Here's another inspiring story about the important work that volunteers are doing to help their neighbors participate in this election. This story from Washington CAN! is an example of many other stories around the country.
A major focus of Washington CAN!'s get-out-the-vote work this year has been new voters from immigrant communities. This year, Washington's many immigrant communities are turning out in unprecedented numbers, in districts across the state where they've been traditionally underrepresented.
Tonight, a volunteer doing GOTV phone-banking spoke with Maryan, originally from Somalia, now living in south Seattle. Maryan has been a citizen for four years, and registered for the first time this year. A mother of three, she felt that she needed to make sure that candidates that shared her values got into office. She was very excited to vote, but hadn't received the absentee ballot she'd requested. She knew she would have to go to her polling place, but she didn't know where it was and she worried about not knowing what to do if and when she got there.
Our volunteer put her in touch with Washington CAN staff who not only helped her locate her polling place, but drove her and her kids there and helped them navigate this important new experience.
Maryan is proud that she was able to do her part tonight by voting. Her children are proud, too.
And those of us lucky enough to be doing this work today, wherever we are, can be proud that our efforts helped one more of America's newest voters cast the first ballot of her life.
Showing posts with label washington. Show all posts
Showing posts with label washington. Show all posts
Tuesday, November 4, 2008
WASHINGTON: Washington CAN Is Not Quitting Yet!
Some great news from Washington CAN!:
With just over three hours until the polls close in Washington State, Washington CAN staff and volunteer phone-bankers and field canvassers are still working like crazy. And they're not going to quit until they've contacted every last possible voter to made sure their ballots are in.
Tonight marks the end of a two month get out the vote drive. By the end of the day, Washington CAN will have knocked on 70,000 doors and made 305,000 phone calls.
They're making democracy work one door and phone at a time.
With just over three hours until the polls close in Washington State, Washington CAN staff and volunteer phone-bankers and field canvassers are still working like crazy. And they're not going to quit until they've contacted every last possible voter to made sure their ballots are in.
Tonight marks the end of a two month get out the vote drive. By the end of the day, Washington CAN will have knocked on 70,000 doors and made 305,000 phone calls.
They're making democracy work one door and phone at a time.
WASHINGTON: OneAmerica Hits Some Big Numbers
Our friends at OneAmerica in Washington have been experiencing great success. Some numbers:
- Registering more than 23,000 voters
- OneAmerica volunteers knocking on more than 3,300 doors, mailing more than 79,600 pieces of literature and making more than 20,100 calls.
- From their efforts, having 6,383 voters cast early ballots.
WASHINGTON VOTER TURNOUT: King County Online Poll-Finder Overloaded, Down
Breaking News in King's County, Washington from our partners at Washington Community Action Network:
News From the King County Elections office is that the feature on their website that allows voters to look up their polling place by entering their address is down. In the first hours after the polls opened at 7am the page received unprecedented traffic and subsequently crashed.
According to workers at the county elections hotline (206-296-VOTE), the phone's been ringing off the hook. They will be answering any and all questions, and even texting polling locations for concerned voters all day.
News From the King County Elections office is that the feature on their website that allows voters to look up their polling place by entering their address is down. In the first hours after the polls opened at 7am the page received unprecedented traffic and subsequently crashed.
According to workers at the county elections hotline (206-296-VOTE), the phone's been ringing off the hook. They will be answering any and all questions, and even texting polling locations for concerned voters all day.
WASHINGTON VOTER STORY: Evelyn's Story (She's 94 Years Old!)
When Washington CAN! called Evelyn Slater in our campaign to get out the vote, Evelyn said she wasn't sure whether she would vote this year. She wanted to vote, and had received her ballot in the mail. But, at 94 years old, Evelyn is losing her eyesight and couldn't read her ballot and voters pamphlet.
Evelyn had become a member of Washington CAN! in July of 2005 when we were campaigning to protect and strengthen Social Security. She's remained active in fights to make quality health care affordable for everyone. We weren't going to let failing eyesight stop her from voting.
Washington CAN! phone bank staffer, Terry Baker and Executive Director, Will Pittz, made a trip to Evelyn's home in north Seattle. They spent an hour reading out loud the voter pamphlet, while Evelyn chose what and who she would vote for. On October 21st, Evelyn voted up and down her ballot -- every race, every initiative, every ballot measure.
