Need DUers input:getting inner city people to polls Nov 2

[DebJ]

Below is a copy of an email I sent to our York grassroots organization. But hey, we have thousands of people here on DU so I'd really like to get any help that could be offered here.

We are registering people in swing state Pennsylvania in York City, which actually voted for Dubya last time. (But we are also finding that nearly no one in this city was registered, or so it seems!)
I think literacy levels are a huge deterrent to voting. I want to make these people feel comfortable and encouraged with voting, without in any way challenging their literacy capabilities, or anything else.

Please rsvp!




Hello again.

I sent you a copy of an email I sent to Dan on our voter registration experience today. One impression I am left with very, very strongly, is that many of these people are uncomfortable with voting because they have never done it before, and their literacy is rather weak. Some definitely convey, 'between the lines', that they are unqualified to vote. Strong insecurities. They have strong opinions on what is going on in this country, and want it to change, but somehow don't feel they can really vote. We may have registered them, but that was a few minute task. We need to make them feel comfortable about going to vote, and GOOD about voting.

Any ideas? If voting was in the summertime, I'd suggest a block party. A show of unity. People on one block all walk to the polls together (mmm nice press coverage). We're all going to vote on THIS block because we care. These people really do care. If they were to go united, they could support each other perhaps and override their insecurities, and get out of their isolation.
But November is nasty weather.

How do we make people who are insecure about the voting process feel more secure? Does all of York use the same type of voting machine that I used in Springettsbury for the primaries?
I'd like to be armed with SOMETHING to make these people feel less insecure! Registering gives them and us opportunity to make a difference, but only voting will bring that dream to reality.

[NMDemDist2]

1. first I would contact the local county elections board

and see if you can set up some "neighborhood" meetings (churchs and schools should help and host) with voter education

they should be able to help get you started

your idea of "block parties" is good too, get one person to "buddy" with 5 more and they will positively reinforce each other

keep the groups small tho, 6 max I should think

good luck!

[DebJ]

3. OOOH I like that one. I just told hubby I wish I could drag

a voting booth down the street with me and show people how to use it. I hate this type of voting booth...you pull the lever and a curtain slams into place with a loud noise. Almost makes me feel like I'm doing something wrong, to hide myself behind this curtain. Then you face all these damn levers. I barely understood it myself for the primaries.

In Frederick, Maryland, we had an optical scanning system that was so nice. There were podiums set up scattered about the room at a space that gave you confidentiality. You filled in little circles on an easily understandable card, then slipped the card into the scanner which recorded your vote, and kept your slip for verification or recounts. Easy. Simple. Nice. Why the hell Maryland wants the new Diebold crap is beyond me. This scanner was a dream! I could easily explain its' simplicity to people. Not these damn booths and all their levers!

[LSdemocrat]

2. Also consider volunteering for groups that monitor precincts

See if there are any groups in your area that are planning to help citizens get their votes counted in case a problem arises at a precinct. Try your local Democratic party or the ACLU or a similar organization in your area to see if they have such an election day program.

[DebJ]

4. We are working both with the party and outside of it. The

people organizing voter registrations decided to not do so on Labor Day weekend...but hell, the voters we want can't afford to even bbq in their own backyards for Labor Day! So we said hell with that we're going out to register people anyway!

But my concern is not election day itself, where I have volunteered to drive people to the polls, etc. We also have phone banks up and running, with some support now from the Kerry campaign.

But that won't resolve the issue of feeling incompetent or not literate enough to vote. That issue must be resolved BEFORE November 2, wherever feasible. And I am very aware that PRIDE is an issue for people. People who really need help of whatever type often just don't ask because they are uncomfortable or embarrassed, and will even turn down help when it is offered to them unsolicited.
When you lose everything else and most if not all of your hope, pride is all you've got left to hang onto, do you know?

The other efforts I have volunteered for are also important pieces in getting out the vote. But this one issue I found so overwhelming today, and I realized that rides to the polls (most city people just walk anyway) or child care WON"T fix the real reason for their self
disenfranchisement.

[necso]

5. I think that ensuring that there are neighborhood places to vote

is top priority.

