Our Unfinished Work: #102: Make the Best Use of These Three Weeks

Thank you for continuing to share these messages with your friends. If you are not already on our mailing list, please click here to be added to our list. You can also follow me on Facebook where you can read and share these messages. The more people we can reach, the more we contribute to this growing movement. We share these posts on our blog, A Path Forward to November 3, 2020, every two weeks, which means there will be a total of 103 missives before the Presidential election of 2020, in which our country will select a whole new course.

We are as one in our refusal to prematurely count upon relief for our wounded souls on November 3. We have worked extremely hard to secure that result. Daily, we consume some positive reports on our progress, but we know this is no time for any airborne heel clicking. We can wait three weeks longer.

There are some voters who still believe that Trump cares about the average Joanne or Jose. The rest of us have watched the situation escalate from the unacceptable to the unimaginable to the surreal. The virus is not the only malady where Donald Trump has been the super spreader.

There are at least major differences between our circumstances today and where we stood in mid-October in 2016:

We demonstrated our aptitude in generating higher voter turnout levels when we flipped 40 House seats in 2018. That same acumen is paying off in 2020, with enormous increases in requests for mail in ballots and very promising levels of early voting.
Virtually all polls reveal that there are many fewer undecided voters than there were in 2016. Dislodging voters who are already committed is the goal of Trump's dishonest and virulent attacks on Joe Biden and Kamala Harris. It is unpoetic justice that it is those same attacks that are driving independent voters away from Trump.
Joe Biden is polling ten points ahead among older Americans, who make up a quarter of the electorate. These Americans know that Trump misrepresenting, mismanaging, contracting and transmitting the virus threatens their lives. Those of us who are most susceptible to the virus are unhappy about that.

With all these forces in play that are enhancing our election chances, we are still not beyond teeth gnashing and pillowcase chewing. We will spend these last three weeks campaigning for candidates, supporting them financially, and increasing voter turnout.

From veteran activist Bill McClain we get a summary of how each of us can contribute to this three week push:

Write

It’s not too late to reach voters with postcards. PostcardsToVoters.org is focusing on the Ohio Supreme Court right now.
https://votefwd.org makes it easy to send letters to voters. Saturday the 17th is the target mail date.

Call

FlipTheWest.com offers phone banking and training to get out the vote in key senate states
SwingLeft offers it too.

Text

Texting works especially well with younger voters, and “Zoomers” (18-24) are the ones who lean farthest Left, yet turn out at the lowest rate — in part because of confusion about the voting process. So texting a note of encouragement along with a “how-to” link can be very worthwhile.
NextGen has a menu of text banking events on their site.

The VoteWithMe.us app will sync your phone’s address book with the public voter database to find people you know who may need a nudge. Then you can email, call or text them.

Post

Reinforce social norms by posting your own voter activity on social media. (I reviewed my voter guide; I filled out my ballot; I mailed my ballot… or, I put my ballot in the drop box)

And, that's just the start. We can do these three additional consequential things:

1) Be a Part of the Supreme Court Strategy
	Someone talked to Senate Democrats in advance and got them to decide on a well-conceived communication strategy to resist Amy Coney Barrett's Supreme Court nomination. It is perfect that the court is scheduled to hear oral arguments on the Affordable Care Act in November and extraordinary that Barrett is already on record opposing John Roberts' past protection of the ACA. Either the Democratic approach is a way to stop the nomination (much less likely) or a way to exact maximum protection for the ACA or the broader healthcare aspirations of Democrats. Senators Ben Sasse of Nebraska and Mitt Romney of Utah have both seen themselves as capable of principled independent thought in the face of Donald Trump. Write them both to tell them that voting for Supreme Court nominee in the week before the election is contrary to their 2016 promises and will overshadow their other actions during the remainder of their careers.
2) Develop a Method to Stand Up for Science
	You know it is a momentous time when Scientific American endorses a presidential candidate (in this case Joe Biden) for the first time in their 175-year history. This is an underscoring of the danger of the continued Republican attacks on scientific processes and evidence which if unabated will greatly diminish public policy making. This is also the subject of a recent special report and recommendations from thismissive. Please write Laura Helmuth editor of Scientific American to thank her and her staff for displaying their principles.
3) Make a Last Round of Donations
	Joe Biden has a cash advantage on Donald Trump during the last three weeks of the campaign. Virtually all of our targeted Senate candidates they have outraised their opponents. These things have happened because resisters of varied financial means have reached back to provide the financial support our candidates require. We have given early and we had given often. Now there's one last chance to boost our candidates before the final votes are cast. We could give $750 in honor of Trump's tax malfeasance or $75 or $7.50. Whatever the level, we are called to provide one more dollop of candidate support. In the Senate we should add at least a couple more races beyond those that have received the most attention. Two of the best ideas for a last minute boost are: Barbara Bollier of Kansas who has come from a distance and is polling even with her opponent in an open seat and Governor Steve Bullock of Montana who is running even with the incumbent. We should also look in our own regions for hard battling House candidates who are ready to go over the top. In the Northwest those very promising candidates include Alyse Galvin of Alaska and Carolyn Long of Washington both of whom just narrowly missed victory in 2018 and can build upon those past efforts.