My neighbor invited me over to write GOTV letters
Voting in community
My head is spinning with national news of the past few weeks, not to mention the daily work and personal stuff that makes up a life. I’ve felt a renewed vigor and commitment to caring about national politics, even when I personally find it easier, more gratifying and more effective to care about state and local politics.
Voting is part of civic living. We vote for our futures, for our descendents, for our neighbors and for those we’ll never meet.
Even in a seemingly broken system, we still have power. I think you can feel that more readily in local elections, where candidates win by just a few hundred or thousand votes. But it’s true at the national level too. Yes, there’s the highly-sus and undemocratic electoral college. Yes, if you live in a solidly “red” or “blue” state, voting might feel futile. Yes, our two-party system is limiting and stale. All of that is true.
But we really can imagine a different future, and one of the ways we bring that future into existence is at the ballot. It’s not the only way, but it’s an important part of the process. This week, I’ve been leaning into the words of two wise women to help me make sense of this political moment.
Back in 2020, adrienne maree brown wrote about the difference between electoral politics and a “political home,” and it holds up shockingly well today:
“we are fighting over which employee will best suit the needs of an important job. it isn’t political home – we both have those outside of the electoral process, places and people to whom we feel accountable. this is for mass strategy, mass protection, high level policy protection of the communities we love.
electoral politics isn’t and shouldn’t be our political home. it is a commons of service, meant to be accountable to informed people who direct the values and policies of those we elect to deliver and construct service provisions like home, health, water, education.
maybe you’re more excited about the dem ticket today. maybe you’re appalled. but either way don’t get confused: electoral strategy = placing human beings we can hold accountable into representative offices.
political home, on the other hand, is a place where we ideate, practice and build futures we believe in, finding alignment with those we are in accountable relationships with, and growing that alignment through organizing and education.
either way, the strategic next move is to vote [in november] and now you know the
othername on the ballot.feel all your feelings along the way, but don’t let those feelings keep you from seeing the biggest picture, the one that includes those more vulnerable than you.
And during the 2016 election, Rebecca Solnit wrote:
I think of voting as a chess move, not a valentine.
I recognize the imperfection of the political moment we are in AND I feel refreshed and renewed and, dare I say it, hopeful. I feel the momentum of community coming together to take care of each other. Coming together through the imperfect American experiment of democracy to at least give us a fighting chance of combating climate change, protecting our rights, stopping genocide abroad and working toward a more perfect and equitable union here at home. That isn’t guaranteed, but we can at least help shape the conditions to make it possible.
A few weeks ago, we found an invitation in our mailbox to join our neighbor in writing letters to get out the vote.
The perfect neighboring x civic engagement crossover! What good fodder for this newsletter! Alas, the letter-writing times mostly fell within my work day, so I didn’t go. But I sure thought about that invitation a lot.
I’ve decided to host a few GOTV letter-writing gatherings myself. Let’s get itogether, have some snacks and write love notes to democracy.
We’ll use Vote Forward’s research-backed toolkit — they send us the voter names, the templates and guidelines and we do the rest. I’ll have the letters, pens, envelopes and stamps for us.
Thursday, August 8 at 5pm - Nine Pin Cider Works, 929 Broadway, Albany
Grab a cider (hard or non-alcoholic) and hang! I’ll scout a table or two for us.
Saturday, August 24 at 10am - Buckingham Pond Park, 39 Berkshire Blvd, Albany
Bring a coffee, bring a dog, bring a kiddo! I’ll have snacks.
From Vote Forward:
The majority of our letter-writing campaigns are nonpartisan campaigns, supporting our core 501c(3) and 501c(4) social-welfare mission, which focus on mobilizing potential voters in communities that have historically been marginalized in the political process—such as people of color, women, and young voters. We also support 501(c)(4) partisan campaigns to encourage likely-Democratic voters to turn out in strategic states and districts.
RSVP below so I make sure to bring enough materials for us, ok? Email me or comment with any questions. SEE YOU THERE!
