Dear MoveOn member,
I'm Kate Scully, MoveOn's Mobilizations Director. If this were a normal
election year, I would be spending my days coordinating organizers to
recruit and train large groups of MoveOn members like you to volunteer in
campaign offices and knock on doors to help turn out your communities to
vote. But this is nothing like a "normal" election year.
Due to the ongoing threats from the coronavirus pandemic, most traditional
strategies for voter turnout—in-person volunteering, door knocking,
rallies, and more—are all off the table. But as the righteous protests—and
the response from Donald Trump and many Republicans—have shown over the
past few weeks, it is more important than ever that we make our voices
heard and demand change at the ballot box this November.
Luckily, MoveOn was built for this moment. Even before the pandemic forced
most organizations to change their plans, we were already hard at work on
an innovative, digital-focused voter turnout campaign that data shows
could be five times more effective than traditional strategies! Take a
look:
[ [link removed] ][IMG]
On average, MoveOn's monthly donors chip in about $10 a
month. I'll go into the details below, but I need to ask you now.
Can you chip in $10 a month to help us get this
game-changing program off the ground and keep it running in 10 of the most
important swing states to defeat Trump and the GOP in November?
[ [link removed] ]Yes, I'll chip in monthly.
[ [link removed] ]No, I'm sorry, I can't make a monthly donation.
The strategy is called "Vote Tripling." It relies on research that shows
that "social influence"—encouragement and accountability from your family
and friends—is the best way to increase voter turnout, particularly among
voters aged 30 and under. Studies have found that if you know that your
close friends and family are voting and if those people follow up with you
about your plans to vote, you are far more likely to actually cast a
ballot than if you receive a call from a volunteer or even a knock at the
door from a canvasser.^1
To tap into this opportunity, we are recruiting hundreds of thousands of
MoveOn members in critical swing states to sign vote tripling pledges:
commitments to reach out to three friends, help them create plans to vote,
and make sure they cast ballots this fall.
Research shows that voter turnout increased by more than 10% in voters
under 30 who received this type of social influence.^2 To put that in
context: That's five times more effective than phone banking and
canvassing, which increase turnout by about 2%.^3
To make this program a success:
* MoveOn's Analytics Team is creating sophisticated algorithms to
identify "high-potential voters"—young voters, voters of color, voters
who skipped voting in 2016, and new citizens—to help target our Vote
Tripling outreach where it can have the most impact.
* MoveOn's Text Team volunteers are sending millions of individual text
messages to encourage MoveOn members to pledge to remind three friends
to vote.
* MoveOn's Creative Lab is creating powerful digital ads to help spread
the word.
* And our Voter Mobilization Team is hosting virtual rallies to sign up
even more voters to take the pledge!
The potential impact from this campaign is enormous. Remember that Trump
won Michigan by 10,704 votes and Wisconsin by 22,177 votes, so even a
small increase in turnout can make all the difference.^4 But in order to
have the resources to move forward with our plan, we need your help,
John, which is why I'm writing you with a personal request:
Can you chip in $10 a month to help power our Vote Tripling
program to dramatically increase voter turnout on November 3? We need a
consistent flow of resources to keep the program strong from now until
Election Day. (The average gift from a MoveOn monthly donor is about $10
a month, but whatever you can afford will go a long
way.)
[ [link removed] ]Yes, I'll chip in monthly.
[ [link removed] ]No, I'm sorry, I can't make a monthly donation.
Make no mistake: This plan TERRIFIES Donald Trump. He even said so earlier
this year!
Back in March, as Democrats in Congress pushed to protect access to voting
during the pandemic, Trump went on Fox News to rail against increasing
turnout, saying, "They had things [in the bill]—levels of voting that, if
you ever agreed to it, you'd never have a Republican elected in this
country again."^5
Never having a Republican hell-bent on stripping rights away from us,
increasing inequality, denying the deep institutional racism that defines
our nation, and protecting only the ultra rich ever elected in our country
again? Sounds pretty good to me.
Tens of millions of Americans are unemployed due to the pandemic, and I
know not everyone can give right now. But if you are able, every dollar
can make the difference between winning and losing this November.
On average, MoveOn's monthly donors chip in about $10 a
month. Can you chip in $10 a month to help launch
and sustain our data-driven, innovative Vote Tripling program from now
until Election Day?
[ [link removed] ]Yes, I'll chip in monthly.
[ [link removed] ]No, I'm sorry, I can't make a monthly donation.
Thanks for all you do.
–Kate
Sources:
1. "Social Influence & Voter Turnout," VoteTripling.org, May 1, 2019
[link removed]
2. "Wired to mobilize: The effect of social networking messages on voter
turnout," Science Direct, June 2015
[link removed]
3. Ibid
4. "Donald Trump will be president thanks to 80,000 people in three
states," The Washington Post, December 1, 2016
[link removed]
5. "Trump says more than he should've about voter turnout, GOP losses,"
MSNBC, March 31, 2020
[link removed]
Want to support our work? The MoveOn community will work every moment, day
by day and year by year, to resist Trump's agenda, contain the damage,
defeat hate with love, and begin the process of swinging the nation's
pendulum back toward sanity, decency, and the kind of future that we must
never give up on. And to do it we need your ongoing support, now more than
ever. Will you stand with us?
[ [link removed] ]Yes, I'll chip in $5 a month.
[ [link removed] ]No, I'm sorry, I can't make a monthly donation.
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