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Last night was a major election night and a lot of key decisions were made across the country. It was also an important bellwether for where we stand heading into 2022. Even though it was an "off" year, turnout did not crash the way it usually does. People are fired up and engaged and that is not going to change any time soon. It also hasn't changed for our clients. The last two years have proven that when crisis hits, it hits the most vulnerable first, and hardest. Now more than ever it is critical that our clients and communities have a voice at the polls because the challenges that we are living in now, and the big ones that are coming, are going to affect them first- and then everyone else.
We absolutely cannot hide from how critical it is that every American has a voice in choosing the next Congress, the next governors, the balance of the majority of state houses, and the hundreds of thousands of local offices that rule our lives in powerful ways. We have one year- not long at all- to prepare to get people to the polls in what will be, after this year of massive waves of suppressive voting laws sweeping the nation, one of the most challenging voting environments that we have seen in a long time.
Spread The Vote has been working toward this moment all year. We have expanded to 17 states and will be expanding to even more in early 2022. We'll be hiring field staff in critical states this winter. We are massively expanding our ID partnerships across the country. Our Vote By Mail in Jail program was tested and refined this year so that we can branch out to even more prisons and jails next season. And we will be building on our successful 2020 voter education and turnout programs to get even more voters to the polls.
In 2020 we broke our turnout record, getting our clients from 0% being able to vote without us to 42% turnout. That is massive, and we did it because we work in the same communities with people who live and work in those communities year over year, month after month, consistently. We get IDs, yes, but then we educate our clients and communities about voting, we make voter plans with each person, we get each voter a ride to the polls, we even babysit their children and find ADA accessible transportation. We do whatever it takes. It is hard work but we have found every year that it makes a huge difference in whether or not our clients are actually able to vote. Starting today, we're getting ready to do it again. And we need your help.
If you would like to volunteer, click here. If you or someone you know needs an ID, click here. And if you would like to support our work and make sure that we can continue to obtain thousands of IDs and get our clients to the polls, click here.
Next week our staff takes a mandatory vacation. They deserve a rest after their hard work this year. When they get back, we get to work, and dig in for a big year in which we will do very big things. I hope you're with us.
Thank you as always for your support,
Kat
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