When You Have Something To Lose / The Fragility of Hope
I’m nervous, excited, and sick to my stomach. I want to campaign all day and watch the results come in once the polls close. I want to go to sleep or hide under my desk until November 5, when the city and state results will have been confirmed. I’m afraid that we’ll lose on 4, 8, and K. I’m excited that we might, we just might win.
I was at Election Day training for No on Prop. 8 last night and the room was packed. There were easily over 100 volunteers there, many of them first time volunteers ready to learn how they could reach out to voters on Tuesday and get every vote possible. The organizers said that they had Election Day volunteers in every county in California and they were trying to fill 7,500 shifts. Each volunteer is expected to reach 100 voters per shift. 7,500 shifts x 100 voters/shift = 750,000 voters reached = “The biggest LGBT election event in history.” The energy and excitement in that room was palpable. Hundreds of people came together to learn what they could do to raise their voices and hands on Tuesday and take part in our participatory democracy.
Later
No on Prop. 4 had its biggest phonebank yet tonight, with 150 volunteers making calls statewide and 82 of us at the SF site. The goal was to reach 24,000 voters identified as No voters during previous phonebanks, and we did that by 8:15.
Tomorrow, I’m doing voter outreach with No on Prop. 4 and No on Prop. 8 and either squishing in Yes on K outreach during the afternoon or doing more phonebanking with No on 4.
This election is the first time I’ve been heavily involved, both as an observer and as a volunteer. It’s been an education and I finally hammered out a liberal, progressive, activist personal philosophy that’s been a year in developing. The influences of writers, bloggers, campaigns, my personal liberalism, and historical examples built on each other to bring me to who I am now.
The knowledge that poll lines close at 8 P.M. tomorrow looms as a relief and a deadline; I want it to come and yet, I dread it. Every moment between 7 A.M. and 8 P.M. tomorrow is a chance to talk to voters and persuade them and make a difference. It’s a chance to live my liberal ideals and my belief in the democratic process, and do what’s right. For everything comes down to those three words. Do what’s right. Why? Because I can. I have the ability to stand on a sidewalk and wear my No on Prop. 4 tshirt and hand out fliers and talk to voters during rush hour, and so I must. I have the opportunity to vote and convince other voters and so I must.
I have the chance to make a difference and make a better world and so I must.
There’s no other reason, in the end.
Prop. 8 and Prop. 4 are tight races; depending on which polls you look at, Prop. 8 and Prop. 4 are winning by small margins or losing by small margins. Every vote absolutely matters in the down ticket races, so if you can spare a few minutes for phonebanking, talking to anyone that hasn’t voted, or wearing your No on 4 and No on 8 paraphernalia, please, please, for the love of god and my civil rights and the health and safety of teenage girls, please do it.
I’m not aware of any objective, statistically valid polls for Prop. K, but the campaign made the New York Times in a favorable article! (It also made The Economist, but in an anti-slanted article.) Vote YES on Prop. K to support sex workers’ rights!
All these races are uncertain. They might lose. They might win. The fragile, timorous feeling beating away in my chest must be hope. We might win, but the margin is so thin going into Election Day that I’m scared that we’ll lose. I will do everything I can to make sure we win, but until the votes are counted and the results are certified, I won’t know if we succeeded. I have so much more to lose when I have hope. It’s a delicate, frail thing and it only sprouted because we’ve come so close to the end: tomorrow, we will know if we succeeded or failed.
The feeling of panic fluttering in the back of my mind urges me to do everything I can. I have hope and so now I have so much more to lose–and so much to win.
No on 4. No on 8. Yes on K.
Election Memories
I’ve been thinking about election memories. My earliest political memory is from 1992, when Clinton meant a different Clinton and Bush meant a different Bush. My mom bought me a Scholastic biography of William Jefferson Clinton, a thin book that had a picture of a smiling, white man in a dark suit, seated behind a desk, hands folded. I thought it was cool how he’d wanted to run for president all his life, how he’d gone to Yale and how he was a Rhodes Scholar. I didn’t realize how strange it was that the new president didn’t come from a rich family, that his dad had been a traveling salesman, his mom a nurse, and his step-dad an abusive alcoholic. But that’s not my earliest political memory.
