Kids Holding Up a Mirror to Voters

My 15-year-old daughter organized her first election event this year. This was the first in-person, public action of her Sunrise Movement hub, made up of both middle school and high school students from a few different local schools. Knowing that most of her team would be nervous about a confrontational protest event, she wanted to do something uplifting to help the team - and their parents - feel comfortable with the action.

Get Out the Vote

The plan was to have excited students waving from public sidewalks of a busy local intersection holding signs encouraging people to vote on the Saturday BEFORE Election Day. The messages were intentionally nonpartisan. Examples of their signs said: “Vote,” “Your Vote Counts,” “Vote for Our Future,” “Your Vote Matters,” and “Our Voices Count.” They wanted to energize citizens to feel empowered, and urge voters to get out to the polls.

What Do You See?

As I observed the event, I noticed a curious phenomenon. Unlike a political campaign action where the public would react to a specific candidate or policies, the neutral “Vote” message from kids obviously too young to vote was like an ink-blot test for motorists. Most people would just honk or wave in support of the students. That was what I expected.

However, a fair amount of people who rolled down their windows to shout a passing message or to converse during a red light seemed to assume that the kids were out there to support THEIR presidential candidate. “Thanks for being out here for Biden” or “Yeah! Alright! Trump 2020!” were common responses. Both Trump AND Biden supporters (identified by their bumper stickers) said, “Yes! We need to count all the votes to make sure he wins." Most people clearly seemed to identify positively with the message, but lots of people were clearly interpreting the message in very different - and sometimes highly partisan - ways.

Then, there was the subset of people who gave thumbs down along with angry faces. The sign-holders on my side of the street counted 15 of those during the two hour event, and it sounds like there were about the same amount on the other side. A dad keeping an eye on his sign-holding daughters wondered aloud, “What does that even say about you as a person if you’re against kids encouraging you to vote?" Admittedly, there are definitely indigenous people in the U.S. who feel disenfranchised on their own land...like they shouldn’t have to vote for a country that doesn’t recognize their rights or sovereignty. But, I’m pretty sure that wasn't the motivation for that negative behavior in the upper-middle class, largely white suburb of St. Louis we were standing in.

It seems to me like our kids were essentially holding up a giant mirror to the passers-by. Every driver saw what they brought with them to the moment and reacted accordingly.

Three days past election day, we've seen plenty of that ugly reflection of Americans who are not interested in fair elections as they demanded the counting of votes to stop in states where the rules clearly allow our military, absentee voters, and others to legally have their votes included.

As a volunteer advocate who works with Congress year round, I believe strongly that every voice should matter. I worked for the past months endlessly explaining to Missouri voters how to navigate our complex absetee and mail-in ballot rules (those two types of ballots are different in our state). Yet I still belatedly heard from a voter who had a ballot rejected because he was confused about our notary signature requirement to vote while at college out of state.

What Comes Next?

Post-election, those who fight for the rights of people every day will have plenty of work to do. Our values do not change. No matter who lives in the White House, our voting laws still make it harder for some to vote than others. Votes are still suppressed. Racism still plays a role in housing, criminal justice, health care, and a host of other policies that we can continue to improve bit by bit every day.

This poignant image shared by artist Angie King publicly on her facebook page on Election Eay beautifully describes how I've been feeling about Election 2020. The results of any election only tell me who I will be working with...not what I will be working on.

Moms Can Model Patience in 2020

Are you feeling as anxious as this leftover
Halloween pumpkin on my porch?

It’s the day after Election Day 2020 and you could say I’m a tad on edge. If you’re an American who follows news, I bet you are, too, as we wait for votes to be counted state by state. We knew we wouldn’t have a clear presidential winner. We KNEW a record number of mail-in votes would take days to count. 

And yet we still are experiencing a nationwide anxiety attack. We need to make sure that doesn’t devolve into a nationwide panic attack.

Let’s talk, moms, because our presidential election results might take days if we’re just waiting for counting or weeks if it goes into court battles.

