Kids, Candy, Voters. Now We Just Need Volunteers

 Harvest on the Hill is a Utica tradition with a community stroll, candy for kids, and music along James Street in Cornhill that typically has several thousand attendees.  It's a great way to reach voters on the first day of Early Voting, just 10 days before Election Day, so IMV is going to have a table with apples, candy, and a contest where kids can vote on their favorite candy while we do voter registration and talk to their parents about voting. This will be a super fun way for you to spend a couple hours volunteering and making the day fun. You can even wear a costume!  

Here's the thing: we need volunteers to set up, staff the table, and pack up.  Please sign up on this google doc. Can't help that day?  We are also collecting candy donations, because this afternoon family event between 12-5 pm is the safest way for children in Cornhill to do their trick or treating.  Please drop off your candy (or cash) donations at one of the following locations: 

105 Barton Ave, Utica
2 Laurelwood Dr, New Hartford
19 Proctor Ave, Clinton

Harvest on the Hill is an important direct voter contact event for IMV, and we need your help to make our table fun for kids and their parents.  
 

Postcard Update

Thanks to everyone who has been writing and preparing postcards, especially those who worked at Campaign HQ last Monday!  We have one more postcard party coming up on Wednesday, Oct. 26th (2-5 pm) at Kirkland Town Library in Clinton. Stop by when you can to help with 1000 Dan Buttermann cards that need to be written, labeled and stamped.  You can also bring Harvest on the Hill candy to this event, and Kathy Wojo will collect it for that event. 

We don't have any more Conole postcards (Whew!!!) They have all been distributed. If you still have Conole postcards at home, please note that they need to be mailed by Oct. 26 in time for Early Voting.  

Meet and Greet for Conole Tomorrow

Come meet Francis Conole, our Democratic Candidate for Congress, this Saturday, October 22nd, from 1-2:15 pm at Cafe Domenico,  2011 Genesee Street in Utica.  This is a free event, not a fundraiser.  It's a great opportunity to talk with Fran in person about his campaign and how he plans to represent us in Washington.

But since you are a political activist, please don't stop there.  Oct. 22nd is a BIG day for the Conole campaign, with a focus on Utica Office GOTV Canvassing--our first day of GOTV Canvassing!   Sign up for all the shifts you can do.  You can be sure that Republicans are going to go to the polls. The only way we can be sure that our voters will show up is to knock on their doors and remind them to go. 
 

Phonebank for Fran Conole

 If you are unable for any reason to knock doors, then the most important work you can do to help us flip this congressional seat is....Phonebank!  Please sign up right now:  https://www.mobilize.us/mobilize/event/516639/
 

Are You On Twitter?

If you are on Twitter or want to learn more about Twitter, then please complete this Google form by CLICKING HERE. We have a very specific assignment for you that will allow you to make a difference in this election, and it does not require you to knock doors, write letters, or make phone calls! Please assure your members that this won’t require them to knock, call, or write. It’ll be easy to do

GOTV Staging Location Volunteers Needed

Jon Lipe reported at a recent NY22 Knit the District meeting that “staging locations” are being set up all around the District including Oneida County (Utica, Rome, Whitesboro and New Hartford). The sites will be “tested” sometime during the weekend of October 29th to 30th. We need volunteers to staff the staging locations! Email Jon at: jon@conoleforcongress.comif you can volunteer.

Last Sunday's Little Falls Potluck & Canvass

Thanks to all those who went out to Little Falls to support the First Presbyterian's BLM Diversity Potluck (to counter the white nationalist demonstrations) and to canvass for Matt Castelli. Chris Brown spoke movingly, and Betsy Briggs got Matt Castelli on site for one of many canvassing events she has organized. Holly Reeske high fived Matt with great fervor! There was even earned media Check it out: https://mylittlefalls.com/matt-castelli-visits-herkimer-county-little-falls/.

Letters to the Editor

Our members have been busy. Carole Gehrig's letter in support of Fran Conole was published in the Rome Sentinel: https://romesentinel.com/stories/letter-reject-attack-on-schools-support-conole,145617

Sarah Reeske got a letter published about her experience knocking doors in Herkimer county last Sunday for Matt Castelli: https://mylittlefalls.com/common-ground-in-herkimer-county/

Dick Meile, our dedicated IMV Letter the Editor group leader got a letter titled “Conole Understands What’s at Stake in Congressional Race” published in the Rome Sentinel.

Betsy Briggs got this terrific letter published: https://mylittlefalls.com/letter-to-the-editor-voting/

Everyone, keep writing LTEs and sharing published letters to the editor by email to friends and on social media.
***Please also share this really excellent ad for Fran Conole featuring Heather W., a Utican many of us know.

Rural Freedom Network Messages You Can Share

There are tens of thousands of conservative trolls who do nothing all day but spread lies and disinformation ahead of the election. What can you do to spread the messages that encourage people to vote, that help them understand the issues and candidates, and that tell the truth?

Rural Freedom Network made the google doc below accessible. We are free to use any of the Twitter and Facebook memes that we want. (When you scroll to a postcard for the candidate you want to promote (Conole or Castelli), you can click on a Twitter or Facebook meme on the same theme.) https://docs.google.com/document/d/1S4Rru23-hBCCtteMN5yNZ_T1sOphi2zL_yhSSMIW41g/edit#bookmark=id.k1o8ay3yubu1
 

In memory of Patrick Johnson

For years, IMV encouraged our members to attend anti-racism workshops with Patrick Johnson, and we were saddened to learn of his death from cancer. To further Patrick's legacy and work in the community, please send donations to Rebuilding the Village, Inc. Rebuilding the Village is a 501(c)3 non-profit organization with the mission of ending gun violence and supporting youth and families in Utica's neighborhoods. Mail checks payable to Rebuilding the Village, Inc. to 40 Faxton Street, Utica New York 13501. https://www.rebuildingthevillageutica.com/.

Listen to the Music...Knock the Doors

We don't know how to break this to you, but there simply have not been enough volunteers canvassing to win in Oneida County. Look, it would be great if we were a solid blue county in a solid blue congressional district, and we didn't have to do all this work of talking to every voter at the door. But that's not the county we live in.

We have to knock the doors. And we need more people to do it. Even if you can only do one or two shifts per week these last 19 days, we need you. Or we are going to have a representative who votes for an abortion ban, maybe even a Governor who supports one. A county clerk and judges who embolden election deniers. State legislators who never ever meet with constituents unless they are wearing MAGA hats. We have to win. So we have to knock.

Jennifer Geiger, who has been knocking doors for months (years!), sent this message from Robert Reich to me last night. It's a message about somehow hearing the music in the midst of everything that is weighing us down. Oddly, when the news of polls, inflation, recession, and political insanity gets to me, the thing I find the most calming, the most inspirational, the most refreshing is...walking from door to door. I see pets, children, gorgeous leaves, and real people with whom I can converse calmly and share smiles or handshakes. It is completely different than political news; it is the music. Try it and you'll see. (Find a shift in the calendar below and just sign up!)

As I often say at the end of these newsletters (quoting Valarie Kaur) "Breathe, then push." This week, listen to the music, and then keep talking to voters. When we connect with voters, we win. -Jen DeWeerth

Follow us on Twitter using @indivisiblemv and of course our Facebook page and IMV Activism Group.