How can I help people vote this November?

August 21, 2020 10:02 PM

I live in an all-mail-vote state, so most of this isn't relevant locally, and in this year of all years I'm not about to travel to another state to help drive people to the polls or work as a poll worker or watcher. But I'd like to help people vote in the most impactful way I can from home. So...what way is that?

Things that have occurred to me:
- Texting/calling voters to remind them to register to vote in the first place
- Texting/calling voters to apply to vote by mail as their state's deadline approaches
- Texting/calling voters to remind them to send in their ballot
- Texting/calling voters the weekend before the election to make sure they've got a plan to vote
- Donating PPE or money for PPE to people who need to stand in line and/or poll workers
- Donating money to feed people who need to stand in line or replace their wages from a lost day of work
- Donating to a cab/Uber/Lyft fund for people who need a private ride to the polls

I imagine the Biden campaign already is or will be coordinating some of the contact stuff, and I just signed up for some of their trainings. But is anyone doing anything about PPE for voters, or snacks to eat in line, or anything else to help people to deal with the inevitable massive clusterfuck that will be in-person voting in contested states this year? How can I help people in other states get what they need to be able to vote this November?

posted by potrzebie to Law & Government (9 answers total)

Does your state or locality require any forms to be downloaded and printed? Mine requires a specific form to be downloaded, printed, and a hard copy signed and mailed or faxed to request the mail-in ballot. Like many people, I don’t have access to a printer during quarantine. That might be something helpful to do for local people who need it if it’s a thing where you are.
posted by The Underpants Monster at 12:07 AM on August 22, 2020 [2 favorites]

Even in a state that's entirely vote-by-mail, you want to be encouraging people to a) send their ballots in as early as possible and b) if ballots can be dropped off somewhere (eg the drop boxes in Washington or if the Board of Elections/county clerk/whoever accepts them directly) rather than sent via the post office, to do that.
posted by hoyland at 4:35 AM on August 22, 2020 [1 favorite]

Turning people out for early voting will be important as well as it'll reduce lines on election day, especially in places that aren't getting absentee ballots into people's hands in a timely manner. (NYC did not do a good job of that for the primary; mail slowdowns aside, they weren't processing the applications fast enough, though they claim there won't be a repeat in November.)
posted by hoyland at 4:42 AM on August 22, 2020

Best answer: Donate to Pizza to the Polls! They're a non-profit that delivers (free!) pizza to people waiting in line, and for this election they're also recruiting poll workers and trying to make vote by mail easier.

I love the Underpants Monster's idea of helping with printing - I'm not American so I'm not sure of the legalities/feasibility of this, but perhaps offer to print and mail forms to people who don't have their own? You cold coordinate this with your local Dem group, or an org like Postcards to Voters, maybe.
posted by Tamanna at 7:36 AM on August 22, 2020 [2 favorites]

Best answer: Writing brief personal letters to infrequent voters in key states, encouraging them to vote, can have a real difference. Vote Forward is co-ordinating a "Big Send" campaign targeting voters in 15 swingable states, to be sent en masse sometime in October. So, you can sign up and start writing letters in your spare time, stockpiling them until some crisp autumn day when you and tens of thousands of civic-minded volunteers consign a few month's work to your nearest surviving USPS mailbox.
posted by mumkin at 9:31 AM on August 22, 2020 [3 favorites]

You can adopt a state through Vote Save America and get connected to efforts on the ground in Arizona, Florida, Michigan, Pennsylvania, North Carolina, and Wisconsin.
posted by stellaluna at 11:12 AM on August 22, 2020

Best answer: What I am doing is reminding people who aren't registered to go ahead and register to vote.

I am a local precinct chair for the party. From the party, I got a list of all the registered voters in my neighborhood. I use that to determine the addresses at which no one is registered. Then I drop a little flier at their door with info on how to register.

I also say something like "### people are registered voters in your neighborhood. You can be a voter, too! Just register at (web address)." Giving the number of other voters helps with positive peer pressure. And research says that "Be a voter" (about identity) is more effective than "Register to vote" (about behavior).

If you want to do something like this, connect to the Democratic party or a local campaign, or any group registering voters.
posted by NotLost at 12:19 PM on August 22, 2020 [3 favorites]

Nthing Vote Forward--easy peasey especially in semi-quarantine times.
posted by Elsie at 3:21 PM on August 22, 2020

Two great resources for well-organised phone banking campaigns for key states:
Indivisible phone banking
Democrats Abroad phone banking <== not sure if you need to be overseas to participate, but worth getting in touch as they may know other organisations better suited for you.
posted by iamkimiam at 2:56 PM on August 23, 2020