Fellow Kossaks,
I'm Jane Fleming and I am an activist first and Executive Director of the Young Democrats of America second. I'll be honest--I need your help with tomorrow's election in Virginia. We need help in getting our peers to the polls and getting the word out that YDA is doing things differently in Democratic politics.
It's not enough for young people to work on general campaigns or volunteer for them. We are doing our generation a disservice by not talking to young people and we are doing our generation a disservice by not demanding the campaigns we work with to target young people.
You can help change that. On Nov. 8th, Election Day, simply come to one of the areas listed below between 7am and 7pm and look for YDA staff and we will put you to work:
Firefighters Union Hall, 10500 Sager Avenue, Fairfax City
or
Alexandria Democratic Committee Office, 618 N. Washington Street
If you are not in the Northern Virginia area, we have sites in Norfolk and Charlottesville, just email office@yda.org.
Fellow Kossaks,
I'm Jane Fleming and I am an activist first and Executive Director of the Young Democrats of America second. I'll be honest--I need your help with tomorrow's election in Virginia. We need help in getting our peers to the polls and getting the word out that YDA is doing things differently in Democratic politics.
It's not enough for young people to work on general campaigns or volunteer for them. We are doing our generation a disservice by not talking to young people and we are doing our generation a disservice by not demanding the campaigns we work with to target young people. Young people like any other demographic wants to listen to their peers and wants to be involved. Unfortunately, there is still a culture in campaigns that young people don't vote and are too hard to find so we get knocked off voting lists that campaigns use to talk to potential voters.
You can help change that. On Nov. 8th, Election Day, simply come to one of the areas listed below between 7am and 7pm and look for YDA staff and we will put you to work:
Firefighters Union Hall, 10500 Sager Avenue, Fairfax City
or
Alexandria Democratic Committee Office, 618 N. Washington Street
If you are not in the Northern Virginia area, we have sites in Norfolk and Charlottesville, just email office@yda.org.
We need to get out there, talk to young voters and make them show up at the polls for election day. And then measure the practical impact our work has on the election.
What does the youth vote mean to progressives and Democrats?
If you want to talk about winning and transforming the Party, then everything.
Young people voted for Democrats in record numbers in the 2004 cycle, we were the only age group to do so and were the swing vote in certain communities. It wasn't just a fluke. Young people did something different, we stopped only doing community service and protesting in order to express our views and be connected to a community, we actually voted. Groups that target young people also did things differently--we got partisan (a.k.a. we got some balls), connected voting with young people's cultural peer groups and actually tested and measured everything we did. And we are doing the same thing now for 2005.
The Young Voter Alliance, League of Pissed of Voters, Driving Votes, Hip Hop Political Convention...all did things differently. YDA, which housed and led the Alliance, continues to do things differently. We are the only partisan youth group in Virginia targeting young people and testing our new voter model which was a success in 2004. We need your help in our final push.
Thanks,
Jane