Onward -- you can do this (now!)

Don't let polls and pundits paralyze you. https://politicalcharge.org/2020/08/31/why-you-should-stop-freaking-out-about-the-election/

Action is the antidote to despair - 2020 Election version

[Suggestions from Rogan’s List (9/1/2020)]
19 EASY THINGS WE CAN DO TO GET OUT THE VOTE: Political Charge, whose newsletter is always full of excellent information on how to resist, knows we're all tired and busy, so they've prepared a guide of 19 easy things we can do to get out the vote. We can get our guide here and share with others:  https://mailchi.mp/d00a9496a621/political-charge

INCREASE DEMOCRATIC VOTER TURNOUT IN SWING STATES: The Big Send is a project by Vote Forward to send 10 million voter turnout letters to underrepresented Democratic voters in 2020 swing states. If we are already writing letters, let’s contact five friends and ask them to join us. If we’re not writing letters yet, let’s sign up and get started. Sign up is here: https://votefwd.org/bigsend and a descriptive video is here: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=X7Vkzb_Dm2M

COLLEGE-AGE VOTERS:  With so many colleges conducting classes online, and so many students taking gap years for viral or financial reasons (or both), it can be challenging to figure out how, where, and when to register to vote in the November election. All in to Vote’s  state-by-state guides and Campus Vote Project's FAQs for student voters are resources that can help college students plan to vote. Let’s check them out, and share with the college students in our lives! (h/t)

FLIPPING THE SENATE: There are 63 days until the election and as Mitch McConnell continues to show his true colors with attention anywhere but on the pandemic:  https://www.wkyt.com/2020/08/31/watch-sen-mcconnell-at-keeneland-for-major-thoroughbred-industry-announcement/ flipping the Senate becomes ever more imperative. Let’s give as generously as we can to as many campaigns as we can (including Democratic Senator Doug Jones in Alabama whose seat we need to keep):

HELPING OTHERS MAKE A VOTING PLAN:  As we continue our campaigning and Get Out The Vote (GOTV) efforts by doing things like writing Postcards To Voters, let’s also take a moment to make sure our friends, family, and neighbors have accurate information about voter registration, vote-by-mail, and safely returning ballots:  https://www.nbcnews.com/specials/plan-your-vote-state-by-state-guide-voting-by-mail-early-in-person-voting-election/

GOTV POSTCARD CAMPAIGNS FOR DEMOCRATIC CANDIDATES: There are now a bunch of flippable Senate races on the list of GOTV postcarding campaigns! And, as ever, there are also postcarding campaigns for Congress, State Houses, and local races. Pick one and join the fun!  https://docs.google.com/document/d/e/2PACX-1vTd9UmW__Zqj89o4Df8qYhLOK5dimPxreYvGhM97wZ-l2Cj8DcfRD3a-JAJrQbgiIaB3kKOj525G9ul/pub?fbclid=IwAR0dOn3Eyi4tUiECTq8wK8_BYeX6xou1S2l_Iw53xnxMLblFxyIx9ul4hvwThere is also info here about where to get postcarding supplies.

REACH OTHERWISE UNREACHABLE RURAL VOTERS OF COLOR IN KEY STATES: Through its Reclaim Our Vote Billboard Campaign, the Center for Common Ground  is raising $150,000 to rent 100 billboards along major roads and highways in rural counties in NC, GA, TX, AZ, FL, SC, AL, and MS. Each billboard will publicize essential voting information to voters who are difficult to reach by phone, text, or mail, and are often neglected by conventional campaigns. If we’re able, let’s donate $10 and help turnout voters whose votes some want to suppress: https://actionnetwork.org/fundraising/billboard-campaign

SEND GOTV LETTERS TO DEMOCRATIC VOTERS IN KEY STATE AZ: Arizona is a key, winnable state in the November elections, and Blue Revolution working with Vote Forward  is launching a massive GOTV drive to turn this state Blue. Using personalized letters to Democratic voters, we can remind them to vote in this, the most important election of our lives. With a goal of sending 100,000 letters, they are looking for us to send as close to 1000 letters as we can. Letters will be emailed to us, then we’ll print, personalize, stamp and mail them in October. Trump cannot win without Arizona, so let’s make sure he loses here and we get our country back on track.  We can click here to learn more and sign up to write letters to AZ Democratic voters:  https://docs.google.com/forms/d/1HBMtWAUDREE3bEOyjZVb329LPhXqnyM-SRaoinyGYh8/viewform?edit_requested=true

Susan Meltsner