My earliest political memory is from 1992, when Clinton meant a different Clinton and Bush meant a different Bush, and my second grade class held a mock election. Chris Murphy said, “Don’t vote for Clinton. My dad says he’s a fag.”
The other election that stands out in my mind is 2004, when Kerry and Edwards were running against Bush and Cheney. My roommate and I were going to watch the election results come in, damning the fact that we were on the East Coast and had three more hours of nailbiting than the West Coasters did. Her girlfriend invited her over to her room and I ended up watching the election with a bottle of Ketel One. I was up until four or five in the morning, steadily becoming more and more drunk and more and more distraught, hoping against hope that somehow, the disputed votes would be counted and Kerry would win. That was all that I had left to hope for, since the same-sex marriage bans on eleven state ballots had all passed, and had passed with significantly more than a bare majority. Voters in Arkansas, Georgia, Kentucky, Michigan, Mississippi, Montana, North Dakota, Ohio, Oklahoma, Oregon, and Utah voted for measures that defined marriage as being between one man and one woman. Some states went further and refused to recognize civil unions, while others went even further and banned civil unions outright.
Last week, the Public Policy Institute of California (PPIC) released the latest edition of the Statewide Survey: Californians and Their Government. They found that the gap between the pro- and anti- marriage equality voters had decreased from September’s 41% yes, 55% no to 44% yes, 52% no. While the decrease in support is worrisome, what is more alarming is the importance the poll subjects attached to the outcome of Prop. 8, an indication of how likely they were to turn out and vote on the measure:
The proportion saying the outcome of the vote is very important has increased over time (48% August, 54% September, 57% today); however, this has occurred more among “yes” voters (57% August, 62% September, 69% today) than among “no” voters (44% August, 51% September, 49% today). – Full report, PDF
Furthermore, polls are mixed. A SurveyUSA poll from Oct. 17 showed Yes on 8 ahead, 48% to 45%, and a poll done by Marist College for the Knights of Columbus showed support for Prop. 8 at 52% and the opposition at 43%.
Polls are an inexact science and it’s anyone’s guess as to how the increased voter turnout for the presidential election will affect Prop. 8. What stands out to me the most is not that various partisan and nonpartisan polls are showing conflicting results, but that the PPIC poll shows that the opposition has decreased and the support for Prop. 8 has become more fervent.
I cannot overemphasize how important Prop. 8 is. It’s not merely another anti-marriage equality ban, it’s an amendment to the state constitution. It’s not merely another state constitutional amendment, but the first attempt to take away marriage equality in a state that already recognizes and performs same-sex marriages. That’s why Prop. 8 is different. In all the other states that passed anti-marriage equality bans, rights were denied and discrimination was written into state law, but the rights had never been recognized to begin with. Here, the California Supreme Court recognized that the 2000 ban on same-sex marriages was unconstitutional and granted an affirmative right to marry. If we lose on Prop. 8, we’re not losing theoretical rights. We’re losing real rights that have been recognized by civil authorities, and that’s why Prop. 8 would be a huge, unique setback to the GLBTQI rights movement.
There are six days until the election. Both sides are flooding the airwaves with advertisements, jamming the phone lines with voter calls, and hitting the pavement with canvassers and demonstrators. Supporters of Prop. 8 are donating their life savings (SacBee) to Yes on Prop. 8 because they see it as a cause worth fighting for.
Pam and Rick Patterson have always followed teachings of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints and tried to live within their means.
He drives a 10-year-old Honda Civic to his job at Intel. She is a stay-at home mom who makes most of the family meals and bakes her own bread. The couple, who have five sons between the ages of 3 and 12, live in a comfortable but modest three-bedroom home in Folsom.
