You are so awesome! Together we have done amazing things! I’ve got a bunch of opportunities for y’all to plug in to impact the 2022 general election below, but first some THANK YOUs!
Thanks to everyone who postcarded at camp and church and your homes and others’ homes over the past few weeks. We are now at well over 3,500 postcards written! AMAZING! Thanks, too, to everyone who’s tabled on Sundays and delivered postcards and offered hospitality, including (but not limited to) Larry, Linda, Teresa, Roberta, Brad, JoAn, Silvia, Vicky, Resa, Amy, and Rebecca.
It’s been lovely to see people hanging out on the patio postcarding during service and watching on their mobile phones!
I just want to give you a heads up about a few things:
- We are on our last 1,000 postcards to write (that’s 50 sheets of 20 names) to mail between October 5 and 25. We’ll have one more postcard party at church on Sunday, October 2, but if you are interested in writing from home, let me know.
- I’m looking for folks interested in registering people to vote at SMC, WLA College, and/or Farmers Markets. Folks can pair up together to go out. The weather’s beautiful!
- Please plan on joining an easy-peasy interfaith online phone banking party to GOTV on LA City’s mega-house transfer tax initiative, Proposition ULA, October 25 or 27 from 5-7 pm!
- Contact me, Jacki Weber, at uusm.org/contact-opportunities-to-serve, specifying UU the Vote.
A quick Good Trouble Congregation update for you:
- 3,700 households reached by postcards! 1,300 postcards mailed for St. Lucie County and 1,400 postcards assigned for Virginia Beach – 3,700 households reached!! Just 1,300 to go. We are now sending GOTV postcards to promote Vote by Mail or Early Voting in Maricopa County (Phoenix, Tempe, etc.) in Arizona.
- 46 UUSMers are engaged in our GOTV efforts! ?? ?
- 25 voters registered – many opportunities for you to join the effort below! ?
- 2 pollworkers enlisted (Joyce and Phyllis) ? ? ?
If you can help spread the word about these activities to the larger congregation or participate in voter registration or phone banking, do reach out! And, of course, I hope you’ll keep on postcarding through our next campaign to ARIZONA!!!
Here are all the October opportunities to GOTV with UUSM:
- Saturday, October 1, 10 am-noon – Register voters at Virginia Avenue Park Farmers Market with Cathie Gentile – RSVP below ↓
- Sunday, October 2, 9:30 am – UU the Vote Planning Party at the church – come if you want to help plan/promote/participate in the final stretch of UUSM’s election season activity! Bagels and cream cheese provide. Bring your own beverage. RSVP below ↓
- Dates TBD – Register voters at Santa Monica College – RSVP below ↓
- Thursday, October 13, 3-5 pm – Postcard Party at Vicky Foxworth’s house in Ladera Heights – RSVP by text to Vicky
- Tuesday, October 25, 5-7 pm on ZOOM – interfaith phone banking party to GOTV on LA City’s mega-house transfer tax initiative, Proposition ULA – RSVP below ↓
- Thursday, October 27, 5-7 pm on ZOOM – interfaith phone banking party to GOTV on LA City’s mega-house transfer tax initiative, Proposition ULA – RSVP below ↓
RSVP HERE - Specify UU the Vote
September: Postcard Parties!
- We sent 1,380 postcards in just a few weeks to St. Lucie as part of the GOTV effort for the FL primary.
- We’re now 45 strong on the UU the Vote Team at UUSM. And we even have friends in far places (Hi Rita de Boer and Karen Patch!) joining the fun.
- We’re on target to reach our goal of 5,000 postcards sent by November.
- Our next milestone will be to complete 1,400 postcards by mid-September to promote early voting in Virginia Beach City, VA. The first day of in-person early voting in Virgina for the November 2022 General Election is Friday, September 23. Again, we’re working with Reclaim Our Vote and focusing on infrequent Black voters and voting rights, along with other issues of particular importance there.
- We’ve also decided to try to register 500 voters at SMC and West LA College. We’re doing research this month and will craft a plan at our September 4 meeting.
- Postcard Parties are Awesome! Contact UUSM UU the Vote for a list of September parties!
August: Have You Completed Your Cards? Read on!
- If you’ve already sent your postcards, that’s great. If you haven’t, you can mail anytime between now and Monday!
- Please make sure you mail no later than 8/8/22 so they land in time
- Did you mark your addresses complete? Scan the QR code on your sheet of names to let Reclaim Our Vote know you’ve sent postcards to those people.
- If you want to help CRUSH our goal of 1,500 postcards mailed, we have just a few pages of 20 names unassigned.
- Take a look the PDF below to see the difference that postcarding makes, from our friends at the Center for Common Ground’s Reclaim Our Vote project!
Together we have already committed to 1,380 postcards to St. Lucie County, FL voters. THAT IS SO RAD!!! With our UU friends and others, we will have actually reached out to over half of the infrequent voter electorate in that county. YOU ARE MAKING A DIFFERENCE!
Upcoming National Action Huddle: Join the UU the Vote “Power to the People Volunteer Action Huddle” on Sunday, August 28, 4pm ET/3pm CT/2pm MT/1pm PT. This is a national multi-issue volunteer event where you will have the opportunity to find a volunteer role or join a team to help bring our values to the 2022 elections and beyond.
About UUSM UU the Vote:
We are the UUSM contingent of the “UU the Vote” – an initiative of the Unitarian Universalist Association (info at www.uuthevote.org) We are working together to address participation in our democracy in a values-driven nonpartisan way.
We are working to pass pro-democracy bills, take action to support voting and combat voter suppression, and work towards the elimination of barriers to building political power in marginalized communities.
This is a plug-and-play program. We’re providing the organizing muscle: the opportunities, the lists, the materials, even the stamps for postcard writing!
Overall Priorities:
Generally speaking, we are mobilizing to promote democratic participation. Especially in Arizona, Georgia, Pennsylvania, Michigan, Texas, Wisconsin, and Florida. We are also responding to specific requests to support the For the People Act, John Lewis Voting Rights Act, and DC Statehood.
Dollars and Cents:
There is no cost to participate in this program! We are accepting donations to cover postage, materials, and organizing efforts. Make checks payable to Unitarian Universalist Community Church of Santa Monica and put UU the Vote in the memo line. You can also drop cash in a donation box at our Sunday table, and you can go online to uusm.org/donate, click on the UUSM ONLINE DONATION PAGE button, and enter an amount in the OTHER line, noting UU the Vote.
Save the Date:
- UUSM UU the Vote Team Update Meeting: October 2 – 9:30 am
- UUSM UU the Vote Team Update Meeting: November 6 – 9:30 am
- National UU the Vote Day of Action: November 7
- Post Election Day Huddle: Wednesday, November 9
- UUSM UU the Vote Team Celebration: November 13 – 9:30 am
For More Info:
- Join the UU the Vote Organizing Team or get letter writing materials – Contact Coordinator Jacki Weber, selecting UU the Vote
- Host a Postcard Party – Judith Martin-Straw
- Pick up materials in your area:
- Santa Monica – JackI Weber
- Culver City – Judith Martin-Straw
