The Easiest Way to Get Your Community to Vote Progressive: Spread Local Voter Guides

[avaistheone1]

This handy new tool TheBallot.org has aggregated more than 350 local progressive and non-partisan voter guides. Some were created by well-known progressive groups like Sierra Club and SEIU, but a lot of the best ones were create by individuals or small informal groups.

Our shot-term goal is to get tens of thousands of 2008 Obama voters to come out, cast informed votes this Tuesday, and get their friends to do the same.

The truth is that most of us have no freaking clue what is on our ballots -- especially down ballot stuff (judges, county assessors, local ballot measures, etc). Honestly, it's intimidating, even for me. But Local Voter guides don't just help us vote down ballot. The act of creating, reading and sharing local voter guides helps us to get over the embarrassment of not knowing. It makes us feel knowledgeable, confident, and empowered to share the guides with our friends and talk to them about what's on the ballot, and the importance of voting.

It's amazing: As individuals armed with home-made voter guides, we can have the same impact as a powerful interest group or a newspaper editorial board -- the power to influence and turn-out hundreds and thousands of new votes.

The reason why I'm so passionate about voter guides isn't just about voting down ballot. It's about self-organizing groups of deeply motivated volunteers who take ownership of getting out the vote in their own communities, on their own terms, through their own networks. It's a 21st Century model of how to build an empowered hyper-local progressive political movement from the ground up.

http://www.alternet.org/news/148706/the_easiest_way_to_get_your_community_to_vote_progressive%3A_spread_local_voter_guides/




Great idea. These voter guides are really cool and this website links to a variety of progressive guides for every state. Share the guides. This is an easy way to get caught up on the issues for those too busy to follow politics closely, but interested in what their favorite groups like Sierra Club, peace groups have to say on the issues and the candidates. Great discussion points to launch your friends, neighbors, colleagues and your email sphere of influence to go to the polls and vote.

[oswaldactedalone]

1. This is totally correct

For the last week, I've been walking up to African-Americans with a voter guide in hand, and asking if they're voting. If so, I ask if they'd like a voter guide. This is an area of GOTV that is way overlooked but extremely important. I've left them at barber shops and beauty salons in the A-A community and people scoop them up. It really gives them a tool to increase their comfort level in the polling booth. It certainly did for me.

[avaistheone1]

2. Great. I think people appreciate them

and they are soft way of discussing the candidates and issues, rather than some other approaches that can appear heavy-handed to people.