It’s a traditional lifestyle they believe is now at risk. That’s why the Pattersons recently made a huge financial sacrifice – they withdrew $50,000 from their savings and donated it to the Yes on Proposition 8 campaign, the ballot measure that seeks to ban same-sex marriage. …
“The No. 1 reason members are donating and working toward this cause is the preservation of the traditional family,” she said.
That’s why Auburn resident David Nielson, 55, is giving. He said the church has not pressured him to contribute.
“Absolutely not,” said Nielson, a retired insurance executive. He and his wife, Susan, live on a budget. The couple donated $35,000, he said, “because some things are worth fighting for.”
The couple will forgo a vacation for the next two years and make other sacrifices to pay for their donation, he said.
“If it doesn’t pass, then at least I can tell my grandchildren I gave everything I could,” Nielson said.
The Pattersons, who have been married 14 years, say there were thinking about their children’s future when they decided to tap into their savings to contribute. And they also said no one pressured them into giving. [emphasis mine]
When November 2 comes and the polls have closed and the votes have been counted, will you be able to say that you did everything you could? That you stood up for what you believed in?
I’ve been getting emails from complete strangers about Prop. 8, people that rushed their weddings and had civil ceremonies just in case Prop. 8 should pass and ban new marriages but allow already married couples to stay married. I’ve been thinking of the lives at stake and how much a few short months can matter, let alone the years it would take to repeal Prop. 8.
According to No on 8, when undecided voters view both Yes on 8 and No on 8 ads, they’re more likely no. This means that getting our ads out is essential, which means buying ad time. According to Drs. Green and Gerber, Poli Sci profs at Yale, volunteer efforts are extremely persuasive (Slate):
Political scientists have run dozens of such studies during the past few years, and the work has led to what you might call the central tenet of voter mobilization: Personal appeals work better than impersonal ones. Having campaign volunteers visit voters door-to-door is the “gold standard” of voter mobilization efforts, Green and Gerber write. On average, the tactic produces one vote for every 14 people contacted. The next-most-effective way to reach voters is to have live, human volunteers call them on the phone to chat: This tactic produces one new vote for every 38 people contacted.
This means that talking to your friends, family members, and coworkers is essential. I’ve done phonebanking for No on 8 and by freak luck I haven’t talked to anyone that was undecided or voting yes. However, during phonebanking for No on 4, I’ve talked with undecided voters that changed their minds and decided to vote no after a short conversation, so I can easily believe that phonebanking works.
The election is six days away. Make sure to vote (absentee voters, mail in your ballots before Tuesday, because they have to arrive by the time polls close, or make sure to drop your ballot off at a polling location). Donate what you can ($5 minimum at the No on 8 site). The Nielsons and the Pattersons are sacrificing their savings and cutting vacations out of their budgets in order to support Prop. 8. What are we willing to give up to support marriage equality, anti-homophobia, and civil rights?
Phone bank at a No on 8 office or from your home. Conversations are short, easy, and effective.
Volunteer on Election Day and show your support for NO on Prop. 8. Take the day off work or do a shift in the morning or evening and show a real, human face to the voters.
My earliest political memory is of Chris Murphy, an eight-year old classmate, repeating his father’s hate speech. “My dad says Clinton’s a fag.” My 2004 presidential election memory is of watching anti-GLBTQI, anti-civil rights, pro-homophobia measures get voted in with overwhelming majorities. I want 2008 to be different. Help me make that possible.
Fight for equality. Fight for love.
Out and About: More Signage
More photos of political signage.
“YOUR VOICE VOTE REGISTER AND VOTE” advertisement on the side of a bus stop in the Mission, with the deadline for registration prominently advertised. The Mission is a rapidly gentrifying but still lower-income and predominantly Hispanic neighborhood–people that typically are very affected by politics–so I’m happy to see the SF Department of Elections making an effort to reach out to the inhabitants.
MIA from Social Life
Yeah. The election’s Nov. 4 and I have quite a few ponies in the race. So, I’m just going to be upfront and say that I’m going to be bad at keeping in touch, phone calls, emails, IMs, and hanging out until Nov. 4, because not only is politics taking over my brain, it’s taking over my planner. I keep thinking that there’s not enough time to do everything I need to do and want to do, and all of it has to be done before Nov. 4., all of it has to be done asap for maximum exposure before the elections, it’s all time-intensive, blah blah blah raaghhh: that’s what the inside of my head looks like right now.