Moms Can Model Patience

We’re gonna need some national patience and mothers can be an excellent source of it. Patience is a virtue mothers that mothers are supposed to teach to our children. Today, we should model that behavior for them, for those around us, and for ourselves. Uncertainty is scary, for sure. We are entitled to have worry and a host of negative feelings. Don’t bury your concern to hide it from your children, though. They should see genuine feelings from a parent. Instead, show them healthy ways to deal with uncertainty.

But how to we muster up the correct mindset to model patience if we’re not feeling it so much ourselves? It's difficult to be tell others to calmly wait for all the votes to be counted when you feel like burning all your relationships by yelling at people in all caps on social media all day! Well, I try to take the same advice I so freely give to my teens when they feel anxious about anything from exams to friendships.

Focus on the Positive

Focusing on positive outcomes from last night helps me keep an even keel. Look beyond the presidential headlines. See where you can find hope and inspiration in your local elections or other states. These are a few not-so-publicized items that lifted my spirits this morning:

Congressoman-elect Cori Bush

Cori Bush will represent Missouri’s 1st District 

Missouri will send its first Black female U.S. Representative to Washington D.C. She’s a mom, a nurse, a supporter of the Green New Deal, an activist for #BlackLivesMatter. She has also experienced homelessness with her husband and two young children. As an advocate on issues of poverty and health (and the mom of two climate activists), I look forward to working with a representative with these fresh perspectives for our state.

New Mexico Delegation of Color 

New Mexico will be the first state to elect all women of color to the U.S. House of Representatives. Congresswoman Deb Haaland, a Native American woman and a Democrat, kept her seat. Republican Yvette Herrell, a member of the Cherokee Nation, won the 2nd Congressional District. Democrat Teresa Leger Fernandez won the 3rd Congressional seat.

A nice flower now represents the
great state of Mississippi

Mississippi's State Flag

Mississippians adopted a new state flag after flying a Confederate emblem for 126 years. People might continue debating park statues and history, but a new era of voters decided that a symbol of oppression has no place flying outside a Capitol building representing all citizens. Symbols have power. I believe this is a step on the way to the laws INSIDE the Capitol representing citizens of color.

Senator-elect Mark Kelly

This one is getting a lot of coverage, but as a lifelong NASA fan and current Space Camp mom, I’m extremely excited about it. Astronauts have a unique global and pro-science perspective that few of us will ever know. I especially think this is true of Mark Kelly whose twin brother spent a whole year on the International Space Station. In addition, I’m relieved he’ll be a voice of reason in the Senate on gun policies since his wife, former Congresswoman Gabby Giffords is a gun violence survivor.

Hack into Your Hormones

Get yourself into healthy de-stressing actions. My high school friend (who is also a therapist) shared this useful chart. Careful with that suggestion of eating dark chocolate to release dopamine and endorphin. I think a lot of us ate our feelings last night, so maybe give some others a try for the sake of variety!

You Can Do More Than Just Vote

This week, a Twitter friend of mine summed up what a lot of Americans are thinking today. "I need a drink. I wish I could do something for my country besides vote." 

After all the hoopla and lead-up to voting, it can be anti-climactic to cast it and then just stew in our own anxiety. Is that all we can do?

No. 

Even if you only have a spare hour, even if you can't leave your home, even though we only have a few days left in the election, you can STILL get to work multiplying your influence! Some people call it vote-tripling to call three other people to get them to vote for your candidates, but your influence can be even bigger than three! Call up friends or strangers and help them cast their ballot, vote for your candidate, or - if they've already done those things - volunteer for your candidate!

Help someone vote

Call whoever you can think of to see if they need help with the logistics of voting or decisions about candidates and local referendums. 

Voting can be tricky in 2020. Many polling places have been moved, so they can handle the distancing needed for COVID-19 safety. Some voters will go to the wrong location out of habit. I emailed all my neighbors to make sure they all knew about our change. I also asked our old polling place to update their sign with the new polling location and the www.vote.org website where people could find more voting details.

