Volunteers at National Voter Registration Day
We all know what the stakes are in November. Democrats could lose the Senate, and it’s not just because the targeted races are largely in red states. Voter turnout in midterm elections drops off disproportionately among young people, single women and people of color.
On Tuesday, September 23rd, Daily Kos will join more than 1,900 organizations (including Rock the Vote and the Bus Federation) to host National Voter Registration Day—a coordinated field, technology and media effort to increase voter registration.
Here is how you can help on Tuesday.
- Join a voter registration event nearest you, and take a few hours to help register voters. Just enter your zip code here, or click on the map below, and show up at the closest event.
- If you don’t see an event near you, or you can't get off on Tuesday and want to help at another time, sign up here to organize your own event.
- Change your Facebook profile picture by downloading the graphic here.
- Tweet about National Voter Registration Day, with the hashtag #CelebrateNVRD. The organizers have four variations on a tweet you can send here.
- If you attend an event, take lots of pictures and then report back to us by writing a Daily Kos diary. Anyone with a Daily Kos account can write a diary.
But it’s not simply control of the U.S. Senate that’s at stake. We still need your help if you don’t live in one of the states that have a close Senate contest.
Please read below the fold for more background.
Thirty-six states are having gubernatorial elections—in many of these states, we can defeat some of the awful Republicans who won in 2010 and have signed draconian voter-ID laws. We also have some targeted House races, and control of state legislatures—which will be crucial to undo the GOP gerrymandering.
But it comes down to mobilizing our voter base. Even in 2008, six million Americans did not vote because they missed a registration deadline or didn't know how to register. Republicans are trying to make it harder to vote, because they know they cannot win if everyone votes.
As kos reported a while back, the Missouri Republican Party freaked out that organizers put up voter registration booths in Ferguson during the police riots—calling it “disgusting.”
The Missouri GOP thinks registering to vote is "disgusting" and "completely inappropriate." Why? Because it's Democrats doing it? Not really. It's non-profits. So there's no partisan element. And there's nothing stopping the RNC or Freedomworks from setting up their own voter registration booth.
But no, the fact that black people are registering to vote is "disgusting" and "completely inappropriate." Because, you know, participating in the political process "fans the political flames." So weird.
On September 23, we can do what Republicans fear most—increase voter participation. Click here to participate in a voter registration event near you.