If you’d like to hang out, I’m phonebanking with No on Prop. 8 every Tuesday and No on Prop. 4 every Thursday, and I’m doing precinct walks (dropping off fliers) for Yes on Prop. K on various days/nights every week. I would love some company. Anyone up for precinct drops? It would be good hanging out time, and it’d go much faster with another person. -watches friends flee- Also, I forgot that October was the Month Of Music, so if anyone’s interested in coming along to Idomeneo, Boris Godunov, L’Elisir d’Amore, or Joshua Bell, let me know. -watches people run away even more quickly-
Kickass voter registration status tool for San Francisco-registered voters. It lets you check your registration status online.
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(my windows look something like that, minus the No on 8 sign, which I haven’t picked up yet)
Kickass
Kickass: Jack and Jill Politics: Announcing The Launch Of The Voter Suppression Wiki – Learn, Report, Act
The Role Of The Wiki
The wiki has three broad goals
Educate people about voter suppression. The term encompasses a wide range of tactics designed to limit voter participation. We want the wiki to offer an explanation of what these tactics are, places to learn more about them and the laws involved.
Collect incidents of voter suppression activity. Based on a standard template, wiki users will be able to add reports of voter suppression to the wiki. Each incident has its own page with a standard form to fill in plus discussion area.
Mobilize action to combat and prevent voter suppression. Knowledge is powerful, but only to the extent that you use it to inform decisions. We don’t just want to create a group of pissed off people. We want to create a group of pissed off people who are going to write letters, make phone calls and file lawsuits to protect citizens’ votes.
And Calitics, a blogging community focusing on California politics.
What’s My Vote Worth?
Courtesy of Google Alerts, I saw Michelle Obama’s piece in the Ohio State daily (2008/09/22). It’s a nice piece about memories of her father’s work as a precinct captain, the turnout of the youth vote in the primaries, and the importance of voting.
Like so many people, I took my right to vote for granted. I never had to march for it. I never knew what it felt like to be turned away while others were told that their voice counted. So when I got to vote for the first time, I did it dutifully – but without any excitement. …
When we vote this November, we’ll be casting our ballots for that world.
I’ve heard people say, “My vote doesn’t matter,” “My vote won’t count,” or, “I’m just one person. What possible difference can I make?” But this year, all our votes matter more than ever.
If you are satisfied with the world as it is, your choice this fall is easy. But if you believe, as I do, that we can change the world together, please join me in voting on Nov. 4. …
This year, I’ll be voting for my daughters’ future and my father’s memory. I’ll vote for the thousands of regular folks who fought to get me the right to vote. And I’ll vote for young people across America – and the generations of young people that will follow, who will someday look back at this time with gratitude that we summoned the courage to begin building the world as it should be.
CA Elections: Voting Requirements and Referenda
Just because it all bears repeating, I’m cross-posting this H1K entry here: CA Elections: Voting Requirements and Referenda.
In the spirit of (a) fighting voter disenfranchisement shenanigans *cough* Orange County GOP *cough*; (b) recognizing that there are many, many voter referenda on the California ballot this year; and (c) recognizing that few people do more than skim the voter guides on the night before the election, here’s a brief overview on what you can do to prepare for the November election.
1. Register, register, register. You can register to vote in California if
- You are a United States citizen
- You are a resident of California
- You are at least 18 years of age (or will be by November 4, 2008)
- You are not in prison or on parole for a felony conviction
- You have not been judged by a court to be mentally incompetent
The deadline to register for this November’s election is October 20, 2008. You can find the registration forms here at the CA Secretary of State site. You will need to re-register if you have
- moved
- changed your name
- changed your political party choice
since the last time you registered. For instance, I registered as a Democrat in New England a few years ago. When I moved to SF, I re-registered because I wanted to vote in California, rather than absentee as a resident of CT. After the state primary, I re-registered again to change my affiliation to the Green Party.
