Adopt a Voter!
Remember back in the 2008 election, when all those first time ever voters were lined up at the polls? They’d been spurred into action by almost a decade of being Dubya’d by our former president. And they also felt a renewed sense of hope about the future. They decided that maybe their vote did count, and they were right because the actions of all of them put together means that I am not sitting at my keyboard, clacking out diatribes about President McCain, and Vice President Palin.
Yeah.
Think about it.
So, the midterm elections are coming and the insane wing of the Republican party has been activated. What can we do? We can make sure that those first-time voters become second-time voters.
Organizing for America’s Sarah Mouracade describes it like this:
We decided to do this campaign, which is unique to Alaska, because it helps volunteers reach out to first-time voters from 2008 and share President Obama’s accomplishments with them. We believe talking to first-time voters is very important because many progressive candidates in Alaska who fight for issues that correspond with President Obama’s agenda will benefit by having these first-time voters go back to the polls in 2010. In fact, they are likely to be the critical votes in both local and federal elections this November. People who adopt first-time voters will be assigned 10 – 15 people who live in their community and asked to help get them back to the polls in 2010. Simply put, the message the volunteers are delivering to these first-time voters is, “It’s time to make your voice heard once more.”
So imagine yourself, with your little flock of adorable first time voters… like fuzzy yellow chicks, just waiting for you to help them out of the newbie nest and make voting a habit.
To adopt your little flock, CLICK HERE . Come on. How adorable are THEY? And they need you…
Interested in popping in to 1 of 16 house meeting in Alaska this Saturday, June 5 or Sunday, June 6? Find a list of all events HERE.
The time to get out the vote is now. And can you do something about it?
Yes you can.
Gotta check what’s going on here in CT!
What a good idea.
Go, Alaska! Have fun with your flocks.
It’s the weekend here, just home from the students’ last day of school. I can see my summer vacation from my porch, with dozens of books waiting to be read, and gardens to be tended and swims to be swum…though sadly, not at the beach. I have a “swimmin’ hole” just around back, though DH Happy refers to it as my “big bag of water.” It’s no Gulf of Mexico, but it’s one of my favorite additions to CampCrowwoman. Water therapy, mama calls it. Restorative…. good medicine when faced with the containment and cleanup work to be done to restore the Gulf of Mexico. (I’m all ranted out about BP for now, but don’t worry; I’m not retreating, I’m…as $ome would say, ReLoading. If reloading actually means I’m praying and mourning and researching and learning and pondering…
Good Shabbos, all, and
Shalom Bayit, Peace in our Homes.
This proposal sounds like something we need in Kansas. I reach out to the other Kansans who read this blog by asking if they would be willing to join me in getting something started here. I live in Overland Park, an area with a growing Democratic contingent. Candidate Obama brought out many new voters, young voters and voters who had not voted in a long, long time because they had become discouraged by the overwhelming sense that Kansas is a red state and won’t change. I think it may if enough of us work to stimulate interest.
This is a crucial time for us. Senator Brownback is bringing his C-Street agenda back home when he runs for Governor. We cannot afford more ultra-conservative cuts in this state. We are at almost rock-bottom because of the Republican-dominated legislature who advocate faith-based home schooling and want to slash taxes even more. The elderly, disabled and children here are suffering just as in Alaska.
So, if any Kansan reading this blog is interested, maybe we can take the seed AKM is planting in Alaska and clone it for Kansas. Alternately, if you know of any program already in operation for nurturing new voters, please let me know. The time has come for us to change things in our own backyard.
Thanks AKM for the suggestion. I love how you delivered it with style and humor. That lesson will stay with me.
Mona Lisa, you, too, were an inspiration by saying you were going to check things out in CT, so thank you, as well.
Thatcrowwoman, I realize you are probably not reading this now, but I wish you a happy summer. My husband is a high school teacher, so we know how important the summer is even though teachers do not get paid for holidays or summers. Just the time to refresh and nourish our souls is crucial to nurturing the students throughout the school year. Enjoy your summer as well as you can while facing the great oil spill tragedy. Peace be with you and yours as well.
thanks, sunny one.
