New NAACP president launches voter drive

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On his first day as president of the National Association for the Advancement of Colored People, Benjamin Todd Jealous launched an online voter registration initiative yesterday called "Upload to Uplift." The program is designed to encourage people to register and upload the e-mail addresses of family and friends who are not registered to vote. It also has a text-messaging feature that will remind people to vote on Election Day. "We must register every last voter, verify every last voter, mobilize every last voter, protect every last voter and ensure that every last vote is counted," Jealous said in a news release. Individuals interested in registering may go to www.naacp.org and mail the registration form in before the Oct. 4 deadline. Those interested in offering the online registration program on their sites may download it from www.naacp.org.

Sumathi Reddy

Medical center receives a gift of $2 million

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A Davidsonville family has presented a $2 million gift to the Anne Arundel Medical Center for its new Pediatric Emergency Department and Inpatient Unit, the hospital announced yesterday. The donation was made by the DeCesaris family, who gave the hospital $3 million in 2003 to support advanced cancer diagnosis and treatment. For that donation, the hospital named the Geaton and JoAnn DeCesaris Center Institute for them. Geaton DeCesaris Jr. died of nonsmoker's lung cancer in 2006. The new pediatric unit will allow children to be cared for independently of adult patients, hospital officials said. The pediatric areas will be on the first floor of AAMC's new patient tower, a $153 million project expected to open in 2010.

Elections officials prepare for record voter turnout

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After problems with long lines and computer glitches in the 2006 election, state officials have outlined plans this year to address what could be a record voter turnout Nov. 4. State elections Administrator Linda H. Lamone, in a briefing to state lawmakers yesterday, said her office has hired an outside call center that will be staffed with at least 50 people on Election Day. Officials plan to post greeters at polls to ensure that voters are in the right place and to hand out sample ballots so that voters can review ballot questions while in line. The elections office has leased more than 750 additional voting machines and intends to dispatch vans with the machines to places where problems are reported. About 3.2 million voters have registered in Maryland, exceeding the 3 million registered for the presidential election in 2004. Officials expect that this year's presidential contest, as well as the ballot question on whether to legalize slot-machine gambling in Maryland, will attract a high number of voters to the polls. Polls must have at least one voting station for every 200 registered voters assigned to them, and Lamone said that target will be met or exceeded. "We think this is going to be a huge voter turnout," said Joseph Torre, the election director in Anne Arundel County, who also testified before a Senate committee yesterday.

Laura Smitherman