Turn Up and Turn Out!
Every call you make, every door you knock on, every postcard you write, and every text you send makes a difference.
What the polls tell us is that this competitive race is absolutely winnable if we engage and inform voters. Whether we win or lose will come down to whether we win the information war. It is ours to win and win we must. So hop off the pollercoaster and start reminding people that Democrats are working for a future for all of us, not just a few.
Never volunteered or find volunteering a little scary? No worries. We got you!
Start with your networks. Grassroots organizers are working to register eligible voters and get them to the polls, but they need our help because nothing moves the needle like relational organizing. (Relational organizing is reaching out to your network through phone, text, email or in person and making sure they are registered to vote and that they actually vote.)
Ask all the young people you know if they are registered to vote. If not, help them get registered.
Have friends or kids who live abroad? Make sure they register to vote and get their ballots. It is estimated that 3M eligible voters live abroad, but only 7.8% voted in 2020. Here’s a link for those voters.
Sign up NOW with a Dem grassroots organizing orgs to get on their mailing list for volunteer opportunities happening. Also, great to donate to these GOTV organizations!
Swing Left - Huge clearinghouse for volunteer opps everywhere.
Mobilize.us - Another great clearinghouse.
Field Team 6 - All volunteer org, total rockstars.
Movement Labs - They do a ton of textbanks all the time for lots of orgs.
Voto Latino - Great org and while you don’t need to speak Spanish, if you do, even better!
APIA Vote - Another A+ org dedicated to engaging AAPI.
Indivisible - They have a great neighbor to neighbor grassroots effort!
Black Voters Matter - Love this group’s work.
When We All Vote - Michelle Obama’s awesome group.
Sister District – Amazing org focused on state races.
If you have never phone-banked, text-banked, wrote postcards or knocked on doors, here’s what has helped us get over our reluctance to volunteer.
Know your why. For us, each call is about making sure each person knows that their vote and voice matters. It’s about a better future not just for the next few years, but for the next 10-20 years and which candidate is most likely to lead us toward that better future.
Be authentic. Organizers will always give you a script, but adapt it so it sounds like you. We always do two things when we call voters or knock on doors: 1) We apologize for bothering them since most people do not like getting political calls and it usually helps; and 2) We always say something like: “I’m a volunteer with X and we’re just calling around to make sure everyone gets out and votes.” We like to start general before getting specific. Figure out what works for you and do that.
One vote can make all the difference. Don’t give up! It can take many, many hours to get that one vote. It’s worth it. Even if you only got one voter to vote in this election cycle, that would make a difference – especially in a Swing State!
Volunteering delivers Democratic wins. In 2018, first-time volunteers all over the country came together to GOTV and delivered a Democratic House majority for the first time since 2010! In 2020, despite massive voter suppression by the GOP, we not only elected Biden (the first time in decades that an incumbent has not won), we held the House and flipped the Senate with a record high turnout due to a massive GOTV and fundraising effort. And in 2022, we gained a Senate seat and only lost the House by less than 5,000 votes in what was supposed to be a “red wave”. Every call you make, every door you knock on, every postcard you write and every text you send makes a difference.