September 1, 2005

City Wins National Honors For Successful
"Vote Miami Beach" Initiative

Miami Beach, FL - On Thursday, August 25, the City of Miami Beach's "Vote Miami Beach" initiative was honored by the City-County Communications and Marketing Association (3CMA), a national organization comprised of municipal communications and marketing officials. The local voter registration campaign took top honors in the Citizen/Public Participation Program category.

Vote Miami Beach successfully registered thousands of Miami Beach residents to vote during the 2004 election cycle and successfully engaged the participation of businesses, citizens and schools. The program continues to pursue its dual goals of increasing voter participation and voting awareness through outreach efforts at various city-sponsored events and by offering registered Miami Beach voters discounts at numerous Miami Beach businesses.

"This is a great honor for our city," said Mayor David Dermer. "Vote Miami Beach has had a positive impact on our citizens and gone a long way to engage them in the fundamentals of the democratic process; we are grateful to the 3CMA for rightly recognizing these accomplishments," he added.

The 3CMA judging committee said, "Congratulations to Miami Beach and this award-winning effort to get out the vote. This campaign overcame several huge obstacles (voter apathy, declining registration and a voting population that was getting younger). We particularly liked the outreach to the young and the inclusion of the business community. The results mirror what was a very creative and effective campaign."

For further information on the "Vote Miami Beach" initiative and upcoming voter registration events, please visit votemiamibeach.com. For more information on the City-County Communications and Marketing Association (3CMA), please visit 3cma.org.

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