That's what community values is all about - making sure everyone has a voice in our democracy.
Evelyn had become a member of Washington CAN! in July of 2005 when we were campaigning to protect and strengthen Social Security. She's remained active in fights to make quality health care affordable for everyone. We weren't going to let failing eyesight stop her from voting.Washington CAN! phone bank staffer, Terry Baker and Executive Director, Will Pittz, made a trip to Evelyn's home in north Seattle. They spent an hour reading out loud the voter pamphlet, while Evelyn chose what and who she would vote for. On October 21st, Evelyn voted up and down her ballot -- every race, every initiative, every ballot measure.
That's what community values is all about - making sure everyone has a voice in our democracy.
WASHINGTON VOTER STORY: Sandy's Story
Read this powerful story of a young woman getting out the immigrant vote:
Sixteen year old Sandy is getting out the vote so that other kids won’t have to go through what she did. When her parents were unable to get citizenship and were deported, she witnessed first hand the lack of respect and honesty our government can have when dealing with immigrants. When she learned that she could help empower immigrants and get their voices heard through their votes, she jumped at the chance. She’s spent the weeks leading up to this election going door-to-door in immigrant communities and communities of color. She’s encouraging infrequent voters from these underrepresented communities to cast their ballots and elect representation that respects their values and will deal with them honestly.
Sandy is working with Washington CAN! to turn out the immigrant vote in Seattle’s Eastside suburbs. “Not all people of color are respected, and they aren’t taken in mind because they aren’t like all Americans,” she says. Voting in numbers gets communities noticed, and Sandy is working hard to make sure that every immigrant than can vote does. “Immigrants are excluded, but this is a way to get included.” New immigrant communities and communities of color in cities like Bellevue, Kent and Renton have the opportunity this election to determine the outcome of a number of important races.
Sandy is part of a crew of young immigrants and youth of color for whom getting out the vote is more than just a job. “I want to inform people about immigrants and give respect to them,” she says. “They aren’t included, and they should be. They are important.”
A greater immigrant voice in politics will ensure that the issues confronting young people like Sandy will become more of a priority for elected officials. She’d like to see comprehensive immigration reform that will end the current enforcement-only approach that breaks up families. “I hope it actually makes a difference and stops them tearing people apart.”
So far, it’s making a huge difference. In the last month, Sandy and her crew have knocked on over 7,000 doors, and spoken with thousands of new and infrequent voters from underrepresented communities. The reception from immigrants and people of color who have long felt overlooked has been overwhelmingly positive. People are constantly telling Sandy how glad they are that she’s talking to them about why it’s important to vote. More importantly, the vast majority of people she speaks with agree that this election is their chance to be heard, and they are going to vote.
“People support us. It’s pretty awesome.”
Sixteen year old Sandy is getting out the vote so that other kids won’t have to go through what she did. When her parents were unable to get citizenship and were deported, she witnessed first hand the lack of respect and honesty our government can have when dealing with immigrants. When she learned that she could help empower immigrants and get their voices heard through their votes, she jumped at the chance. She’s spent the weeks leading up to this election going door-to-door in immigrant communities and communities of color. She’s encouraging infrequent voters from these underrepresented communities to cast their ballots and elect representation that respects their values and will deal with them honestly.
Sandy is working with Washington CAN! to turn out the immigrant vote in Seattle’s Eastside suburbs. “Not all people of color are respected, and they aren’t taken in mind because they aren’t like all Americans,” she says. Voting in numbers gets communities noticed, and Sandy is working hard to make sure that every immigrant than can vote does. “Immigrants are excluded, but this is a way to get included.” New immigrant communities and communities of color in cities like Bellevue, Kent and Renton have the opportunity this election to determine the outcome of a number of important races.Sandy is part of a crew of young immigrants and youth of color for whom getting out the vote is more than just a job. “I want to inform people about immigrants and give respect to them,” she says. “They aren’t included, and they should be. They are important.”
A greater immigrant voice in politics will ensure that the issues confronting young people like Sandy will become more of a priority for elected officials. She’d like to see comprehensive immigration reform that will end the current enforcement-only approach that breaks up families. “I hope it actually makes a difference and stops them tearing people apart.”
