Getting Out the Vote

We believe that an essential step both in restoring and improving our democracy is to make the best possible use of the democratic processes that are currently available to us. This, in turn, means maximizing the number of citizens who:

• Register to vote (and confirm that their registration is still valid)

• Inform themselves about the issues and choices (ideally by engaging in relevant discussions with others around them and/or by becoming part of a political movement committed to advancing the interests of ordinary Americans)

• Cast their ballot (preferably as early as possible to minimize their vulnerability to election sabotage)

First and foremost, we want to help potential voters get off of the sidelines and become empowered participants in our democratic decision-making processes. Rather than telling people how to vote, we want to engage them in meaningful dialogue about making our government more responsive to their input and interests. By doing this, we believe we can help to build a broad-based coalition of voters who are strongly invested in our pro-democracy agenda.

In addition, we want to encourage as many people as possible to become politically active in their own right, encouraging their fellow citizens to become meaningful participants in our democratic system. There are a number of proven techniques for accomplishing this, and we want to help people find the one that is best suited to their individual circumstances. In this same spirit, we ourselves are pursuing a range of strategies.

Here is our current best understanding of the available options:

• Fundraising

• Postcarding

• Phonebanking

• Canvassing

• Neighbor to Neighbor

• Vote Tripling

• Tabling

• Talking to Community Groups

• Letters to the Editor and Op-Eds

We are currently pursuing all of these except for those that involve going door-to-door.