Get up and GOTV
May 9, 2018 8:31 AM Subscribe
What are the most effective GOTV and voter registration organizations?
In the latest politics thread, there's some info about how ACORN was incredibly effective and no other organization comes close these days:
(a) getting voters registered and/or
(b) getting voters to actually vote?
As far as I can tell, League of Women Voters doesn't actually do a lot of voter registration themselves (correct me if I'm wrong - and might it depend on the local chapter?). I have heard that NAACP does some good GOTV work.
I'm especially interested in effective organizations in states like Texas, which are potentially flippable and have significant barriers to voting.
Who's getting the most done here?
Oh, and - if an organization does more than one thing, how do I give them money earmarked for GOTV or voter registration drives?
Thanks!
In the latest politics thread, there's some info about how ACORN was incredibly effective and no other organization comes close these days:
ACORN registered more than 865,000 voters for the 2008 election. While other groups have tried to pick up the slack, there’s a reason Republicans haven’t selected a new organization to serve as the voter fraud boogeyman: nobody is doing the same caliber work on the same scale that ACORN did.So: who IS good? Which organizations are doing the best work in actually:
(a) getting voters registered and/or
(b) getting voters to actually vote?
As far as I can tell, League of Women Voters doesn't actually do a lot of voter registration themselves (correct me if I'm wrong - and might it depend on the local chapter?). I have heard that NAACP does some good GOTV work.
I'm especially interested in effective organizations in states like Texas, which are potentially flippable and have significant barriers to voting.
Who's getting the most done here?
Oh, and - if an organization does more than one thing, how do I give them money earmarked for GOTV or voter registration drives?
Thanks!
Best answer: Spread the Vote is new (since the election) and small (one-woman operation, initially), but they seem to be doing good stuff and I believe they have just set their sights on Texas as their next state of interest. Their volunteers do a lot of legwork helping people get IDs and so forth, and then helping them to register to vote. I don't think they're really focused on GOTV, though.
Postcards to Voters has you hand-write postcards and send them to voters in local elections to encourage them to vote. They pick the elections and then give you a list of names and addresses, I think. I signed up with them but haven't actually finished the process and done a postcard-writing session yet, so I don't know exactly how it works. It does seem like a nice not-scary activity to do with a group -- no phone calls, no canvassing -- to help get out the vote in smaller elections. Apparently the handwritten/personalized postcards are pretty effective reminders.
posted by little cow make small moo at 8:38 AM on May 9, 2018 [2 favorites]
Postcards to Voters has you hand-write postcards and send them to voters in local elections to encourage them to vote. They pick the elections and then give you a list of names and addresses, I think. I signed up with them but haven't actually finished the process and done a postcard-writing session yet, so I don't know exactly how it works. It does seem like a nice not-scary activity to do with a group -- no phone calls, no canvassing -- to help get out the vote in smaller elections. Apparently the handwritten/personalized postcards are pretty effective reminders.
posted by little cow make small moo at 8:38 AM on May 9, 2018 [2 favorites]
Best answer: I think it's highly localized. ChicagoVotes is doing amazing work getting folks in jail (who are in pretrial and thus eligible to vote, for instance) registered and then getting ballots to them. And their Parade to the Polls initiative is doing excellent work getting high school students who are eligible to vote registered and to their polling places.
You might try reaching out to one of the Indivisible chapters in Dallas or Austin or Houston or San Antonio or any other town and asking them if they know an organization you can support. As for donations, donors can always note if they'd like a donation to support a particular program but unrestricted funds are always more valuable to organizations who have to keep the lights on and the internet bill paid.
posted by crush at 9:09 AM on May 9, 2018
You might try reaching out to one of the Indivisible chapters in Dallas or Austin or Houston or San Antonio or any other town and asking them if they know an organization you can support. As for donations, donors can always note if they'd like a donation to support a particular program but unrestricted funds are always more valuable to organizations who have to keep the lights on and the internet bill paid.
posted by crush at 9:09 AM on May 9, 2018
Yeah, this is a super local thing, partially because election law varies massively among states, and often small groups of individuals taking a responsibility in their particular community of interest or neighborhood are the most effective at actually turning out voters. If you tell us where you are, we might be able to give better suggestions.
posted by juliapangolin at 12:10 PM on May 9, 2018
posted by juliapangolin at 12:10 PM on May 9, 2018
Response by poster: Juliapangolin, I'm in California (San Francisco), but I'm interested in any really effective organizations anywhere, especially in places that make it extra-hard to register to vote, or to complete the voting process. If there's a super-effective group in one little county in Texas or Florida, I'd love to hear about it. If there's a super-effective group in a county in California, I'd love to hear about that.
Thanks!
posted by kristi at 3:18 PM on May 9, 2018
Thanks!
posted by kristi at 3:18 PM on May 9, 2018
Best answer: Floridians for a Fair Democracy led the campaign to get an amendment on the 2018 state ballot that would give the ability to vote back to Floridians with felony convictions that have completed their sentences (Brennan Center talks about it here). They've still got a lot of good work ahead of them.
posted by crush at 4:32 PM on May 9, 2018
posted by crush at 4:32 PM on May 9, 2018
Response by poster: Thanks very much for all the great answers!
posted by kristi at 12:14 PM on May 12, 2018
posted by kristi at 12:14 PM on May 12, 2018
This thread is closed to new comments.
posted by ThePinkSuperhero at 8:34 AM on May 9, 2018 [1 favorite]