The votes lost to "consolidating" polling places, for "economic reasons" might be expected to be considerable.

And of course all polling places have to open and close at set hours. That these be reasonable hours for the working man, however, is too much to ask.

[oasis]

6. At the meeting have refreshments and a respected local person to

relate stories about the struggle for voting rights.

[DebJ]

7. another goodie!

[Kanary]

8. One basic question.... you say you had "impression" of low literacy......

before going further on this, are you really *sure* that's a problem?

I know there are stereotypes of this, but...... what were some of the things that made you think this?

There could be some other reasons for what you saw.

Kanary

[DebJ]

9. Good response. But people could barely read the registration

forms, which are actually very simple. Have you ever watched someone sign there name and realized what an incredibly arduous task it is for them? They did not understand on the address line what the word 'county' meant. We explained that in the block marked 'city', you put in "York".
Also, my husband and his friend are teachers at a middle school. They actually know a lot of these people quite well....my husband has been a teacher at that school for twenty years. Special Ed and Emotional Support teachers at this school actually do home visits, on their own time, to talk to parents about their children. I mean hours and hours and hours every year, knocking on parent's doors, of their own volition. (My heros!)
By the way, my husband just saw a news story that said America ranks 49th out of 150 nations in literacy! No wonder we have Republicans. They can't and don't want to read and learn the facts. And maybe the rest of the world, which excels in literacy, has good reason for not liking W? And W has good reasons for wanting to leave no child behind kindergarden literacy.

[Kanary]

10. I'm not trying to badger you, but I'm not hearing concrete reasons why

you have decided they are illiterate.

You say you know all these teachers, and that is fine, but........ what does that mean?

"They can't and don't want to read and learn the facts."

You see, that's what makes me uneasy, right there. That's judgemental, and quite condescending. It's *your* perception, and doesn't mean it's actually what is the case.

People quite easily pick up on your unspoken biases. I wonder if that is a factor here,

Kanary

[DebJ]

11. no, no, I mean Republicans I have met don't want to read

and learn, and yes, I believe that applies to most Americans in general.

I gotta go. Hubby screaming about cspan. Will check back in, in about 10 hours!

[Zan_of_Texas]

12. coupla things

I observed the thing you are talking about -- low self-esteem preventing political participation. I met a crossing guard, Hispanic woman, sweet as she could be, doing a very good job of keeping the kids on the right bus, out of the street, etc. She had actually met one of the candidates, and knew the candidates' kids, who went to that school. I encouraged her to register, so she could vote for that person who she knew and liked. She sweetly resisted and resisted.

It's a very good question -- rides and all don't answer this particular question. I don't have an answer, but I'm glad you're asking it.

As for the registration process, I'll goes a bit off topic here. Free idea for those registering people in a place with mass transit -- perhaps ON THE BUS is a good place to register people to vote. Buy a day or week or month pass, ride all day (or as long as you have), register people all day. They are a captive audience, can't hurry off. I haven't tried this, so it's just an idea. But, it seems workable, and like it would reach a specific audience.

[H2O Man]

13. The #1 thing for low-income neighborhoods

is going door-to-door, and having personal contact. Get a group of four or more people, divide into smaller groups, and go door-to-door. Low income people have been taught that they do not count, and that their best survival skill is to stay low, well below the radar. The democratic party needs volunteers on the grass roots level to plant the seeds of hope among the poor and disenfranchised within our communities.

When I worked at the local mental health clinic, and it was election season, we would go out in the evenings and on weekends, and register voters. It was a great experience. I was born in the poorest neighborhood in the tri-county area, so I knew most of the poor families on a different level than my co-workers. They found it eye-opening. Most poor families aren't violent, aren't "crazy," aren't stupid. They do care. But they have been taught their options are limited. That their children do not have as many choices as other children. That they are second best, third best, and worse.

Today our country is at a point when the college-aged young people are likely to see a draft. Their class-mates are already killing and dying in Iraq ans Afghanistan. I've heard many of these good young people say they wish they knew what it was like in the 1960s. Well, get out there and register the poor. You'll find out. That was a lot of what the '60s generation did: rather than fight a war that was wrong, they decided to invest their efforts right here, in America.