By now I’m sure that everyone knows the story of how I became obsessed interested in registering voters. When I went to get my drivers license renewed a few years ago, the DMV was packed with people getting photo ID for the first time due to the Republican voter suppression laws.
You have a choice of waiting about four hours for a clerk, or using a computer. Most of the people getting photo ID were elderly and having a hard time using the computers. I thought the local Dem Party could have someone there to help with computers.
Then the NC Daily Kos group caught my attention and I read of how they were spending their weekends setting up tables in various places registering voters.
Then, I somehow hooked up with Dr. Reid of 90for90 fame. The first Black man to be elected to the Virginia Assembly. He’s like the guru of voter registration. He was doing it back when there were poll taxes and literacy tests.
He’s also about the coolest guy ever. A great legislator, speaker, writer, and a data cruncher way before his time. He is so kind and thoughtful, still, in his 90’s encouraging folks to register voters and run for office. Dr. Reid generously spends a lot of time sharing his hard-won knowledge with candidates.
He also has a really good sense of humour. When I’m registering voters in TN, I’m targeting people who I think might vote for the Democratic Party (we have nonpartisan registration here), but I was worried that I might accidentally register some Republicans. Dr. Reid gave this wonderfully soft laugh he has and said, “That’s ok, we want them to vote too”.
The truth is, I do want everyone to vote. I want to find some way to duplicate the high numbers of folks who’ve registered in VA, (Almost 800,000 new registered voters since 2015) in every state.
One of the things I learned from Dr. Reid was to have fun registering voters, to be yourself. Despite the fact that he is a very sharp dresser himself, he told me if wearing jeans were what made me feel comfortable, wear jeans.
So, at the end of the school year, I went to high schools to register some soon to be 18 kids. I know schools and am comfortable in them because I taught for a long time. I’m quite comfortable with kids due to my many years of being one.
I went to Catholic schools first just because I happen to know a few Principals. What I do takes about 30 minutes. It’s usually a pretty small group of kids and they file into the room I’ve been given. I have music playing, whatever I’m listening to at the time.
I hand each kid a packet when they come in. It contains a literacy test, a voter registration form, a small notepad, a sheet with voting info, and a pen.
I don’t talk much. I just tell them that I’ve learned that if they want to have anything to say about stuff in their life, like when school starts, restrictions on new drivers, legal drinking ages, etc. the first step is voting.
I tell them just a little about Dr. Reid and have them get out their phones and go to the 90for90 facebook page. Then, for fun, I tell them to get the literacy test out of their packet and that they have 10 minutes to take it, GO!
I, myself didn’t get past the 4th question, which was something like “draw a line around the 5th word in this sentence.” One of the first questions asked you to circle a certain word. What the fuck does “draw a line around” mean?!?! How is that different from a circle?
I didn’t want the kids to be frustrated so when they are done, I had them google “Harvard students Literacy tests” and watch this video:
This is the test that was given in LA not VA, but I think it illustrates the point best, especially for the Catholic schools. I think the VA test was a blank piece of paper that you were told to write the answers to the 4 questions on. You weren’t given the questions. Pretty bold, eh?
Now, one thing we know about teenagers is that they don’t like to be told what to do or what not to do. They especially don’t like being manipulated.
It doesn’t work to tell kids that smoking is bad for them. What did work for them were ads showing how the Tobacco Companies had manipulated them to get them to smoke.
At the end of the test, after they’ve seen enough of the Harvard video to know that this test is impossible, I close with what I think is a killer fact. Now remember, I did this in Catholic schools, so what ethnicity do you suppose the kids identify with? What’s their family background?
Well, here, it’s Irish. I ended with this one fact:
The Louisiana literacy test was designed to keep Irish people from voting!
Boy, does that piss them off! And pissed off kids make for eager voters! Click here to learn to register voters in your state.
Happy Voters Registration Day!
Thank you Dr. Reid for everything you’ve done and continue to do. A special thanks to your son, Dr. Fergie Reid Jr.
Some of the music I play…