Where to Give Now: Oct 30 2020
Now we give our time instead of our treasure. (But yes, there are still places to give treasure -- read on.) By the end of today, over 85 million voters will have cast their ballot. This is expected to be the highest turnout election in over a century. But there’s more we can do!
Below are a bunch of ways to engage around the election. Be sure to read to the end for instructions on how to participate in our election pool!
Get Out The Vote
I have some pre-election rituals. One is to send a list of resources to friends and family so they don’t pester me on election night (hi, fam!). Another is to listen to the terribly cheesy song The Final Countdown by 80’s hair band Europe; you can find it on my Election Day Spotify playlist. Every presidential election since 2000, I have re-read the first chapter, “Waiting,” of The Making of a President: 1960 by Theodore White (and h/t to the now-Mayor of New Rochelle, Noam Bramson, who got me started on this tradition).
But, most importantly, I get out the vote! This weekend, I’ll be sending texts for the Biden-Harris campaign and making calls for Barbara Bollier in Kansas. Please pledge to spend at least two hours volunteering over the next five days!
Volunteer resources:
Mobilize.us is a terrific tool to search for volunteer opportunities by location, type, and theme, for both candidates and independent organizations
Phone and text bank for Biden-Harris
Phone and text bank with Crooked Media, Swing Left, or Indivisible
Or go to the website of your favorite candidate and sign up for a remote volunteer shift
And Election Hero Day is Monday, November 2. This is a day to uplift appreciation for the work of county clerks, election office staff, poll workers, and voters. Please help amplify the message of gratitude with the hashtag #ThankYouElectionHeroes on and leading up to November 2; a toolkit can be found here. A huge shout out to the team at Impactual for conceiving this, Vote Early Day, Power the Polls, and so many other ways to celebrate democracy.
Give But Save
There are some very limited places where last-minute money can still matter. Close Senate races, especially those that have surged or closed in the last few weeks and states with less early voting, can utilize additional money. In a rough order of importance: MJ Hegar in TX, Sara Gideon in ME, Theresa Greenfield in IA, Cal Cunningham in NC (argh), Jon Ossoff and Raphael Warnock in GA, Gary Peters in MI, Barbara Bollier in KS, and Mike Espy in MS. Give to any or all.
Go down-ballot as those dollars get stretched further. As DLCC Executive Director Jessica Post frequently points out, we only need *48* seats to flip *10* state houses red to blue. You can give directly to those 48 candidates here.
Count Every Vote and Pizza to the Polls are great places for last-minute funds as well.
BUT save some of your budget! There will be one or two runoffs in GA, a likely runoff in LA, and potential recounts in numerous races up and down the ballot. And we may need to fund organizations for post-election protests in the event of a very close presidential election (a lot of preparation and funding has already happened on this front but we will need to do more if any nightmare scenarios play out).
Dork Out
Spoiler alert: I am a gigantic elections dork. I look at the crosstabs on polls. I anxiously await new episodes of FiveThirtyEight’s “Model Talk” politics podcast. And I look at A LOT of websites for election information.
Here’s how I will be looking at info on election night:
Data for Progress’ Election Night Integrity Project -- an amazing platform for aggregating early vote/absentee info with real-time Election Day counts; also includes commentary from some of the top data experts
Al’s Twitter list 1: Election Data Dorks: News outlets and prognosticators and the data teams who help them call the races
Al’s Twitter list 2: Election 2020: The above list plus the best political reporters and pundits
FiveThirtyEight Blog
Plus some fun Slack channels and Zooms with friends!
And here are some pre-election resources:
FiveThirtyEight’s Forecast
FiveThirtyEight’s When To Expect Election Results In Every State
The New York Times’ How Long Will Vote Counting Take? Estimates and Deadlines in All 50 States
The New York Times’ How Quickly Will Your Absentee Vote Be Counted?
TargetSmart’s Early & Absentee Ballot Report
US Elections Project Early Vote Tracker
Fair Fight’s Election Administration State of Play
Super lawyer Marc Elias’ Democracy Docket
State and local guide to What’s on the ballot?
Center for American Women and Politics Election Tracker
Non-partisan Talking Points on how to message the election
As a cord cutter who can’t watch cable news (very good for mental health), I get most of my news online and from podcasts. Favorites include: Pod Save America, Hacks on Tap, FiveThirtyEight Politics, Political Gabfest, The Chuck ToddCast, Campaign HQ, Battleground, The Ezra Klein Show, Why is This Happening, The Brown Girls Guide to Politics, FWIW, and Stay Tuned with Preet.
In addition to watching the networks and cable news, I recommend looking at the AP Politics website and individual state Secretary of State or state elections websites for up to the minute information. And read this or listen here to learn how the AP calls elections.
Remember, it is highly unlikely that we will know the outcome of the presidential election on Nov. 3; numerous battleground states including MI and PA have indicated it will take days for them to count mail-in ballots. If states like FL and NC are called for Biden, we can go to bed feeling good. If they are called for Trump, do not despair -- they are must-wins for him and nice-to-haves for us. Most experts think the race will be called sometime midday Wednesday. And we almost certainly will not know who will control the Senate on Nov. 3. So, we must be patient and take the time to count every vote!
Need help voting? Go to iwillvote.com, VoteAmerica.com, or 866OurVote.org. You can also call the Election Protection hotline at 866-OUR-VOTE (866-687-8683); non-English assistance is also available if you go to the website.
OK, you made it to the end! Now it’s time to show off your dorkiness with AL Advising’s Election Pool. We will ask you to predict the electoral college results, the most competitive Senate races, the number of seats Democrats will hold in the US House, and when the race will be called by the AP. The winner receives bragging rights and some election related swag. Entries must be received by 11:59pm Pacific on Monday, 11/2.
Wear a mask. Vote for Biden-Harris. LFGGOTV!