Indivisible East Bay held its two year anniversary at our All Members Meeting on Sunday January 27, celebrating our successes and quickly diving into what comes next.
Co-emcees Andrea and Ted
To get us rolling, Governance Committee members Nick, Toni, and Linh outlined the importance of HR 1, also known as the For the People Act, and how we need to keep our Members of Congress focused on this important piece of legislation. As the first piece of business issued from the House, it puts to the forefront critical democratic reforms such as restoring the Voting Rights Act, reforming the campaign finance system, and keeping corruption out of the presidency. Check this primer from Indivisible National and our IEB take on why it is so important and what we can do to keep momentum going.
Sunrise Movement presentation by Alex Morrison and Sylvia Chi
Everyone heard the latest on the Green New Deal and the fantastic Sunrise Movement from two of its Bay Area members, Sylvia Chi and Alex Morrison. A youth-led movement (which also welcomes non-youths!), Sunrise aims to “stop climate change and create millions of good jobs in the process.” In a very short amount of time, Sunrise has successfully led campaigns to get fossil fuel money out of politics and endorsed 19 successful candidates in the 2018 midterms. The goal post-midterms is to pressure all members of Congress, Congressional candidates, and presidential candidates to support the Green New Deal. You can view their informative presentation here.
AMM, Sunrise Movement guest speaker Alex
IEB AMM, breakout on GND
AMM, Sunrise Movement guest speaker Alex
We then broke for breakouts and birthday cake, and engaged in one of our favorite activities–writing postcards! We wrote to support Nasreen Johnson, the only Democrat running for Fresno County Board of Supervisors. If you missed out, never fear–join our postcard party at Sports Basement on February 10!
Writing postcards to voters
Next month, join us on February 24 in beautiful Dublin, for our first CA-15-located All Members Meeting!
The weather cooperated for the third annual Oakland Women’s March on Saturday January 19; we even got a glimpse of a rainbow! Everyone who marched and lined 14th Street from Lake Merritt to Frank Ogawa Plaza projected positive energy. There were lots of families with kids, and all had smiles and danced along with the various bands in the march.
Indivisible East Bay walked with our good friends and partners in Indivisible Berkeley; both groups marched proudly behind our banners. I believe we had the youngest Indivisible member (four years old!) participating out of our two groups!
Marching behind Batala, a great Samba drumming group, was like having front row seats at a concert. There was good music, energy, and camaraderie through the day and a lot of interest in IEB at our table.
The Women’s March has become a major annual event for us to bond with and catch up with the groups and activists many of us spent the past year working with. And we’re all looking forward to next year’s election year event — the 2020 Women’s March!
Ted Lam is retired from the USCG and currently works as a civil engineer. Ted is a member of the Indivisible East Bay Governance Committee and is co-lead of the Indivisible CA-11 team.
Do you live in California’s 11th Congressional District? Then you should know about Indivisible East Bay’s CA-11 Team! We meet every third Wednesday at the El Cerrito Rialto Theater from 7 to 8:30 PM, and our unofficial team motto is “We get Sh*t Done!”
Over the past two years, our team has developed a solid relationship with our Congressmember, Mark DeSaulnier, and his staff. As part of the Indivisible strategy, we meet with Rep. DeSaulnier on a regular basis, both to share our priorities and learn about his. These meetings allow us to give input about the specific actions and policies that he is fighting for in D.C. on our behalf–and thankfully, he has shown himself to be a very responsive representative.
Earlier this month, two candidates running to represent California Assembly District 15 as delegates to the California Democratic Party spoke at our meeting to encourage people to vote in the upcoming delegate election. Indivisible Berkeley member Daron Sharps and Christine Nygaard of Moms Demand Action for Gun Sense in America shared their reasons for running–this year in particular is critical, as the elected delegates will vote when it comes time for the CA Democratic party to make its endorsement for the Democratic nominee for President! If you’re interested in voting for the delegates to the CA Democratic Party from Assembly District 15, the election is on Saturday, January 26 from 9:45 AM to 12:30 PM in Emeryville. Voting begins at 10:30 AM, and you must be in line by 12:30 to vote. You can only vote if you are a registered Democrat living in AD-15 (N. Oakland, Piedmont, Emeryville, Berkeley, Albany, Kensington, El Cerrito, Richmond, El Sobrante, San Pablo, Hercules or Pinole). More information here.
