Source: The Washington Post

On September 18, 1999, The Washington Post reported that the American Muslim Council is calling for a wide-scale voter registration drive for Muslims. Aly Abuzaakouk, executive director of the American Muslim Council, said that many of the country's 7 million Muslims come from countries where free voting and free elections are rare: "When you are voteless, you are weightless...It's a matter of education. A lot of them don't realize how important voting is. We are targeting that, by the election 2000, we should have at least 2 million Muslim voters." In response to the registration drive, local efforts have begun in mosques and Muslim centers in Northern Virginia.