Good morning!
This is the weekly DKos Asheville open thread where we try to get together every Saturday morning around eleven, and then drift in and out throughout the day. We hope this group serves to reinvigorate us locally and regionally here on Daily Kos, building on the sense of community that's grown through our online engagement. DKos Asheville can give us all a better sense of connection, a better understanding of who these people are that we stand with, work with, and share with in the political process. We hope, through this community, that we can do a better job of leveraging our orange passion for progressive politics to help elect more and better Democrats.
If you would like to host a weekly open thread, please let us know.
Randall and I are looking to get this group's voter registration project going again, now that the weather is getting a bit warmer. We even tentatively set a date and time for our first event, despite the fact that we don't have a location yet.
Planning for group projects like this are of course complicated by work schedules. We would really like to try Saturdays since we think more folks might be able to participate. However, while more folks might be available on Saturdays, they tend to plan other events that fill their weekends. So we thought we would try a time slot a little earlier in the day.
Saturday - 11:00 to 2:00
In fact, we would really like to get started soon; so we tentatively marked our calendars for one week from today:
Saturday, March 8
But we don't yet have a location. We would love to be back at the Westgate Earthfare, at least initially. Earthfare is a great location for lots of reasons. No permit from the city is needed. There is a lot of foot traffic. Parking close to our setup is easy and free. The demographic of those passing by the table is decidedly progressive.
And added to that list is one thing we didn't initially appreciate; wifi. One of the things that we were able to do for folks was look up if and/or where they were registered; a lot of folks found that helpful.
Earthfare has a calendar for outdoor vendors so that only a few at a time are outside the doors. And getting on the calendar on a Saturday can be tough; and especially since we're wanting to go ahead and get going soon. But Randall is going to see if he can make it work.
But we would also like to consider other locations; so if you have any ideas, let us know in the comments. And if Saturdays don't work for you, but you would like to participate, let us know what would work for you.
As mentioned previously, one of the purposes of this project is fun. These events are intended to be a group project that we do together. It is a way to move our activism beyond the computer and out on the streets.
A lot of folks who have wanted to participate in campaigns in the past have tried phone banks, only to find that it wasn't for them. Others similarly don't want to go out knocking on doors. So we hope to make this a way in which more people can become actively involved in a way that they find easy and enjoyable.
And of course this project is also important.
Voter registration is one of the central goals of the Moral Monday movement. And even if most of the people who pass by our table are already registered, when they look at that sign and see us out there, it reminds them of how important this year is. It reminds them of how much damage this legislature has done. It reminds them of the ongoing fight to keep control of Asheville's water system. It reminds them of the voter repression laws that were passed; the curtailing of unemployment benefits; the attacks on our teachers and public schools. It reminds them of Amendment One two years ago. Just seeing us out there gets people motivated to do their part; it keeps them focused on the importance of the mid-term elections.
We are still feeling our way forward with this project; but we've make a good start. We've registered new voters; we've helped people change their registrations who've moved since the last election; we've helped people find their polling places.
And we can do more. We want to handout information about the new voter repression laws. And as the May primary gets closer, we want to encourage folks to get informed about the candidates and to go vote in the primary.
But this is also about us; this is about finding an opportunity for us to do something together as DKos Asheville that can make a difference locally, statewide, and nationally.
So tentatively mark your calendars for next Saturday, March 8, 11:00 to 1:00. And if we are able to get something together, we'll let you know.
And for those DKos Asheville members, and Daily Kos members, that don't live near Asheville, if there's something we can do to help with projects where you live, let us know.
Good day folks, randallt here. The fifth edition of the DKos Asheville meet up will be held on Saturday, May 3rd at 1:00 PM ET. After a well attended January meet up, we will be moving the May event back outside on the river at The By Water in Asheville. There are several interesting projects in the works for this one so please mark those calendars and plan on coming out to join the fun, the work and the future. Oh, and by the way, there will be food! I am also working on putting together some cool collector lanyards we can wear to make us all look official. We have a voter registration workshop planned, games, music and Kos Komraderie. Just drop me a Kos mail. When we vote, we win. Have a great day!
~~~~
And as a reminder, we now have a google group for DKos Asheville, setup for the purpose of making it easier for us to send messages to group members. We'll use it to send reminders of the Saturday open threads, meetups, voter registration events, etc. If you would like to be added to the google group, kosmail me an email address and I will send you an invite. Note, this is a private group and your email address will not be public. Remember to check your email for the google invite.
~~~~
Enjoy your day!
~~~~