So far, it’s making a huge difference. In the last month, Sandy and her crew have knocked on over 7,000 doors, and spoken with thousands of new and infrequent voters from underrepresented communities. The reception from immigrants and people of color who have long felt overlooked has been overwhelmingly positive. People are constantly telling Sandy how glad they are that she’s talking to them about why it’s important to vote. More importantly, the vast majority of people she speaks with agree that this election is their chance to be heard, and they are going to vote.
“People support us. It’s pretty awesome.”
Monday, November 3, 2008
WASHINGTON TURNOUT: Phones ringing off the hook!
Our partners in the field are working hard to get out the vote!
Washington CAN! and its partners just registered over 25,000 voters in Washington - many of which are young, low-income, people of color, and women.
Joshua Welter, Lead Organizer for Civic Engagement & Health Care with Washington CAN! says:
"Now when we're calling these new voters to remind them out to vote, our phone is ringing off the hook with folks calling us back. For several hours this weekend, we couldn't count to 20 seconds before our phone rang (seriously, we tried!).
Our phone was still ringing with folks calling us back as late as 10:30 pm on Saturday night. That's when we looked up the polling location of Irma Lopez, a 28 year-old first time voter.
They see our number on their caller ID and wonder why we're calling them so much. We tell them we're getting out the vote. We look up their polling location if they need it. 97.1% commit to vote or tell us they've already voted.
These new voters are under the radar of pollsters and political pundits. Many have given us their cell phones when they registered. Most political polls don't include cell phone users in their poll data.
If our rate of phone ringing is any judge, there will be a groundswell of voter participation from the grassroots. Watch out!"
Washington CAN! and its partners just registered over 25,000 voters in Washington - many of which are young, low-income, people of color, and women.
Joshua Welter, Lead Organizer for Civic Engagement & Health Care with Washington CAN! says:
"Now when we're calling these new voters to remind them out to vote, our phone is ringing off the hook with folks calling us back. For several hours this weekend, we couldn't count to 20 seconds before our phone rang (seriously, we tried!).
Our phone was still ringing with folks calling us back as late as 10:30 pm on Saturday night. That's when we looked up the polling location of Irma Lopez, a 28 year-old first time voter.
They see our number on their caller ID and wonder why we're calling them so much. We tell them we're getting out the vote. We look up their polling location if they need it. 97.1% commit to vote or tell us they've already voted.
These new voters are under the radar of pollsters and political pundits. Many have given us their cell phones when they registered. Most political polls don't include cell phone users in their poll data.
If our rate of phone ringing is any judge, there will be a groundswell of voter participation from the grassroots. Watch out!"
WASHINGTON: Powerful health care story in Washington GOTV phone call
Check out this GOTV phone message from Washington CAN!:
http://www.communitychange.org/library/WACANFinal.wav/view
The message will be delivered today to over 17,000 voters in Washington state who have yet to cast their ballots as part of Washington CAN Education and Research Fund's Get Out The Vote Campaign.
In the phone message, Washington CAN! member, Trish Divine Wilder, from Walla Walla, shares the emotional story of losing her nephew because he was uninsured. Tearing up during the call, she urges Washingtonians to vote on Tuesday to elect leaders who will work to guarantee quality, affordable health care for everyone.
Trish first shared her story publicly on December 1st, 2007 at the Heartland Presidential Forum in Iowa when she asked then presidential candidate Hillary Clinton about her health care plan.
http://www.communitychange.org/library/WACANFinal.wav/view
The message will be delivered today to over 17,000 voters in Washington state who have yet to cast their ballots as part of Washington CAN Education and Research Fund's Get Out The Vote Campaign.
In the phone message, Washington CAN! member, Trish Divine Wilder, from Walla Walla, shares the emotional story of losing her nephew because he was uninsured. Tearing up during the call, she urges Washingtonians to vote on Tuesday to elect leaders who will work to guarantee quality, affordable health care for everyone.
Trish first shared her story publicly on December 1st, 2007 at the Heartland Presidential Forum in Iowa when she asked then presidential candidate Hillary Clinton about her health care plan.
WASHINGTON TURNOUT: My Experience with Early Voting in Renton, Washington
We have an update on early voting in Washington from Naomi Ishisaka, Communications Director of OneAmerica. If the lines are already this long in Washington, imagine how long they'll be on Election Day.
