BTRTN: What You Can Do TODAY to Help Defeat Trump in November

Tom says there is no need to wait until Labor Day to help the Democrats win in November.

This is the game plan that Democrats across the country must follow to consign Donald Trump to the junk heap of history this coming November 3rd:

1)     Find the best candidate, the one most likely to defeat Trump in the general election

2)     Unify behind the eventual nominee, whoever that is

3)     Work for that nominee -- as passionately as if the nominee had been your first choice candidate – to get out the vote

4)     Contribute financially to the nominee’s campaign if you can

5)     Vote!!!

Many of you are focused on Step 1, and are working hard for your candidate.  That’s great.

But we can all do something today that will benefit the Democratic nominee, no matter who it is.

And that is:  you can help register Democratic voters in swing states.  In such an emotional election, when most minds are made up along partisan lines, the absolute key is turnout:  getting out the vote.  And that means registering every possible Democratic voter we can.

Swing Left offers an excellent platform for registering voters.  Please focus on the following 15 swing states:  Arizona, Colorado, Florida, Georgia, Iowa, Maine, Michigan, Minnesota, Nevada, New Hampshire, North Carolina, Pennsylvania, Texas, Wisconsin and Virginia.  These states all had single digit margins in the 2016 presidential election.  If you want to throw Oregon (Hillary Clinton won it by 11 percentage points) or Ohio (which Trump won by 11) in there, fine.

If we had to pick just a few that will be crucial to beating Trump, go for Florida, Michigan, Pennsylvania and Wisconsin.  

And among the presidential swing states, there are also "flippable" GOP Senate seats in Arizona, Colorado, Georgia, Maine and North Carolina.

If you live in one of these swing states, here is a link that help you to register voters in person: 

https://swingleft.org/p/voter-registration-guide

If you DON’T live in one of these swings states (like me), Swing Left has conducted studies that demonstrate that registering voters by mail is effective.  They have created a tool that enables you to write a short letter to unregistered voters that includes a voter registration form. 

https://votefwd.org/swingleft

When you go to these sites, be patient.  You have to register first, and the process for getting started takes a little time.  Once you get used to it, it goes quickly.

Many of us are committed to working hard for our Democratic candidate in the 2020 election, whoever it may be.  Come Labor Day and up to Election Day, we will be phone banking, canvassing, donating and doing whatever we can to beat Trump.

But we don’t have to wait until then.  We can start right now!

And if you have other “act now” ideas, pass them on to us at BTRTN!

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And as a post-script, this from Wendy on her letter-writing experience:

Only way to combat a feeling of helplessness and hopelessness is to get in the fray.  First step, get people registered, next up, get out the vote.  Yesterday I wrote letters to unregistered Pennsylvanians using the Swing Left tool.  The info I sent included a brief cover note about the importance of voting as well as instructions and forms for registering; the recipient can mail it off postage-free (postage is covered by Swing Left's partner, Vote Forward).  The software is user friendly, took about two minutes per address to complete.  Voting happens one person at a time, and I'm hopeful that because I spent a half hour on this today, Pennsylvania will have a few more registered Democrats.  As my own private little protest, I'm considering doing a packet of five letters every time there's an inane tweet -- but then again, there may not be enough hours in the day for that.