*waving from a quiet Saturday morning in my forest on the Gulf*
AKM, please feel free to delete this from the comments, but I am so upset by what is happening in Arizona, I just need to alert you and readers of your blog. I hope if you cannot include my comment here and now, please consider covering this madness in a post of your own soon.
Apparently, Senator McCain either does not know of this or is being a gutless wonder in not condemning it, but an elementary school has decided to change the color of all its Black and Latino students to Caucasian skin color in a school mural that was intended to build pride in the school because a city councilman in Prescott, AZ has begun a talk radio campaign and his crackpot followers are driving by the school screaming racist slurs at the kids.
So, the school is all its splendor has decided to paint out the identities of their students. Apparently, the mural depicts the faces of students attending the school. So, because of racism, the school is going to do the unthinkable: send a message to the kids that the only way to fight racism is to give into it.
So sad. Where are the Republicans Senators? Where is the Republican Governor?
See this story at (it has links to even more information): http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2010/06/04/arizona-elementary-school-mural_n_601436.html.
I hold politicians like McCain and Palin personally responsible for unleashing this madness and media personalities such as Beck, Hannity, and Palin (gosh, she gets a two-fer here) for feeding this insanity.
Please consider getting the story out. Everyone needs to be involved in quashing this or it will spread if these horrible people get away with it.
I read about the mural, ks sunflower. However, to be fair, while the mural was totally approved by students, parents and staff at the school before it was painted, as the mural came to life, the staff and principal, in consultation with the parents, felt that the shadowing on the faces needing “brightening” because the point of the mural was that the students depicted (of all races and ethnicity) were reaching toward the light of knowledge. It will still be evident that the students depicted are black or hispanic or caucasian. However, when facing the light, every complexion is lighter.
The artists and the school have been subject to racist name calling and epithets as the mural has been painted. If the changes were in response to that verbal assault, the skin tones would be unmistakably white.
Gramiam, I’ve read the same rationalizations from the school principal, but if you look at a picture of the lightening in progress, it’s a little hard to take seriously.
Just curious. How can anyone outside the County Clerk’s office know who first time voters were and is it legal to hand that info out?
I know if a person votes in a primary their personal information becomes the property of that political party. That has been decided in court. So you are forever after on their “send me money.” mailing list. And the party can sell that information to certain parties, because the courts say it is their property so they can. So you get even more “sent me money” mailers.
But a for a person who did not vote in a primary but voted for the first time on the POTUS ballot – how can their personal address, and whatever else, be released into the public domain?
I am not against the concept of encouraging young voters, that part is a great idea. I’m just very anti-releasing people’s addresses and, in effect, who they voted for.
Why am I being accused of posting spam worthy entries, when I am not?
There’s actually no human involved in whether you are considered a spammer here. Akismet (our spam system) works across all WordPress blogs, so it’s possible that if another blog out there somewhere has flagged you as a spammer, the result will show up here. There seem to be 5 or 6 regular Mudflatters who are showing up in the spam bin lately. I liberate your comments as soon as I can. I check 2 or 3 times a day. But, I want to be crystal clear to everyone that if you post a comment and it tells you you are spam, it’s NOT me doing it! I am told by Snoskred that if I “UNspam” you a certain number of times you’ll go back to your old status. Hopefully that will work. In the meantime, thanks for your patience. AKM
@ 3 kssunflower- if you type in your zipcode on the page in this following link, there may be an event this weekend near you.
http://my.barackobama.com/page/event/search_simple?source=sidenav
Thanks!
As I said on the open thread, elections in Alaska can turn on very few votes. Please register voters, call them before the primary and the general, help them get to the polls if you can. There was talk of Alaska turning “blue” before $P was plucked out of (relative) obscurity and thrust into the national spotlight where, unfortunately, she remains.
I will be doing everything I can to help my Rep keep her seat (her primary challenger is a very young, very cute attorney who thus far is running on immigration reform while saying zero about any other issue). All too many Americans leave the voting to others, then b*tch about the results.
Health and peace.