I see so many people here and at other sites asking “but what can I do?” about the state of politics today.
Here’s something that you can do that won’t cost you much in time, money or effort:
REGISTER TO VOTE.
Here’s another thing that you can do that won’t cost you much more in time, money or effort:
GET OTHERS TO REGISTER TO VOTE.
Here’s something you can do that helps ensure registering others gets them to vote:
GET THEM TO THE POLLS.
We’ll break these down one by one:
Registering to Vote. This is extremely easy for most people, and sites like Vote.org and Rock the Vote are designed to make it that way. These sites have up-to-date information tailored to your state or status, and ways to contact the appropriate state agencies if you need to double-check anything.
Getting Others to Register to Vote. You can do this in two ways:
- By using this thing called “the internet" to share the information on how to register — email, Facebook, Instagram, et cetera, and/or:
- By setting up voter registration drives in your local shopping mall, farmer’s market, high school, college, or anywhere else that you’re looking to find people who should be voting but aren’t.
The American Association of University Women has a webpage dedicated to telling you what you need to do and to know in order to organize a voter registration drive. The League of Women Voters has a similar webpage.
Getting Them to the Polls. This can also be done online as well as in person.
If they’ve got email addresses, Vote.com has a handy reminder service that will send the registered voter occasional reminders. This may be all that some people need.
If voting in person is difficult for various reasons (day jobs, physical accessibility issues, et cetera), see if absentee voting or voting by mail is an option. Vote.org has an absentee ballot page, and so does Rock the Vote. Voting by mail is becoming more popular in various states because it’s both cheaper and has a higher turnout rate than does traditional in-person voting.
And for those who say “but this is all so time-consuming!”: It took me less than an hour to research and write this diary. Instead of engaging in a “march to the margin” argument with someone who won’t listen to you anyway, why not tell your Facebook and Insty besties how to get registered to vote instead? Getting your people to vote is the best way to win any online argument.
That’s all. Go out and enjoy yourself — and you will. :)