“I am a regular poll voter because I enjoy the process of voting and have never had any trouble voting at the polls in the past, however since I would be working all day on Election Day, I wanted to vote early to make sure I was not unable to vote. I first tried to vote early on Friday at around 4:30 pm but when I arrived I was told the wait would be one and a half hours. I was advised to come back the next day before the center opened at 9 a.m.
I was frustrated about this so I called the King County Elections Department to complain. They were closed. I listened to the automated message that said it had all the information about the upcoming election, but amazingly, the message had not been updated since August. The automated line says, “The next scheduled election is the primary election on Tues. August 19.” It is incredible the line has not been updated for information about Nov. 4.
When I came back the next day, the line was twice as long as it was the night before. I was told people had been waiting outside since 7:30 a.m. to vote. I talked to a poll worker who said it would likely be several hours of waiting. I left and then came back around noon when I had more time to wait. By the time I got there at around noon, the line was stretched around the building and the wait time was three hours. I waited – along with a huge group of people who were disproportionately young and non-white – for the three hours for my chance to vote. After several lines and much patience, I finally got my chance to use the Diebold voting machine and cast my ballot. While I was there, several people I know called the Elections Department to express their desire for the polling places to extend their hours and open on Sunday and were met with an astounding array of responses, including, “Well, people spend hours waiting in line for Disneyland or a movie, so that’s their choice,” or to me, “Well you should just get a book, relax and enjoy it.” Most of the people who were there to vote came because they were afraid that by Tuesday, the lines would be so long at their polling places they would not be able to get off enough time from work to vote. The local media here has been incredibly credulous about all this, quoting the Elections Department spokeswoman as saying that ‘people are happy to wait and would be happy to wait even longer’ without talking to any voters for their opinion.”
We will send additional posts regarding general GOTV information for the blog later today.
Voters waiting in line around noon on Saturday at the King County Elections Center in Renton.
Sympathetic passersby bring donuts for waiting voters at the King County Elections Center on Saturday.
Once inside the Elections Center the wait was an additional two hours long.
There are only six voting machines in the Elections Center."
“I am a regular poll voter because I enjoy the process of voting and have never had any trouble voting at the polls in the past, however since I would be working all day on Election Day, I wanted to vote early to make sure I was not unable to vote. I first tried to vote early on Friday at around 4:30 pm but when I arrived I was told the wait would be one and a half hours. I was advised to come back the next day before the center opened at 9 a.m.
I was frustrated about this so I called the King County Elections Department to complain. They were closed. I listened to the automated message that said it had all the information about the upcoming election, but amazingly, the message had not been updated since August. The automated line says, “The next scheduled election is the primary election on Tues. August 19.” It is incredible the line has not been updated for information about Nov. 4.
When I came back the next day, the line was twice as long as it was the night before. I was told people had been waiting outside since 7:30 a.m. to vote. I talked to a poll worker who said it would likely be several hours of waiting. I left and then came back around noon when I had more time to wait. By the time I got there at around noon, the line was stretched around the building and the wait time was three hours. I waited – along with a huge group of people who were disproportionately young and non-white – for the three hours for my chance to vote. After several lines and much patience, I finally got my chance to use the Diebold voting machine and cast my ballot. While I was there, several people I know called the Elections Department to express their desire for the polling places to extend their hours and open on Sunday and were met with an astounding array of responses, including, “Well, people spend hours waiting in line for Disneyland or a movie, so that’s their choice,” or to me, “Well you should just get a book, relax and enjoy it.” Most of the people who were there to vote came because they were afraid that by Tuesday, the lines would be so long at their polling places they would not be able to get off enough time from work to vote. The local media here has been incredibly credulous about all this, quoting the Elections Department spokeswoman as saying that ‘people are happy to wait and would be happy to wait even longer’ without talking to any voters for their opinion.”
We will send additional posts regarding general GOTV information for the blog later today.
Voters waiting in line around noon on Saturday at the King County Elections Center in Renton.
Sympathetic passersby bring donuts for waiting voters at the King County Elections Center on Saturday.
Once inside the Elections Center the wait was an additional two hours long.
There are only six voting machines in the Elections Center."
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