, actress. She starred in the CBS series Joan of Arcadia and the film The Sisterhood of Traveling Pants. She has been an active voice for voter registration.

* Candice Clark, artist and apartment manager, raising her 15 month old daughter Thace on her own.

* Jurnee Smollett, young actress co starring in the soon to be released film The Great Debaters with Denzel Washington.

* Farrah Siegel, 18 year old magician who will be voting for the first time.

* Sarah Paulson, actress best known for her work on NBC’s Studio 60 on the Sunset Strip and HBO’s acclaimed series Deadwood.

The PSAs are part of a broader campaign by Women's Voices. Women Vote to register and encourage single women to vote on November 7, 2008. The organization plans registration programs in 25 states in 2007 and 2008 with a goal of registering over 1 million women. WVWV also partners with other nonprofit organizations and shares its resources to increase the effectiveness and impact of voter mobilization programs.

Women's Voices. Women Vote is a non-profit, non-partisan organization created to activate unmarried women to participate in their government and in our democracy.