You Can Be Politically Involved--Even In Lockdown.

By Gari Palmer

All fired up and nowhere to go?

That’s how I felt. 

Like most of us, I am spending my days at home. I see or hear the news constantly. I feel a range of reactions, from sadness and anxiety to gratitude and thankfulness, to rage and dismay. I fear for my country. I hope for change. I want to march or rally or picket, and I want to do it now.

But of course I can’t. Ironically, the pandemic, which was made much worse by the ineptitude at the top of our government, has also drastically limited the ways we can protest. It is infuriating. But we can’t let it stop us. Hope is not a strategy. We must take action to ensure we don’t wake up in November to four more years.  

So, what can we do? What does activism look like in this awful stay-at-home paradigm?

Here’s what I did. 

First, I did some research to come up with a targeted approach. I learned that key to the Presidential election is getting out the vote in swing states--Florida, Pennsylvania, Michigan, and Wisconsin. In 2016, Trump’s margin of victory in those states was less than 2%. These states have a total of 75 electoral college votes. Hard work and data analysis connecting with disenfranchised Democratic-leaning voters and traditionally under-represented registered voters could tip the scale in any one of them. If we can enlist an army of activists to get out the vote, we can win. 

So how do we do that? 

I looked at Together for 2020, an umbrella website that pulls together information about a number of options.  Here are four things we can do to influence the outcome of the Presidential election—there are plenty of others:

• We can phone bank to improve and refine voter information for better targeting in the 2020 election. After door-to-door canvassing, phone banking is the next most effective way to get out the vote as shown by CallHub’s analysis of over 15 years of data and research from the Yale Institution for Social and Policy Studies.

• We can write postcards to let people know how to vote by mail. In 2018, voting by new voters in Florida who received postcards telling them how to enroll in Vote by Mail was 53.8% higher than voting by new voters who voted in person. Likewise, turnout for infrequent voters enrolled in Vote by Mail was 83.6% greater than similarly infrequent voters who voted in person.

• We can tailor just-in-time letters to voters that tell them why we think voting is important, and urging them to vote. These letters increase voter turnout, as shown in Vote Forward studies:

  • 2019 Special election in PA: turnout +2%

  • 2018 Special election in OH: turnout +1.44%

  • 2017 Special election in AL: turnout +3.4%

• We can focus on specific issues--for example, we can text voters in key states who are environmentally conscious. Texting for the Environmental Voter Project (EVP) increased voter turnout as demonstrated by EVP studies and randomized controlled trials.

  • 2018 midterm elections in CO, FL, MA, NV, PA, and GA: turnout +2.2 to 4.1%

  • 2016 presidential election MA: + 4.7%—turnout +4.7% 

The Presidency is not the only critical office up for grabs--the Senate is in play too. The Senate majority in 2021 will be determined by races in Maine, Arizona, Colorado, North Carolina, and Iowa. In each of these states, Democrats have fielded strong candidates who are out-fundraising vulnerable GOP incumbents. Look at Sara Gideon of Maine, Mark Kelly of Arizona, John Hickenlooper of Colorado, Cal Cunningham of North Carolina, and Theresa Greenfield of Iowa. Send them some money or get out the vote in these key states. These Democratic candidatesy have a real chance of winning.                

I hate being under house arrest, but I feel more empowered now that I have a personal strategy for activism during this pandemic. You will too. So instead of baking another loaf of bread--or while you are baking that loaf--get involved. Make a difference. From home.

Gari Locker Palmer is a Systems and Software engineer who worked on major projects at Raytheon for 30 years before she retired. While she is at home she is engaged in grassroots efforts to get out the vote. Every day, Gari does outdoor activities and activism to keep sane.