Tough week, huh? Hard not to feel a little overwhelmed with what feels like relentless, catastrophic political news.
But I’ve volunteered for political campaigns for literally 40 years — the image above is a homemade badge I wore to school the morning after Reagan beat Mondale in 1984. And one thing that’s always helped when things look bleak is the knowledge that there is always something practical you can do to help make things better — whether through electoral politics or other kinds of service.
For example…
Even as we speak, a group of incredible romance writers have launched the Romancing the Vote auction to raise money for VoteRiders and Fair Fight. I’ve got four bundles of comics in the auction myself — check ’em out! Every dollar you spend helps get more folks to the polls. I’d also recommend volunteering directly for VoteRiders, which helps people get the ID they need to vote. They’ve always got something going on – check ’em out at www.voteriders.org.
If you’re ready to take the next step, it’s incredibly easy these days to visit Mobilize.us, pick a swing state, and volunteer with a campaign to text bank or phone bank or canvass in person. I highly recommend volunteering to get out the vote in Wisconsin, Pennsylvania, and Michigan, must-win states if we want to defeat Trump. I’ve done a lot of textbanking in past elections for the Wisconsin Democratic Party – you can find them at wisdems.org.
One of the most effective things we can do is phonebank for these groups. It’s easy to do online without using your own phone. But phonebanking isn’t for everyone. So there’s also textbanking, which is as easy and much better for the soul than doomscrolling. And then there’s good old-fashioned postcard and letter writing.
For letter writing, I highly recommend Vote Forward, which enlists volunteers to send letters to voters from underrepresented communities to encourage them to get to the polls. I’ve written hundreds of letters through Vote Forward over multiple election cycles. They’re great.
And I’ve written hundreds of postcards through Postcards to Swing States. Very easy! No phone anxiety! You can sign up at www.turnoutpac.org/postcards/.
If you care about getting out the vote among AAPI communities, you could throw some bucks at Asian Americans for Democracy. They’re funding a bunch of trusted grass roots swing state AAPI groups to get out the vote. You can check out the list of groups here. I’ve personally volunteered for the Asian American Advocacy Fund in Georgia and I love them. There are also groups there in PA, WI, and MI – reach out to them and volunteer directly if you’re interested.
You may notice I’m not talking about donating directly to or directly volunteering for Biden or the DNC. That’s because I’m not doing that right now. I think we have to defeat Trump. But I’m putting in my GOTV time with progressive grass roots groups and voting rights groups to strengthen their reach and influence.
If you want to volunteer directly for the Biden campaign, I non-ironically support you! I might, too! But I mention this because you can be disgusted by Biden or at least many of his policies and still know we have to defeat Trump. And volunteering for these other groups is a great way to do that.
Volunteering for local grassroots groups is also a great way to hedge against Biden’s campaign screwing things up. I don’t know what they’re doing to get out Asian American voters. But I know the grassroots groups that Asian Americans for Democracy are supporting know their stuff!
A final thought… regardless of who wins this election, we’re facing a rising tide of authoritarianism and bigotry and vulnerable people everywhere are in trouble. So you can search for “mutual aid” or “community fridge” and your town’s name and make some donations… and you can give to your local food bank, library, LGBTQ+ support groups, etc. Maybe take bystander intervention training. If you’re a writer, you might consider joining Authors Against Book Bans. If you care about libraries, you could check out the action items at https://www.librariesforthepeople.org/. Maybe just call your reps every week about book bans and library cuts and whatever other awful stuff is happening locally. It all makes a difference.
Don’t get stressed about trying to do everything on this list, or any other list. None of us can do it all. And we all have our specific areas of interest and comfort and expertise. Pick your lane. Just do something. Even one thing. It seriously makes a difference. Big hearts and let’s do this.