I'm also reaching out to encourage people to vote early to avoid trouble on Election Day that we can't predict. Just in the last week I've had one friend hospitalized for pneumonia, one hit by a car, and another friend whose family contracted COVID-19. This week, in Mississippi and Louisiana, hurricane Zeta flooded and knocked out power to 2.1 million people. We never know what crises are around the corner.

I was relieved to hear my senior neighbors finally decided to vote early, which Missouri allows without an excuse for those over 64. But they needed a little help figuring out the details of absentee voting. I'm glad I could help with that! Unfortunately, they tried to vote this morning and turned back when over 100 people were in line. They turned away again in the afternoon when the line was even longer. Hopefully, they will be able to vote tomorrow morning. The lines will be even longer on Election Day with frustrated tempers flaring high, so do all you can to help people vote early if they can. 

Phonebank for your local candidates

If you have powerful reasons you want them to win, share 'em! It's no secret I prefer not to phone bank, but my preferences don't mean diddly squat when I think of children separated from parents at the U.S. border or the abysmally lax gun laws in my state. Phone banking is safe and effective. It's also the ONLY way you can reach voters in a different state at this late date! And a week before the election, you might get some great surprise zoom guests - like your candidate and sitting members of Congress - firing you up!

There's me in the upper left listening to candidate Jill
Schupp and guest speaker Rep. Adam Schiff answer my
question about the importance of global health aid.

Even though you'll get a lot of hangups and people who don't want to talk, I usually find a couple of people who make it all worthwhile. 

Last night, I talked to a mom who had decided on her governor and presidential choices, but didn't know much about our down ballot state candidates. She has two pre-teen daughters a little younger than mine, she cares about gun violence and reproductive rights. She was thrilled to know she had FOUR women to vote who shared her values! Honestly, she just sounded like a less-engaged version of myself. I helped her streamline her research and decisions.

For local candidates, go to your preferred candidate's website and they will probably have a sign up there. Local orgs like Moms Demand Action chapters have lists of campaign activities for local candidates. You might meet some cool people who care about your issues who will be your allies after the election.

I met other Moms Demand Action volunteers on this Halloween-themed costume phone bank.

Influence other states by text or phone

MomsRising.org is asking for even just 20 minutes or more of your time to help text out the vote. They are working to reach 15 million low frequency mom voters to get them the information they need to vote, so every volunteer moment is a BIG help. Many busy moms don't have the info they need to find out when and where to vote, so you can be a great assistance to them using the resources of MomsRising.

People can even do this in line WHILE they are waiting to vote! 

Wisconsin Dems - the org behind the livestream Princess Bride and Rocky Horror Picture Show fundraiser events - are really pouring it on for Biden/Harris and would welcome your help. You can sign up here. They will train you to talk to Wisconsin voters in their very important swing state.

If you want in on that Rocky Horror action live with Tim Curry and Susan Sarandon, you can make a donation and join them Halloween night!

Have you heard that Texas may be turning purple? On the chance that they could turn that big state blue with its 38 electoral votes, out of staters are taking that chance to win with Dance and Dial phone bank events. Each begins with a training and ends with a dance party! 

Take a walk and do a "literature drop"

Dropping literature means walking door to door to houses putting campaign door hangers or other brochures on doors. You'll get a map and a stack of literature from the campaign office. You walk around a neighborhood wearing a mask and put the info on doors. That's it! 

I like this because it's safe from COVID-19 and I don't have to talk to anyone. The closest I ever got to anyone while doing literature drops was calling out to people doing yard work from a distance to ask, "May I hang this on your door?" They always just gave me a thumbs up or waved me towards their door. 

If you live in the St. Louis area and have even a free hour to do this (the weather looks to be beautiful), there is a literature drop for Missouri democrats on Saturday Oct 31-Monday Nov 2. You can sign up here.

Worried about doing this on your own. Bring a friend! This week I invited my friend along who had never done this work before, but is feeling very anxious about the election. Having a nice fall walk with a friend is healthier than sitting at home and worrying. She liked it so much that she's coming out with me again tomorrow!