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Beyond texting: Here are four simple steps you can take today to help Get Out the Vote [1]

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Date: 2022-11-04

It’s door-knocking season. Campaign volunteers are out in force, knocking on millions of doors in a vital effort to get out the vote. They’re texting and calling too, working hard to reach the voters to win close races. It works: Direct engagement like this gets voters to the polls.

But not every voter can be reached this way. In fact, door-knocking misses a lot of eligible voters.

Consider all the voters who don’t have a door in the district. We have to reach them too! Here are four easy ways you can help today, no matter where you are.

GOTV Action Step 1: Confirm that local homeless providers are helping people vote. Volunteer with them.

There’s a housing crisis in this country and many people literally don’t have a door to call their own. Most people experiencing homelessness are eligible to vote, but they don’t cast ballots. (Background here ). What are your local providers doing to help people vote? Find out and lend support to their effort.

GOTV Action Step 2: Check on friends and family who are temporarily away from home. Have they requested an absentee? Returned it? Confirmed it? Think of people campaigns can’t reach but you can. The voter group without a door to knock is even bigger than people dealing with homelessness, though. It also includes millions of people who are away from their voting home in election season. Think of people who are temporarily living or working away from their homes. There are all sorts of reasons someone might not be at their official home address when an election takes place: Life intrudes. When it does, they do not lose their voting rights and states wisely make allowances for absentee balloting. Some states make it hard for people to vote absentee. Some people request an absentee ballot but don’t return it. Who do you know who could use a hand or a reminder? Think of your cousin who works on the road half the time and that friend who is staying with a sick relative out of town. Campaigns likely can’t reach them with texts or door-knocks. Mailers and ads won’t reach them either. You might be the only one who can. Call them. Absentee rules vary by state and it may be too late for some people to vote. Don’t assume that. (Find out here .) Check it out to be sure. Help them get their ballot home if they still can. Confirm that it has been received. And make sure they haven’t tried to vote and been unjustly turned away. For instance, are local voting systems and polling places accessible? (Background here

GOTV Action Step 3: C ontact military families you know today. Ask them their voting plan.

fvap.gov and return it according to their home state’s rules. Who else is not present in their home voting district at election time? Military families. The great majority of active military members are stationed away from their home voting jurisdiction. To vote, they use a special absentee ballot. Wherever they are serving, they can get a ballot and send it home. An enlistee in the Army from North Carolina may be serving in Alaska. An enlistee from Alaska may be serving in North Carolina. They can still vote in their home states. They just need to get an absentee ballot atand return it according to their home state’s rules.

Some may want to vote but not know how. Send them to fvap.gov - It has everything they need.

Make sure they get theirs home on time. For instance, Georgia ballots must be mailed back, postmarked by November 8 and received within three days after the election. Other states have different rules. For instance, North Carolina and other states allow voting by online portal. fvap.gov has the details for every state. Some may have requested an absentee ballot but not returned it.

Military families usually don’t vote in the state where they are serving. So… they won’t be on door-knock lists — even if every other house on their block is! They need to hear from you . A word from a friend may be the only outreach they get.

Military personnel and their family members can vote no matter where they are, in the US or abroad. That enlistee in Alaska can be reassigned to a base in Germany. She can still vote and her vote still goes to North Carolina.

GOTV Action Step 4: C ontact friends abroad. Talk to them about voting.

What about American civilians in Germany? They can vote too. US citizens who are outside the country have voting rights.

If they are US citizens, they can vote. Send them to votefromabroad.org right away. If they aren’t US citizens, they can’t take part in US campaigns or elections… but they can remind their American friends to vote. And a word from a friend is the best GOTV tool there is. Talk to your friends in Canada or Colombia.If they are US citizens, they can vote. Send them toright away. If they aren’t US citizens, they can’t take part in US campaigns or elections… but theycanremind their American friends to vote.

Some Americans abroad don’t know they can vote: students abroad, military families, children born to an American parent abroad. Don’t assume they’ve checked it out. Ask them to! They may be surprised. (The two sites have excellent FAQs and help desks for their specific questions.) In many states, kids born abroad can vote even if they’ve never lived in the US. They may not, though, unless someone asks them to! And now is the time to do it!

Don’t assume it is too late to vote from abroad. For some states and locations, it is. For other states, it is not. (North Carolina and other states make it very easy to vote from abroad, online. Some require a mailed ballot.) Check it out and make sure. And even if it’s too late for your friend to vote, it may not be for their American friends who vote in other states. Get them to get the word to their friends in Vancouver or Valparaiso.

There are over half a million US citizens in Canada alone. Millions more US voters are all over the world, but they are not likely to vote unless they get a reminder. A word from a friend is the most effective GOTV tool, bar none. No matter where a voter is.

There are millions of eligible voters in these groups. They won’t get a door knock from a campaign volunteer. Getting them to vote depends on YOU.

Let’s not wake up on Wednesday falling short by 100 or 1,000 votes in key races. Dig a little deeper now — and reach the voters campaigns may miss.

Let’s wake up happy next Wednesday, knowing we fought hard for every vote and every voter — and WE WON!

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[1] Url: https://www.dailykos.com/stories/2022/11/4/2133667/-Beyond-texting-Here-are-four-simple-steps-you-can-take-today-to-help-Get-Out-the-Vote

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