2. If you are an immigrant and have received citizenship, YOU CAN VOTE. Any letters, mailers, fliers, emails, etc. you receive saying otherwise are NOT TRUE. Just make sure that you’re registered with your current name and address, otherwise when you go to the local polling site, you might not be on the voter rolls. If you receive any material saying that you cannot vote because you’re an immigrant, regardless of your U.S. citizenship, hang onto the material and call 1-800-345-VOTE, a toll-free hotline established by the CA Secretary of State, to report voter fraud. In the 2006 elections, the GOP sent a bunch of mailers to immigrant-sounding households in Orange County, trying to mislead voters into thinking that they were not allowed to vote. That is voter disenfranchisement and a CRIME.
Final Thoughts On Palin
After a few days of thinking about it, my thoughts on the choice of Governor Palin for VP remain more or less what they were Friday: she solidifies the conservative Christian base, the pick is aimed at conservative women, it’s not going to appeal much to Democratic women, and the media are going to blather nonstop about how Clinton-voters-who-voted-for-her-just-because-she’s-a-woman-are-going-to-swing-to-McCain-OMG!
Disenfranchisement: It’s the New Dem Thing!
Disenfranchisement: It’s Not Just For Republicans And The RBC Anymore!
I saw this bumper sticker on the way to get coffee after the roll call and oh, the irony:
Redstar liveblogged the roll call at H1K
Shakesville: Democratic National Convention Open Thread Day Three
Redstar took the percentages of roll call votes for Senator Clinton:
N/A CA, NM, IL, NY
Every vote counts. Obviously, not anymore. Y’know, that was one of the things that infuriated me the most about the Democratic party this primary season, that they were willing to disenfranchise voters in MI and FL for the sake of the primary schedule. Leaving aside how stupid that would be for the general election, it’s simply wrong. I don’t care who you vote for but every vote must be acknowledged in order for the system to be legitimate.
Due to the winner-take-all setup of the general elections, some votes are more influential than others. However, the difference between the impact of a PA voter’s ballot, a MA voter’s ballot and a GA voter’s ballot is not sufficient reason to disregard any of those ballots, whether in the primaries or in the general election.
Generations of people fought for suffrage, people that didn’t have the right to vote in this country because they weren’t landed, white, and male. And now the real votes are being erased because they disrupt the symbolic theatrics supposedly necessary for “party unity.” I can’t think of a better way to destroy party unity and discourage voters from turning out than to flip primary voters the bird by telling them that they can vote, but their votes won’t be represented.
Voters Who Don’t Vote
There’s a lot of blame going around in the media that’s aimed at Senator Hillary Rodham Clinton and her supporters, saying that she and they will be responsible for a McCain victory.
Nevermind that Senator Clinton has stumped tirelessly for Senator Obama. Nevermind that Senator Clinton has followed through on her pledge during the primaries that she would campaign for him because the most important goal was getting a Democrat in the White House.
But I digress. My question is, what about the other 36% of eligible voters who don’t vote? Why do they get a free pass on a theoretical, godforbid, McCain victory? Why do they get a free pass on abdicating part of their duty as citizens?
Approximately 64% of eligible voters voted in the 2004 presidential election. How do we get the other 36% to turn out? The people who voted in the primaries and caucuses at least did that and they’ll probably show up to the general election, no matter whom they vote for. How do we get the other 36% in?
There are barriers to voting: language barriers, ID requirement barriers, voter intimidation, voter fraud (deliberate misinformation, as in the letters that the Republicans sent to minority voters in the ’06 midterm elections), lack of time, lack of money, lack of transportation. Leaving those barriers aside for the minute* how do we go about getting voters who are able to vote but uninterested in doing so, interested?
Thoughts?
*Not that those aren’t important; quite the opposite. Those barriers are largely expressions of classism, racism, ageism, and ableism, and y’all know how I feel about that. But I understand wanting to vote and not being able to; I fundamentally don’t understand being able to vote and not wanting to.
