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Seniors Encouraged to Vote to Protect Social Security

With the presidential election only 56 days away, organizers with the National Committee to Preserve Social Security and Medicare (NCPSSM) are hitting the pavement and getting senior citizens registered to vote. “Statistics show that senior voter drop-off is often attributed to challenges in actually getting to the polling places,” said NCPSSM Community Outreach Services Director John Glaser. The senior vote, an influential bloc in presidential elections, is important in the effort to preserve Medicare and keeping Social Security from becoming privatized. Currently, 60 percent of Social Security beneficiaries are women, and 25 percent of elderly women who live alone depend on Social Security as their only source of income. Privatizing Social Security, a plan initiated by Republican presidential candidate George W. Bush, would be particularly harmful to women. Women typically earn less and live longer than men; these factors in combination would mean less money set aside for a private Social Security and a larger share of administrative fees that would cut into the account.

Sources:

Social Security Information Project _ September 12, 2000; Institute for WomenÍs Policy Research (Why Privatizing Social Security Would Hurt Women _ March 2000)

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