Expand Your Voting Superpower!

Indivisible Evanston

Oct 24

3 min read

By Shelley Sutherland

You Are Awesome!

You made a plan to vote early or you've already ready voted!

NOW is your chance to expand your voting superpower!

All you have to do is spread the message to the people in your lives and encourage them to expand their voting superpower too! See my message below and use it if you want!*

WHY will this help?

We’re going to make this election TOO BIG TO RIG!

Remember, there wouldn’t be so many suppression tactics in play if our votes didn’t matter!

Honestly, not everyone is watching this election as carefully as you–you’ve been paying attention, learning about the stakes and maybe even, like me, pushing yourself beyond your comfort zone.

The goal is to get everyone we know out to vote.

Doesn’t matter if "I'm in a blue state/district that's safe," we need big numbers everywhere!
Doesn’t matter if "I don’t know all the judges," vote for the candidates you know!
Doesn’t matter if "I think the parties are the same,"vote for who you think will better protect our democracy!
Doesn't matter if "FILL IN THE BLANK,"your vote is your voice and, in this moment, it can change the shape of history!

YOU are the TRUSTED MESSENGER!

It makes sense that people who know you will at the very least read a message from you more than they would an anonymous, amorphous person or bot (and data supports this). Not that phone banking, text banking and social media are worthless–they’re not! But they’re not a TRUSTED MESSENGER like you!

VOTING EARLY is Better!

It’s harder to mess with your ballot once it’s been cast! And it's more convenient for you!

WHO?

You can reach out to 3 people, 10 people, your friends, your family, acquaintances you encounter during everyday life at places like the dog park, exercise class, your neighborhood OR everyone in your contact list! You get to decide!

But I’d like to encourage you to push a bit past your comfort zone. It’s OK to be that slightly annoying person who reminds people “hey, you know all the headlines you’ve been reading or avoiding? This is a really important election–maybe deciding whether we have democracy in America in the future!”

HOW?

You can reach out in person, via text, phone calls, email or even letters. Again, you decide!

WHAT?

This is what I've done, and I'm hoping you'll do too.

I VOTED EARLY!

I took this pledge at https://www.nokings.org/ to stand up for democracy if our election is in danger of being sabotaged in any way.

I added the Election Protection hotline #866-OUR-VOTE, #866-687-8683 to my contacts.

I’m sending this email to everyone in my contact list. If you need a template, feel free to use/tweak mine below.

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*MY EMAIL MESSAGE

Subject: Hi from Shelley!

Hi!

I just wanted to let you know how important I think this upcoming midterm election is. I'm encouraging you to make a plan to VOTE EARLY and then forward this message to your contacts -- friends, acquaintances, everyone in your circles! It’s not an overstatement to say that democracy is on the ballot. The goal is to make this election too big to rig!

Here's a checklist you can use:

I have registered to vote AND confirmed/updated it at Vote 411
I have mailed in my ballot or made a plan to vote in person EARLY.
I have reached out to my contacts and encouraged THEM to make a plan to VOTE EARLY.
I’ve taken this pledge at https://www.nokings.org/ to stand up for democracy if our election is sabotaged in any way.

If you agree that this upcoming election is important, please forward this message to people in your circles too! (Make sure to use the BCC field if you email more than one person at a time--this respects people's privacy.)

No matter what the future holds, you will know you've done something to help save democracy!

Thanks!

Shelley