I asked Lea Page, a wonderful writer and human being, to fill me in on the details of the work she’s been doing–now from home–to get out the vote. Below is what she wrote to me. As her advice makes clear, this is work we can continue doing even from our own living rooms! — Elizabeth
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Lea Page:
Here is my list of a few places that are organizing volunteers for GOTV efforts. They are not issue oriented–well, that’s not true. They are focused on voting, which is, in my mind, the gateway to all other issues.
Their methods are all based on research and solid numbers.
Center for Common Ground/Reclaim Our Vote.
Connected to the NAACP, this organization works to notify those voters who have been de-registered (thrown off the rolls, FFS) and provides info on how to re-register. They also send info/encouragement on voting days for primaries, etc. Theoretically non-partisan, in that they don’t endorse candidates. Only access to the polls.
You can write postcards or phone bank. You provide the postcards and postage.
They offer weekly online trainings– quick and easy, not irritating or patronizing. Encourage postcard parties– for now virtual.
My batch of postcards is all for North Carolina.
Postcards to Voters
Postcards sent to voters endorsing specific candidates–democrats. Focused on state races, in advance of the very consequential redistricting after our next census and election. Not issue oriented as far as I can tell– just working on getting the most likely winning democratic candidate for that election. You have to email them a photo of a sample postcard to show them that your writing is legible, and then you are good to go. You provide postcards and postage.
The last batch I wrote concerned a Supreme Court Judicial election in Wisconsin.
Vote Forward/Swing Left
This outfit is sending letters to voters encouraging them to vote. It does not advocate for specific candidates or issues. You request batches of 5 or 20 addresses. You then download the letters– they have a form that you personalize. You provide the envelopes and postage. So far, all the letters I have written are for Texas and I am to hold them till a date in October, then send them to arrive before the general election.
A word about phone banking:
I want to encourage everyone to make calls. For one: it is cost-free!!! Also, we will not be able to canvass for the foreseeable future, so this is a way to connect with a voice if not a physical presence, and I have learned that this matters– A LOT. Maybe now more than ever.
That said, I am an introvert and, bizarrely, would rather knock on doors (I’ve done 8000) than phone bank. I phone banked for Planned Parenthood and it was not as stressful as I imagined, but still, it was not my cup of tea. However, I am just going to GET OVER myself and do it for Reclaim Our Vote because my outrage at voter suppression is more uncomfortable than my reluctance to talk on the phone. You don’t have to persuade, just pass on info. And the phone list is generally to people who are overlooked on all fronts, so it just means a lot.
Also, I am generally a knucklehead when it comes to computer things, and I have managed all the logistics without a hiccup. So it is, literally, fool proof.
Lea Page is the author of Parenting in the Here & Now: Realizing the Strengths You Already Have. Her essays have been published in The Washington Post, The Rumpus, The Boiler and The Pinch, among others. She lives in Montana with her husband and a small circus of semi-domesticated animals.
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