We all have our blind spots.
For some, it's a literal blind spot. For others, it's some random, dusty neurons in the back of our brains that don't seem to fire for certain tasks like they ought.
Me, I have several blind spots. One of them is for acronyms. I'm terrible at them. I was looking at my son's hot lunch menu with him the other day trying to figure out what the hell "Salad W/L Dressing" meant. W/L Dressing...what IS that? I thought. Eventually, after an embarrassing amount of time we decided it meant "With Light Dressing."
So you can imagine how long it took me to get what GOTV meant. It helped that I eventually Googled.
For too long I imagined all of these people were talking about some TV show. GoTV. Perhaps some election website. Or maybe it's another electronic device I don't own. Yes. I lay bare my ridiculousness.
GOTV!
GOTV!
GOTV!
For those who have the same blind spot for acronyms, or are just slow in the synapses like myself, it means:
Get Out The Vote
GOTV!
Get Out The Vote.
But what's THAT mean?
It means going onto Facebook and telling your Facebook pals it's election day and they should go vote.
It means asking your friends to tell THEIR friends to vote. And asking your friend's to tell their friend's friends to vote.
It means, prod your grandmother and wife to the polling booth.
It means dropping a friendly reminder to the people you see during your day.
It means knowing where your polling place is and reminding others where it is...you can find it online. It means posting that link to your Facebook page to help others find the polling place: http://www.vote411.org/...
It means drop a reminder when you're texting your friend or mother or father or co-worker.
It means, if you're in the shopping aisle waiting to buy milk, make a little throat clearing sound that sounds an awful lot like "Go VOTE!" and "It's ELECTION day."
It means voting yourself, and getting one of those I Voted pins or stickers they have and wearing it around town and displaying it prominently like you're wagging a new engagement ring in somebody's face.
It means emailing your friends and telling them to vote or you'll disown them.
It means dropping by a candidate's headquarters and helping them make phone calls to people on their call lists and helping them remind people to vote.
Or volunteering to knock on doors to tell people to vote.
Or volunteering to drive people to the polling booth -- seriously, dude, some people do not have cars and they need representation more than anybody.
Or making a sign and putting it on your car that says VOTE TODAY!
It means letting people know that NOW is the time to choose their representation, and why.
It seriously isn't that hard.
It's exactly like telling somebody "Happy Halloween" or "Your shoe's untied."
But now is the time. And word can spread fast in this era.
So just do it.
Go!
GoTV!
GOTV!
Get Out The Vote!