On Saturday, millions marched against the Trump administration in a historic protest against hate, bigotry and corruption. As the man so many marched against likes to say, it was huuuuge.
Where do we go from here to ensure the movement stays alive and makes a real difference? Here are actions you can take this week to keep the momentum going.
1. Make sure you’re registered to vote & that your registration is accurate. Yes, I know you JUST voted, but…
(well, at least I hope you voted!) If you did vote, great. But take time right now to double check your registration to be sure it’s up-to-date. Why? Because as Republicans continue their assault on voting rights, there’s no telling which laws may be enacted that may affect your ability to exercise your constitutional right. The attack on voting rights is not an every-four-year phenomenon. It is a sustained campaign at the local and state level to deprive people of their constitutional right to vote. Rules change. What may have been OK in terms of ID matching or requirements in the 2016 election may not be in the next local, state or federal election.
Be proactive. Check your registration now. Make sure your legal name in the voter registry is exactly as it appears on your ID and that your address is correct (especially true if you’ve changed your name or address since the election). Update your registration now if necessary, and don’t forget to check it again before your next local election.
Watch out for mail sent to your address that attempts to “verify” your voter status. Voter caging — when voters like you are arbitrarily challenged as invalid voters because they didn’t return mail and are purged from the voter rolls — is a very real voter suppression tactic, and you can guarantee that it will continue to be used in the next election.
Google to see whether your state has a closed or open primary system. Closed primaries only allow registered Democrats or Republicans to vote, open primaries allow anyone to vote. If your state has a closed primary system and you want a voice in primaries going forward, update your party preference as well.
2. Check to make sure your family and friends are registered to vote.
How many eligible voters do you know who aren’t registered to vote? I bet it’s a lot more than you think. Even some of your politically outspoken friends may not actually be registered. Colin Kaepernick, as it turns out, wasn’t a registered vote. Eric and Ivanka Trump didn’t vote for their dad in the primary because they weren’t registered voters either.
We do not have a single system of voter registration in the United States — we have a patchwork quilt of different state voting systems, some extraordinarily different than others. Some states allow you to register at the polls, others have short voter registration periods and strict deadlines.
Inevitably, in the weeks before every election, we see stories of people who miss their state’s voter registration deadlines because they weren’t aware that they had to register a certain number of days before the election, or stories about people who believed registering would be a quick process but who become entangled in ID requirements that keep them bouncing from one office to the other. Don’t let this happen to your friends and family before the next election. Encourage them to register now, before the crush of applications.
Moreover, sometimes voters are purged from the rolls because they are considered “inactive.” So if you know a friend or family member who sat out the last couple of elections, caution them that it may jeopardize their voter registration status, like what happened to this veteran and his wife in Texas who thought they were registered but were purged from the rolls for being “inactive.”
3. Add your elected officials to your phone contacts.
Your Representative and Senators are your new BFFs. Look up their contact information here from the nonprofit Common Cause (note: I have no affiliation with Common Cause, they just are a fantastic group with an easy-to-use tool that doesn’t ask for your email!). Add their numbers right now to your phone so the next time an action alert goes out, you can simply call them instead of having to input your address on various action pages to get their contact information. Make sure to include district offices as alternate phone numbers — very important as DC lines are often jammed during a call-in campaign but district offices are still connected to the same vote tally system and often receive much less call traffic. You can find district office phone numbers on their official government websites (which are linked to in the Common Cause look up page above).
4. Sign up for your representatives’ government email lists (to stay in the know on town halls)
Yes, I know it may be a hold-your-nose-and-do-it sort of thing if the voting record of your Representative is particularly awful (after all, who wants to read Rep. Chaffetz’s messages in their inbox every week?), but situational awareness is the key to advocacy. After all, you can’t fight for or against something unless you know it’s happening, right?
Each member of Congress has an official government opt-in list (meaning you have to affirmatively sign up and consent to being emailed), and the sign up box is found on their official government website (which ends in .gov and can be found here for Representatives and here for Senators). Members love sending out updates about their acts in Congress, press releases reacting to news, and more. It’s also the main and most verified way to be notified when a town hall is occurring in your district.
Wondering whether you should sign up for a Member’s political campaign list as well? Those are less about events and more about fundraising and talking points. It doesn’t hurt, but be advised that some campaigns sell or swap lists with other campaigns (especially true with statewide lists marketing segments of their lists to local or district candidates). A good tip is to create a separate email address just for your political/government email sign up.
