Happy Tuesday, Activists!
“We should worry about everything. We should embrace that fear and channel it into action."
Dan Pfeiffer, Senior Advisor to President Obama
We saw some inspiration this week from Leah and Ezra, co-directors and co-founders of Indivisible. After scanning the actions that Indivisibles around the country are taking for this election, their overall takeaway was this: “The future is not predetermined – it’s being created call by call, text by text, volunteer hour after volunteer hour. And there’s no time like the present to get started making that future. That is how we will win. That is how we will save this democracy.”
Let's get busy and make our future!
CALL TO ACTION
HB 2626, which passed the PA House last week, started out as a good election reform bill. However, it is now problematic because it would:
1. Limit the use of previously approved ballot drop boxes 2. Shorten the time frame voters have to apply for mail-in ballots, and 3. Allow partisan out-of-county poll watchers to be inside the polls (which means voter intimidation, increased partisan tensions, and reduced voter confidence in election security).
Call your State Senator TODAY to thank them or urge them for a No vote on HB 2626. Find your State Senator here.
PICK YOUR ACTIONS FOR THE COMING WEEK
We’ll be on Zoom for all of the events. Once you sign up we’ll send you all the information.
PHONE BANKING
We have exciting new phone banking opportunities! Two Hubdialer phonebanking events for all East Coast Indivisible groups focus on Pennsylvania. The third focuses on Maine. So for all of you who want to send Susan Collins into early retirement, that one is for you too!
Hubdialer is the phone banking system where you log in with your computer or tablet and the system dials for you. Every call is with a voter and there are no voicemails or unanswered calls. There will be a training first and then we’ll make calls. Remember, since we can’t canvass, phone banking is the best method we have to get voters out to vote.
Here are the dates and the links to sign up.
1. Monday September 14, 6:00 pm: Calling into PA for Biden/Vote by Mail
2. Wednesday, September 16, 6:00 pm: Calling into PA for Biden/Vote by Mail. Vicki Miller will be speaking on this one to explain to out-of-staters why Pennsylvania is so important.
3. Monday, September 21, 6:00 pm: Calling into ME for Biden and Senate candidate Sara Gideon
This weekend, September 12 and 13 -- More Hubdialer dates for calling PA voters for Vote by Mail. There are many time slots available and you can register here.
TONIGHT, September 8
Phone Bank for Joe Biden – 6:00-8:00 pm
We have another phone bank set for next Tuesday too, same time, same place
TOMORROW 9/9
1. Cards & Coffee – 11:00 am-1:00 pm
Sign up here. Pick your dates when you sign up.
2. Text Bank – 3:00 pm
We’ll train you at the beginning of the event.
Please note: You must use a computer to text bank on the Indivisible texting platform; a tablet or phone will not work.
Indivisible national also has training on TOMORROW at 3:00 pm. You can sign up here for the training.
THURSDAY 9/10
Cards & Cocktails – 6:00 p.m.
SUNDAY 9/13
Postcards Over Brunch a/k/a Office Hours – 12:00 noon
CENSUS PHONE BANK
Click here for the phone bank link for this week. It’s open from 9:00 am to 8:00 pm.
AUTHOR EVENT!
We can take a break from our work for a fun evening to hear about the story of what ballots and our democracy looked like over time. If you think voting is confusing today, turns out it’s nothing compared to how crazy things used to be! This story illuminates the noble but often flawed process at the heart of our democracy.
Join us for a presentation by Alicia Cheng, author of This Is What Democracy Looked Like, the first illustrated history of printed ballot design. We’re partnering with The Head & The Hand Books to present this compelling story.
Ballot Design over Time, and Actions to Take Today
Thursday, October 1, at 7:00 p.m.
Support local booksellers! Buy your copy of This Is What Democracy Looked Like in advance from The Head & The Hand Books.
After Alicia’s presentation, we’ll talk about how to be sure your vote counts and info about voting by mail, and what to expect at the polls on election day.
SPONSOR 1,000 VOTERS!
Last week we bought 100,000 more of our beautiful postcards . . . because the first 125,000 weren’t enough! Because of your enthusiasm and hard work, this project has been so much more successful than we ever dreamed possible. But there is so much more to be done and we have still outstripped our budget!
Many of you are working like crazy writing postcards. But if your schedule doesn’t permit you to write cards with us, please consider making a contribution to the cause. Just a $30.00 donation will help us send postcards to 1,000 voters! Many of you have already donated and we thank you!
POSTCARD PROJECT UPDATE
Here is our progress by the numbers:
Remember, our original goal was 50,000 postcards.
31,000+ – The number of addresses sent just last week to our postcard writers. That’s up 8,000 over the week before!
820+ – The number of our volunteers writing postcards.
193,425 – The number of postcard addresses we’ve sent to postcard writers so far.
50,000 – The number of postcards being written and sent to our Philly addresses by a group in Ithaca, NY.
That’s a total of over 243,000 postcards – and counting . . .
20 -- States other than Pennsylvania with volunteers writing our postcards. You can see them all in last week’s newsletter here. Plus we just added Idaho!
Check out our beautiful postcard photos, from Diane, Deb, and Joanna. Thank you all and keep 'em coming!
Be kind. Wash your hands. Wear a mask. Keep a distance.
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