Democracy in the United States is severely under attack from both inside and outside forces. Given this, it is up to those of us wanting to preserve democracy to speak out and take action.
I have been more politically vocal during the past 3-4 years than in any other time in my life. I’ve nudged politicians who are supposed to be representing all of us rather than dividing us. I’ve encouraged people to take part in the census and to vote. I’ve bought stamps and mailed packages in order to help support the U.S. Postal Service.
What more can I do?
My brother John gave me an idea the other day. He said a friend of his was taking part in a letter-writing campaign to encourage people to vote. An online search brought me to Vote Forward, which has a goal of sending 10 million well-timed letters to those voters who are typically underrepresented at the polls to urge them to take part in the upcoming election.
These letters are a combination of printed and handwritten, with those who sign up to help supplying their personal handwritten message regarding why they think it is important to vote.The letters are a non-partisan GOTV effort. If you sign on to help, you have to send a minimum of 5 letters, though you can choose to send 20 or more.
You prepare your personalized letters and mail them on the day selected by Vote Forward, which has worked through this process before and found the most effective letter format and timing for sending letters.
So far, volunteers have signed on to send 6.03 million letters out of the 10 million-letter goal.
The process was simple to sign up, taking less than a day for me to get confirmation that I could be part of the effort. (They have to make sure you’re not a bot.)
You do have to have access to a printer to print off your letters, plus a blue pen, envelopes and stamps. The beauty of the campaign, other than getting people to the polls, is that buying all those stamps helps the post office. If you aren’t able to work on the letters, you can help the effort by making a donation to Vote Forward for postage.
Here’s a link to a short YouTube Video that explains the Vote Forward process.
If you prefer written instructions, check out the instructions page on the Vote Forward website.
The best way to take part in a democracy is to vote.
If you want to do more to save American democracy, consider becoming a Vote Forward volunteer, but do so soon. Election day will be here in the blink of an eye.