Hindsight is 2020: Election Action for Students

Hey, I'm back!

Sorry about the hiatus from blog posts, and please forgive me for this one's title. Now that my term paper for U.S. History is submitted and I've taken a few days to recover from the election phonebanking frenzy, I finally got a spare moment to write something.

The day after Trump was elected in 2016, a classmate came up to me at school nearly in tears and said "Yara, what are we gonna do now..." I remember being shocked and upset myself, and shakily responding, "We have so much work to do."

And when I stumbled sleepily into the kitchen on Saturday morning in pajamas, the conversation went something like this:

Parents: *cheering*

Me: Did they call it?

Parents: Yup.

Me: Biden?

Parents, laughing: Yup.

Me: Okay, I can work with that.

The answer is the same, no matter who's in power. We continue to organize and fight for everyone's rights and dignity.

I have to say, I'm really excited that my generation defeated Donald Trump. I feel so relieved that there's going to be a qualified task force tackling COVID-19, we won't have to scramble year after year to protect global health funding, we now have a fighting chance to pass meaningful legislation on climate and racial justice, and so much more... it just feels a lot easier to be a young Jewish woman and easier to be an advocate today than it did last week, even though I know nothing magically changed overnight. That's just how I feel right now, personally.

Here's the thing: voting is not enough to save us. Filling out a form once a year (or every few years) is the bare minimum of participation/influence citizens can have to steer the government, especially when systems like the Electoral College and tactics like gerrymandering are around. As kids and teens who are too young to vote, we know this very well. And all the emphasis on get-out-the-vote tends to overshadow much-needed discussions about disenfranchisement, voter suppression, and settler colonialism.

Artwork by Nicole Manganelli

That said, voting can be a really helpful tool by changing the circumstances of our advocacy, especially by choosing who's in the White House or the office you're going to be lobbying, and voting can even directly pass policies in state constitutions like Nevada voters just did for marriage equality! Electoral organizing is also a great opportunity to build and strengthen relationships with lawmakers who can be your partners. Groups like the Sunrise Movement were able to show this year that the Green New Deal and Medicare for All are winning strategies because supporters of those policies have the backing of mass movements. In the future, maybe even more members of Congress will embrace that.

Voting isn't everything, but engaging in electoral organizing is worth doing for many reasons. We know this going into an election, we know this while the campaigns are going on, and we keep this in mind as the results come in. We get ready to hit the ground running when the dust settles.

So, this post is going to ease back into the how-to advocacy blogging because I wasn't sure what to write until we had a clearer picture of what we're dealing with after the U.S. presidential election. Now that we do, I want to celebrate and review some of the actions young people took to get involved with elections this year. With the runoff elections in Georgia still ahead, several of these opportunities are still open to remote volunteers across the country until January!

(These are in no particular order, by the way!)

1. Postcards

My local Sunrise Movement hub wrote 1500 postcards to young BIPOC (Black, indigenous, and/or people of color) voters in Detroit, MI. In total, Sunrise delivered 778,000 postcards to swing states! These postcards included a handy pledge-to-vote website that walks people through all the relevant voting information they need, and the designs are gorgeous. Selfishly, I kind of wish I got to keep some of them. I especially loved the postcard parties over Zoom where we got to write together while watching Knock Down the House or listening to music.

2. Phone-banking/text-banking

You know I wrote about phone-banking a LOT already. It took up almost all of my time in the last few weeks of the general election. So, I'm just going to celebrate that Sunrise made 385,000 dials for the presidential election and well over a million for our down-ballot races (OMG!!) and share some quick memories:

The last swing state phonebank I facilitated on Election Day, when we called young voters in Texas, we had about 300 people in one Zoom! It blew me away to see so many people excited about making a difference any way they can.
I did West Virginia phonebanks every Sunday in October, and it was a lot of fun to work with that facilitation team from Sunrise as well as the incredible people from the Paula Jean Swearengin for Senate and Cathy Kunkel for Congress campaigns! We worked well together, even when we were all super sleep-deprived and giggly.

