Vote Club
The GOP is trying all kinds of legal vote-theft. We’re not talking “Elon Musk with a power unit in outer space” we mean the stuff the courts let them do: purging voter roles, closing polling locations, changing the rules for mail-in, challenging certain groups of voters, etc.
The real vote theft is mundane and it’s going to take a lot of boring effort to counter — so gather your friends! It’s like a book club, but for democracy!
How to do it:
The goal is to find a group of people who vote on the same issues and would like to support each other. That could mean anything from an email list with deadline reminders to an in-person pre-ballot party to research candidates, to collecting ballots to deliver (check local laws.)
You can include as many people as are interested, but use a de-centralized organizational model so that each team self-manages. We recommend organizing in groups of 4-6 people. If you exceed that size, simply assign team leads and break down into smaller groups based on legislative district.
Team leads should decide how to organize. You could use a Signal list (team leads can help orient new Signal users), an email distribution list, or in-person gatherings at someone’s home, or in a reserved library room. (Note: when you reserve a free library space your event has to be open to the public, but that’s not a bad thing in this case!) Make it fun — how about a potato potluck a week before the election, to research candidates?
Decide which things your group will tackle. We suggests starting with this list:
- Identify electoral deadlines, including the last day to re-register online, the last day to request an absentee ballot, and of course voting dates. Send reminders!
- Find our how to check voter registration and remind folks before the re-registration deadline.
- identify any changes to past voting rules by calling the elections board and asking. Make sure all members know that the USPS is no longer a safe way to return ballots, but if they must, they should leave at least ten days for delivery.
- help members make a voting plan
Here are some optional tasks:
- If you have a large enough group, consider creating a voting guide that can be shared. You don’t have to choose a winner in each race – just highlight the pros and cons of various candidates. This can go quickly if you distribute the list. Ask people to stick to objective facts.
- Create a buddy system to make sure that everyone can access a voting site, or to collect and deliver ballots (check local laws.)