5. Sign up to monitor how your representatives vote each week.
There are a host of sites out there that monitor votes in Congress, and some websites actually update you directly on how your representatives voted. MegaVote provides a weekly email update and has been around for a long time. (note, I’m not affiliated with this service, just passing the link along).
6. Look up your local paper’s letter to the editor submission page or email address and add them to your bookmarks and contacts.
OK, you may not read the local paper, but key voting demographics — namely, older, frequent voters — do. Letters to the editor are an extremely powerful persuasion tool and you may be surprised how easy it is to get your letters published, especially in smaller papers. If you don’t know your local paper, you can look it up here (note: again, no site affiliation with the link, just a useful tool).
7. Sign up for a training.
By now, you know how important it is to attend an elected official’s town hall. But showing up is just step one. Learning how to ask the right questions is just as important. Politicians are experts are deflecting questions.
Take for example, the following:
Q: Senator X, I am very disappointed in your vote against tighter gun control laws. Can you explain why you let the families of our state down?
“Can you explain” questions always give a politician a way out. Politicians will usually do what I call a “filibuster & frustrate” on a question phrased like that, something like:
A: “Well, thank you for your question. That’s such an important and complex issue. I want you to know that the safety of our community is so important to me. There is simply too much violence going on, criminals, gangs, etc. and so this is an issue I hear a lot about at these town halls. Look, nothing is going to stop a criminal from committing a crime if they want to, right? I mean, that’s why they’re criminals. They break laws, so even if you have the best gun laws in place, they’ll break them, right? So what we have to do in Congress is find a way that protects our neighborhoods while also honoring the rights of gun owners. And in Congress, we have to balance those two. You know, it’s a delicate balance, and I didn’t think that bill did that. And a lot of my colleagues agreed, on both sides of the aisle. But I’ll keep an eye on this issue in the future. So I hope that answers your question. Thanks. Next question.”
Frustrating, right? Compare that question to this:
Q. Senator X, you voted against a bill that would keep guns out of the hands of domestic violence abusers. I have two questions and would appreciate a direct answer. (1) Yes or no, do you regret your vote and (2) Do you pledge to your constituents, right here, today, to vote for the pending bill, S.XX, that limits magazine capacity so that attackers can’t shoot up a school without even having to reload? Again, I would appreciate a simple yes or no answer to both of my questions.
The question serves various purposes:
- It informs the crowd about his or her specific voting record,
- It flags an important upcoming vote and
- If the politician attempts a “filibuster & frustrate” on a question which asks for a very specific answer, they’ll look evasive, and that is a message you can push out to local press after the event (“Senator X refuses to pledge support for common sense gun safety measure”).
Our nonprofit group, Action for a Better Tomorrow, focuses on such better actions and on vetted, verified advocacy items that make a real difference. We also focus on programs aimed at empowering you to get more engaged in the political process. We’re scheduling a series of trainings on just these issues, as well as influencing the media, running for office and more. Trainings are free, online and include Advocacy 101, The Art of the Argument, Policy in 60 Minutes and more. You can sign up to receive the schedule when it’s released here (we’ll never sell or share your email. Period.)
8. Locate and join your local party organizations.
By now, you know how important it is to get involved at the state level. Join your state party.
That’s not enough, though. Like Russian nesting dolls, party offices drill down to the very local level, and signing up for your state party doesn’t necessarily ensure your contact information gets to your local city or village party. So look up your state, county, township, village or city and even neighborhood party organization. Sign up for each one and ask about their next meeting. Show up with a friend, listen and brainstorm about how to strengthen the group.
9. Get a library card. Even if you’ll never use it (you really should use it!).
Libraries provide incredibly valuable services to your community. Books are just the beginning. From free internet access to child reading programs, computer training, citizenship classes, employment resources and more, they are vital community hubs and offer a lot more than you may think.
Libraries rely on local, state and federal funding, funding which is always an easy target during budget crunches. The more members they have, the stronger the argument that their funding shouldn’t be cut or shouldn’t be cut as drastically.
Also, libraries have also been targets on the assault on progressive values and diversity, and getting a library card is great way to show your support. According to the American Library Association:
A current analysis of book challenges recorded by ALA’s Office for Intellectual Freedom (OIF) from 2001–2013, shows that attempts to remove books by authors of color and books with themes about issues concerning communities of color are disproportionately challenged and banned. A challenge is defined as a formal, written complaint filed with a library or school requesting that a book or other material be restricted or removed because of its content or appropriateness.
Getting a library card is almost always free, so get one this week. You can often apply online.
10. Share this post.
Keep the momentum of this weekend’s marches going and share this post!