The President is doing everything he can to delegitimize the November 3rd election. He suggested it be postponed, warned that it will be rigged and is undermining the United States Postal Service. The most important actions we can take between now and Election Day are to work to ensure that there is a record turnout and a landslide vote for Democrats up and down the ballot. Here are specific things we can all do to help make this happen:
Call to Action
Demand that Congress fund and protect the United States Postal Service! Call your Senators and Representative and insist that the new CARES Act restore funding to the USPS, prohibit the shutting down/consolidation of USPS stations until after the election (if at all), fund overtime to secure timely delivery and collection of ballots, and cover the full cost of postage for every ballot.
Vote early! Whether you live in a universal mail ballot state, register for an absentee ballot, or plan to go to a polling place, the best step you can take is to vote as early as you can. By spreading voting over the whole length of the voting period you reduce long lines, crowding and the accompanying risks of the pandemic. Find the date when voting opens in your community and mark it on your calendar.
Use absentee ballots! You can register at www.vote.org/absentee-ballot/ no matter where you live. You can mail the ballot (or drop it off at a polling site). Vote.Org has up-to-date information on deadlines for requesting ballots, turning them in and links to allow you to confirm your own registration. (You can also check your registration with your local county clerk.) Take care of this now!
Create your own Get Out The Vote (GOTV) mailing list and use it! Go through all the contacts on your phone and email accounts creating a master list of folks you are comfortable reaching out to about the election. It is a tiresome task but once it’s done, save it and use it repeatedly. Make sure to ask for and include the contact information for the voting age offspring of your friends and relatives. Encouraging a friend’s young voter is more effective than bugging your own! To win, this must be a multi-generational effort!
Keep communicating with your people! Once you have a list, send this edition of MWR (https://www.myweeklyresistance.com/read-our-blog/2020/8/5/lets-start-winning-this-election-now ) to everyone on it. Let them know you will be nudging them periodically between now and the election. Give them the choice to opt out. If they don’t opt out, keep communicating!
Become an election judge! If you are not in a high-risk health group, get an N95 mask and volunteer!
Recruit election judges! Polling places are being closed across the country because there aren’t enough election judges to monitor voting and the ballot count. If that’s not safe for you, recruit others who can do this essential work.
Participate in local GOTV efforts! Your state and county Democratic parties will all be mobilizing voters. Because of the pandemic this will look different than in prior elections. Find out what you can do with your local party or campaign. You don’t have to love volunteering this way, but we need to do it!
Participate in national GOTV efforts! Here are a few national efforts to reach voters and potential voters in key states by postcard, text and phone: Women’s March, Blue Wave, and VoteSaveAmerica. These campaigns are a great way for folks too young to vote to get involved!
Donate Money! You can contribute to Democratic candidates in swing states and districts (check out those nearest to where you live at SwingLeft.) Contribute to organizations working to protect and get out the vote. We recommend FairFight or local organizations targeting underrepresented groups such as New Era Colorado(registering younger voters) or Soul 2 Soul Sisters (registering African American voters in Colorado). To find similar organizations near you, search “youth voter registration” in (your state name) or replace “youth voter” with another group you would like to support.
In the documentary John Lewis: Good Trouble, the late Congressman urged us all not to despair but to take action. Start spending your time and money now to insure an uncontestable victory and the end of our national nightmare.