What's text-banking? It's just like phone-banking, but we reach voters over text instead! I know a lot of people my age who are way more comfortable with text than actually calling people, so if phone-banking is too much this is a great alternative!

Sometimes when I'd wake up in the morning terrified about the election, it helped calm me down to grab my phone and start sending out texts with Students Demand Action. By the time my first class of the day started, I could finish about 600 texts!

3. Relational organizing

That sounds fancy. What is it?
Well, it really just means harnessing your personal relationships to enact change in the community. We talk about this a lot because calling, texting, and writing to random people can feel really impersonal. It's much more effective to reach out to people we already have connections with!
As part of "Victory Fest", the Sunrise Movement's 6-day voter contact extravaganza leading up to Election Day, we had daily Friend 2 Friend Victory Parties where Sunrisers from all over the country could get trained up in relational organizing and spend a couple hours reaching out to friends.
What if I don't have a big social network? You probably know more people than you think you do!
What if it's awkward? I really feel that one. You just have to think about, personally, how much the awkwardness is outweighed by what's at stake in the election.
What if everyone already has a plan to vote, or is too young? That's great! You can remind people to triple their impact by reaching out to three more of their friends, and if they seem especially excited you can ask them to volunteer with you!

4. Volunteer with an organization

This can include phone calls, texts, canvassing, and postcards, of course, but I specifically wanted to highlight the idea that you don't have to stick to just one or two individual campaigns!
Hood to the Holler and Fair Fight (founded by Charles Booker and Stacey Abrams, respectively, both of them amazing Black leaders who narrowly lost high-profile races due to voter suppression and then turned around to make an even bigger impact) are two examples of organizations that do meaningful get-out-the-vote action and take the movement beyond a campaign season.
I really recommend finding an issue-based organization to take action with, so it's not just an individual candidate but the cause that you're passionate about. If you find a group that makes you feel empowered and supported during the elections, then you already have a place to keep taking action once it's over, whether they're turning to protests, legislation, or something else.

5. Local down-ballot opportunities

My mom and I did several "literature drops" for the candidates we liked for state representative and state senator. We would walk around a neighborhood with a map, placing door hangings.
One time, somebody actually opened the door, much to my surprise. They wanted to know which candidate I was volunteering for, and we had a nice conversation about COVID-19 and the importance of supporting our public schools... I didn't get a definite "yes' because they still wanted to do their research, which I respect, but a friendly interaction with a potential voter always feels like a win to me!
I even got to help set up signs for local candidates outside the polls the night before Election Day- it felt rather clandestine and exciting, except that some of the signs were giving us trouble! Plus, it's always good to practice driving at night before I take the test to get my license- something I've been putting off for months due to election advocacy.

Down-ballot races at the state level (and even more local, like county executive and school board) are really important! These are the folks who have power over mask mandates, reproductive rights, anti-racism education in schools, and so much more.

Super exciting state senate race: Sarah McBride is the first transgender person elected to state senate in U.S. history!
Super exciting state House race: Mauree Turner is the first openly nonbinary person elected to a state legislature in the U.S. and Oklahoma's first Muslim legislator!

6. Be a poll worker

My parents didn't let me do this particular activity, but a couple of my friends were safety coordinators at nearby polling places on Election Day. Depending on your area, you might be able to work or volunteer at the polls as a high school student. It was especially important this year because of the shortage of poll workers due to the COVID-19 pandemic, and in future years even without a pandemic it's a great way for teens to get involved!

So, whatever you did to make a difference this year, I thank you for it. Drink some water, take a nap, and be proud of yourself because you're amazing. If there's something on this list you didn't get a chance to try, the opportunity will come around in another cycle and you'll be ready!

Now, let's get ready for the next steps because we're just getting started. It's time to make some real, positive, systemic change.