Saturday, October 29th is Mailing Day for Vote Forward — a campaign that reminds voters about election day through personalized, handwritten letters.
Calling people on telephones is not my thing, and I’m in an area that is safely Democratic. This is a way I can participate and hopefully make a difference. The letters are not hard to write — all you do is write 1-3 sentences on each letter and address, stamp, and mail the envelope. Vote Forward estimates that it will take you about 15 minutes to write 5 letters. I found that once in the rhythm that was about right, but that I spent a little time deciding on my message. They provide sample messages if you just want to make it easy on yourself.
When I just checked now, they still had plenty of addresses available for adoption, so it’s not too late to write letters. I have been writing for a special experimental campaign that specifically mentions the Secretary of State race for Nevada voters. This is a very close race with the Republicans running a Trump-endorsed elections denier to try to get not only the Secretary of State race, but to potentially influence all Nevada elections, elections that are historically very close and key to a Democratic majority in the Senate. So, if it’s still Saturday when you read this, and you have a little time, maybe consider this as part of your day.
You can find links for Vote Forward as well as other ways to help with the election at Daily Kos’ Get Out The Vote page that is also linked in the footer. There are many ways to help — making phone calls or texts, helping drive people to the polls, being a poll observer, helping with social media messaging, or whatever else works for you. And don’t forget to nudge your friends and relatives through your own informal networks.
Vote as early as you can, so that GOTV volunteers can focus on people who need the nudge.
The ground game can make a difference of 1-2% and a lot of these races will be determined by very slim margins. Let’s do all we can to ensure that the people in charge care about equal protection, voting rights, and looking out for all of the American people, not just the wealthy few.