November 5’s life/death presidential choice is in less than a month. You may not be in one of the seven decisive swing states. But you want to have impact beyond your own vote. So think these three links: Center for Common Ground
https://www.centerforcommonground.org/ , Communities United for Justice
https://cu4justice.com/ , and The People’s Hub for Grassroots Democracy Organizing
usgrassroots.org . From New York or Chicago, you can actually go to Pennsylvania, Michigan or Wisconsin. Leaving DC, you can get to North Carolina or maybe Georgia. From California, you can fly or drive to Nevada or Arizona. (In Los Angeles, my mail-in ballot has arrived, and I want to do more…but I won’t be leaving home). In many key states, early voting has begun, so it’s too late for hand-written post cards. And in some places (like Georgia) Get-Out-The-Vote organizers really prefer that young locals do the face-to-face canvassing. So from your home, here are three things to consider:
- send money to help pay those canvassers;
- make phone calls into swing states; and/or
- work to protect the election.
For each function, there’s a great group whose prime organizers you can see up/front & personal at our October 7 Green Grassroots Emergency Election Protection (GREEP) webcast (
WWW.electionprotection2024.org) Adds the legendary Virginia-based Andrea Miller of the Center for Common Ground : (
https://www.centerforcommonground.org/ ) : “We are all digital so we don't send lists of names. We do have phone banks running in Virginia, North Carolina, Georgia, Florida and Texas for Black voters telling them when early voting begins in their state and how they can find out where it is and when it's open. “We learned in Georgia in 2020 that the number 1 reason Black voters in Atlanta didn't turn out was they didn't know where to vote. If you don't have the Internet (older, rural, low income), you can't find early voting information because it is only available on the Internet. “We have also found from a study in 2021 that even leaving messages increases voter turnout by +5 while an actual conversation can generate +17. “If you want to actually talk with voters, call the rural districts where voters always answer their phone (and no one is calling them or knocking on their door).” Thus…since many urban Americans no longer answer even their cell phone… canvassing can often mean you speak personally to just to a tiny handful of those you call. But by leaving a phone message or even a text there or in rural areas, you can have an impact. For all that, go to:
https://centerforcommonground.org/phonebanks . Meanwhile, the Atlanta-based Ray McClendon’s Communities United for Justice (
https://cu4justice.com/ ) has been organizing teams of canvassers for door-to-door / face-to-face campaigning, primarily in Georgia. Rather going personally to Georgia, you might send that gas money or airfare to help fund mostly young canvassers who’ll urge their friends and neighbors to vote. Your dollars can help keep them in the streets and neighborhoods through November 5. AND…if you want to research the hard core realities of how this election is being administered, and/or support the diverse universe of groups working to protect it, visit The People’s Hub for Grassroots Democracy Organizing at
usgrassroots.org . You might also watch Greg Palast’s chilling “Vigilantes Inc.” (
https://www.imdb.com/title/tt22439720/ ) We’ll all be glad you did! ———————————————— Harvey Wasserman co-convenes the Green Grassroots Emergency Election Protection (GREEP) zooms most Mondays at 5pm ET/ 2pm PT (
www.grassrootsep.org), and helped compile the People’s Hub for Grassroots Democracy Organizing
USgrassroots.org website.
