Dear MoveOn member,
I'm Kelly Sawyers, MoveOn's Director of Email Fundraising. You've probably
received a lot of emails in the past that my team and I have worked on,
but this is the first time I am emailing you myself—because I want to
share my experience as a battleground-state voter in North Carolina.
On Saturday, I checked my mailbox, and like many of my fellow North
Carolinians, inside I found my ballot for the 2020 general election. It
was an emotional moment, realizing that after four years of fighting and
resisting, I had the most powerful weapon to defeat Trump and end GOP
control of the Senate in my hands: a ballot.
But it was also nerve-wracking, because correctly completing my ballot and
ensuring that it is counted is complicated, and I know that millions of
other voters across the country—many of whom are voting by mail for the
first time this year—are experiencing the same anxiety.
Luckily, my colleagues at MoveOn are here to help!
I've seen firsthand as a small but mighty group of my fellow MoveOn
staffers have worked around the clock to make sure that swing-state voters
like me, who together will form the critical mass that will defeat Trump,
are so focused and driven to inspire and mobilize young voters, first-time
voters, voters of color, and others all across battleground states and
help provide us all of the information we need to safely cast our ballots.
And as the person who helps build our budgets and plan our fundraising
efforts, I know how much it costs to take these programs from ideas into
reality. That's why I am personally reaching out today to ask: Will you to
chip in $3 a week and help fuel MoveOn's efforts to help battleground
state voters like me? This could be the difference between winning and
losing in just 56 days. (MoveOn will bill your weekly donation to your
credit card once a month starting today and will contact you shortly after
the election to see if you want to modify or cancel your weekly donation.)
[ [link removed] ]Count me in.
[ [link removed] ]No, I'm sorry, I can't chip in weekly.
I have to be honest with you: Even as a person who considers herself
well-versed in politics and the process of voting, reading the
instructions for my mail-in ballot took me by surprise. The instructions
were four pages long—my ballot itself is just a single page!—and include a
lot of complex legal jargon that could easily confuse or intimidate a
voter out of participating in the election. That's where MoveOn comes in.
Here is what my colleagues have up their sleeves to make sure that my
fellow swing staters and I have what we need to win:
* Using sophisticated analytics to identify and reach out to millions of
"high-potential voters" across the 17 most important presidential and
senate battleground states. Our analytics team has identified 7
million people who likely voted for the Democrats in 2012 but didn't
vote in 2016, who became citizens or reached voting age after the 2016
elections, and other voters who tend to be progressive but are often
ignored by the Establishment, and we are using highly targeted
messaging, videos, and ads to inspire them to register and vote. If
just 100,000 of these voters decide to cast a ballot, it could tip the
election to Joe Biden and Kamala Harris.
* Creating explanatory videos to help swing-state voters successfully
complete their mail-in ballots. Frustratingly, each state has
different rules to fill out and return mail-in ballots, and tiny
mistakes can cause ballots to be disqualified. To help give voters the
information they need, our Creative Lab is creating videos for each
battleground state that clearly explain what you need to know to fill
out your ballot and make sure it's counted. And then our Analytics
Team is targeting those videos as ads to high-potential voters, so the
people who need to see them do actually see them.
* Recruiting poll workers in targeted states. Although many of us will
be voting by mail in this election, voting in person is an essential
option and needs to run smoothly with new changes to account for the
pandemic. But since most poll workers are traditionally older
Americans at higher risk from the coronavirus, ensuring that there are
enough poll workers to keep polls up and running is critical. Our team
is reaching out to younger MoveOn members who can help run polling
places on Election Day and ensure that every single vote is counted.
* Personally following up with voters who receive mail-in ballots to
make sure they return them. A study after the 2008 election found that
nearly 25% of mail-in ballots were not returned, so MoveOn is doing
everything to ensure that everyone who receives a ballot not only
returns it, but returns it early.^1 MoveOn volunteers are gearing up
to reach out to voters—starting in my home state of North Carolina!—to
make sure that everyone returns their ballots as quickly as possible.
It will cost $500,000 per week to run these programs between now and
Election Day. And that money really does come directly from members like
you, John. Believe me, I'm the one who watches it happen!
Can you chip in $3 a week and help us meet that goal and ensure that
battleground-state voters turnout in huge numbers to send Trump and the
GOP packing? (MoveOn will bill your weekly donation to your credit card
once a month starting today and will contact you shortly after the
election to see if you want to modify or cancel your weekly donation.)
[ [link removed] ]Count me in.
[ [link removed] ]No, I'm sorry, I can't chip in weekly.
Looking down at my 2020 ballot, I was reminded how I felt casting my
ballot four years ago.
I had an almost giddy sense back then that Trump would lose in a landslide
and our country would move forward from the joke of his candidacy—making
it no more than a footnote in history.
I could not have been more wrong.
This time around, I feel the full, life-or-death weight of casting my
vote.
Will we save our democracy or give a wannabe dictator four more years to
destroy it?
Will we allow a party that only cares about its wealthy donors and special
interests to keep controlling the laws we pass and the judges we appoint,
or will we finally break that malicious logjam?
Will we put someone in office who will listen to the experts on the
pandemic, or someone who spends his time tweeting and golfing while nearly
200,000 people die?
The choice is up to us.
I know that MoveOn can help make sure that we all make the right one, but
only with your help. Please, will you chip in $3 week? (MoveOn will bill
your weekly donation to your credit card once a month starting today and
will contact you shortly after the election to see if you want to modify
or cancel your weekly donation.)
[ [link removed] ]Count me in.
[ [link removed] ]No, I'm sorry, I can't chip in weekly.
Thanks for all you do.
–Kelly Sawyers
Source:
1. "Whose absentee votes are returned and counted: The variety and use of
absentee ballots in California," Elsevier, 2008
[link removed]
Want to support our work? As Senator Kamala Harris says “I believe that
MoveOn is needed more than ever. MoveOn and its members are always there
fighting on the front lines. And, in these especially tough times, when
what we do really counts, I am heartened to know that.” To defeat Trump,
elect Joe Biden and Kamala Harris, and flip the Senate, we all need to do
our part.
Will you chip in $3 a week to help MoveOn combat right-wing lies, make
sure every vote is counted, and win this election? (MoveOn will bill your
weekly donation to your credit card once a month starting today and will
contact you shortly after the election to see if you want to modify or
cancel your weekly donation.)
[ [link removed] ]Count me in.
[ [link removed] ]No, I'm sorry, I can't chip in weekly.
--------------------------------------------------------------------------
PAID FOR BY MOVEON.ORG POLITICAL ACTION,
[ [link removed] ][link removed]?. Not authorized by any candidate or
candidate's committee.
You can unsubscribe from this mailing list at any time:
[link removed]
