🧢 Grab a friend and start canvassing!
Now is the Time
Thanks to everyone who participated in our July IMV meeting! We exchanged a lot of information andi ideas for direct voter contact, community building, and messaging in the coming months. And we missed you if you were unable to attend.
We know that there's a lot of stressful news out there, and so much of it is beyond our control. As a political action community we focus on the things we can influence through our actions, and that includes electing Democrats to represent us in Congress and in Albany. We don't decide who is the nominee for President or what SCOTUS says in their decisions, but we do have the ability to talk with our fellow local voters about the stakes of this election --why we need to pass the NY ERA ballot initiative and candidates who share our values.
Now is the time:
1) to set your personal goals for activism and voter contact,
2) to reserve the time in your calendar in the coming weeks and months, and
3) to start showing up for canvass shifts, postcard parties, and public facing messaging.
Nov. 5th will come faster than we think. Not one of us wants to look back and wish we had done more to protect out freedoms and our democracy. We want to say we were part of saving our democracy and creating a more progressive and inclusive future, and we started early enough in efforts to make a real difference together. So.....
To Canvass!
Jon Lipe introduced our new NYS Democratic Field Organizer,, Dylan DePaul, and talked at our meeting about canvassing for Democrats. There are weekend shifts available Saturdays and Sundays, and weekday shifts scheduled for Tuesdays, Wednesdays, and Thursdays starting now and continuing through August. Some of the shifts include pizza! Just sign up and then show up! Each canvass shift starts with the training you need to feel comfortable going out. If you want to go out at different times you can stop by the office at the Democratic headquarters --238 Genesee Street in Utica-- to pick up materials.
What happens when you canvass?
You listen to voters and connect with their concerns
You identify and code the voters who are key to Democratic turnout in October and November
You help the voters understand how to vote for Democrats up and down the ballot using our slate card, first developed back in 2022
You provide voters with information about early voting, voting by mail, and voting dates and locations.
You can register voters in the household who are not currently registered or update their registration status.
Face to face conversations at doors --that's the number one more important way to impact election results. Be sure you sign up today. We hope that IMV activists will volunteer for a weekend and a weekday shift each week.
Sign up for Weekends: https://www.mobilize.us/nysdems/event/642780/
Sign up for Weekdays:https://events.democrats.org/event/642762/
Start with 10 of Your Own Neighbors
Recently, Indivisible rolled out a well tested and proven tool for talking with voters that is even more effective than regular canvassing because you do it in your own neighborhood. The program is called Neighbor to Neighbor and while it is not available everywhere in the US, it is available across New York because our state is so important when it comes to flipping the House this fall.
As some of our IMV members can tell you, it is easy to sign up, and easy to do. It's just 10 doors! And you won't be talking to MAGA Republicans. You'll be assigned Democrats in your neighborhood who have been unreliable voters. Talking to them draws them into the process in this critical voting cycle and gives them a connection to why voting matters to their own neighbors--including you!
There are materials to hand the voters and to leave at the door if you miss them. You can print them out, or we have copies already printed. Just email IndivisibleMV@gmail.com if you want us to provide the printed materials to you. Sign up right now and get started on your 10 targeted neighbors. Those conversations will also just build your own local neighborhood network. And that is how local community is made and nurtured!
P.S. We are planning one or more ice cream parties to celebrate our N2N efforts. Stay tuned!
Share Effective Messages
At our recent IMV meeting we talked about effective messaging and especially how to spread the great social media ads that are produced by Way to Win Action Fund. Our favorites in recent months are The Condom Ad, Doomscroll (AKA Buck the F* Up), and Superhuman. Bu there are so many others to view and share on your social media accounts or to u to family and friends! The best way to share the ads is from our IMV Facebook page, where we include the messages and tags that best fit our Mohawk Valley communities and relate to our actions and voter contact. Here are some examples:
Economic Freedom: https://www.facebook.com/share/v/2jK8iETWtLCwT7aJ/
Good message after the Trump Rally shooting: https://www.facebook.com/share/p/kEQrDLZNt2VamkCL/
SCOTUS and Our Freedoms: https://www.facebook.com/share/v/4Vp9cVBJP3sCMhoK/
Please spread these ads and messages to your networks.
You're Invited: Meet & Greet for James Meyers
Please join Bill Thickstun, Caroline Reale, Kathy Collett, Jen DeWeerth, and Mona Perrotti for a Meet and Greet fundraiser for James Meyers in Clinton on Tuesday, July 30th, 6-8 pm. There will be drink and food, y a chance for you to meet James (running for the 53rd State Senate seat) --or bring your friends so they can meet him!
Register for the James Meyers Meet & Greet HERE.
Your ticket purchase will be matched by as much as 12x and will maximize your impact to help James build even more momentum to win this November. So whether you can attend the event, or you just want to make a contribution that is matched by as much as 12X by the state campaign fund, please click this link and contribute. Thank you--and see you on July 30th!
IMV's Annual Potluck Picnic August 8
We can't wait to see everyone at our annual potluck picnic! Here are the details:
Thursday, August 8th
5:30-7:30 pm
Sherrill Brook Park
4191 New York State Rt. 12. New Hartford
Birch pavilion (nearest playground)
Don’t bring desserts- IMV is providing a “Happy retirement Brandon Williams” chocolate cake
There are no outlets, so we can’t heat up food. Bring your dish ready to eat.
If you have an extra portable table, bring it; we’ll put the food on tables outside of the pavilion to make more room for seating.
Family friendly--kids and other family are invited!
Candidates come to speak. It’s very social and a great time. We take a big group photo. See you there!
Stay Tuned:
Freedom Friday Honk & Waves and Postcard Parties
We are still working on the dates for our Freedom Friday Honk & Wave events. These will be short gatherings at key intersections (4-5 pm) at least twice per month with the goals of coming together and also reminding drivers of key issues at stake in the election such as reprodu6ctive freedom, climate, Democratic investment in a strong economic future, etc. At least one per month will be sponsored by the Kirkland Town Democrats. More to come...
Postcard Parties will be scheduled soon. Thanks for all those who volunteered location ideas and help hosting. The IMV Steering Committee is still looking for one or two coordinators to put all those together on a calendar and head up the effort. Our goal is five postcard parties with 200 postcards completed at each party. We are not having people take them home to work on them this round. We want to focus on the community building that happens when people gather to write the cards and we want to make sure we don't lose track of the cards.
Fired Up? Ready to GO!
Remember--this is no time to stress about what is outside our control.
A better use of our time and energy is to take actions that will help us get the result we want in November: Democrats like Marianne Buttenschon, Adrienne Martini, and James Meyers elected to represent us in Albany and Joh Mannion and Paula Collins representing us in Congress.
We came together in 2017-2018 and we flipped NY22 blue. We can have that kind of impact again. But we need to start now, and we need to work hard and smart. So here's the question: (ala the famous true campaign story narrated by President Obama himself)
Are you Fired Up? (Fired up!)
Ready to Go! (Ready to Go!)
Follow us on Instagram's Threads.net/@indivisiblemohawkvalley, on X (Twitter) using @indivisiblemv and of course on our Facebook page and IMV Activism Group.