If you want more info about the CA-11 Team, contact co-leads Ted and Kristen at indivisibleca11@gmail.com; Or if you’re on Slack, contact @Ted Lam or @KristenL and join the moc_team_ca11 team. Want an invite to join Slack? Please drop us a line at info@indivisibleeb.org
Ted Lam is retired from the USCG and currently works as a civil engineer. Ted is a member of the Indivisible East Bay Governance Committee and is co-lead of the Indivisible CA-11 team.
Photograph: CA-11 team members Kristen, Toni, and Ted, meet with Rep DeSaulnier
Register here (free) to get updates and so organizers can estimate attendance. To march with IEB and IB, people will meet up at 10 AM outside the Oakland Public Library on Oak Street between 13th and 14th Streets (at Lake Merritt). Look for the red, white and blue balloons! Or find us once the contingents line up — look for us wearing our IEB t-shirts (and wear yours if you have one!), and for the IEB banner or signs.
Women’s March Oakland 2018, photo by Heidi Rand
At the end of the march — or if you can’t march but want to join in the festivities — come by our booth at the “Call to Action Alley” at Frank Ogawa Plaza!
IEB booth at Women’s March Oakland 2018, photo by Heidi Rand
These other Bay Area Women’s Marches will also be held on January 19:
If they ever turn the story of the 2018 midterm elections into a movie, the culmination of the film will certainly be January 3, 2019. After the stunning Democratic victory in November — a Blue Wave that resulted in a gain of 40 seats and control of the House — a colorful, diverse and significantly more progressive Democratic party strode triumphantly into the Capitol building for the start of the new 116th Congress.
Not coincidentally, it was also the day that Indivisible had declared as a National Day of Action, an opportunity for local Indivisible groups across the country to meet with their local members of Congress or one of their staff to thank them for their past work when appropriate, and to challenge them to push for a progressive agenda going forward.
The National Day of Action was a huge success; Indivisible National counted 168 events in 31 states, its biggest single day of action yet, and the events made national news and lit up social media. As you would expect, Indivisible East Bay made its presence known here in the Bay Area, organizing and/or participating in three separate events.
CA-11 (Mark DeSaulnier)
More than two dozen people showed up for a noon gathering outside Representative Mark DeSaulnier‘s Richmond office. Every attendee was given one of our spectacular new Blue Wave commemorative t-shirts — paid for by a fundraiser we conducted prior to the event.
IEB members Ted, Heidi, Toni, George and Ted strike a pose
IEB’s new Blue Wave Commemorative t-shirts make their public debut!
The mild and sunny weather perfectly matched the festive mood of the participants. DeSaulnier was in Washington, of course, but a member of his staff graciously agreed to join us.
As DeSaulnier reliably supports most of IEB’s progressive positions, we didn’t spend much time on persuasion. Rather, we focused on thanks and encouragement. CA-11 team co-lead Ted Lam made an opening statement thanking DeSaulnier for his past work and for making himself so accessible to his constituents. Ted also noted that we had supported his re-election and put in hundreds — if not thousands — of hours to help elect him and other progressives to Congress.
Next up, IEB outreach team co-lead Toni presented DeSaulnier’s staff with a “Back to Congress” backpack, covered with buttons in support of proposed legislation including H.R. 1 and the Green New Deal, and packed with items such as an “Erase Corruption” eraser, a “Restore the Rule of Law” ruler and two of the Blue Wave t-shirts.
Our “Back to Congress” backpack
Most notably, the backpack included a letteroutlining IEB’s priorities for the 116th Congress. Top of list: H.R. 1, the Democrats’ democracy reform bill which encompassing (1) voter empowerment and access, (2) limiting money in politics, and (3) strengthening ethics and reducing corruption in Congress. The letter cited IEB’s high expectations for DeSaulnier and urged him not to compromise on the values of H.R. 1. We also offered to meet with him and/or his staff on a regular basis to work to accomplish these goals.
DeSaulnier’s staffer offered thanks on the representative’s behalf, and our event concluded with IEB member George’s light-hearted theatrical reading of our backpack letter, followed by our final thank-yous.
CA-13 (Barbara Lee)
California’s 13th Congressional District, represented by Barbara Lee, benefits from coverage by multiple Indivisible groups, including two of the region’s largest: our own Indivisible East Bay, and Indivisible Berkeley. These groups joined forces with Indivisible Euclid and Indivisible Alameda for Impeachment for a 5 PM event held outside Lee’s office at the Dellums Federal Building in Oakland.
IEB and other Indivisible groups outside Rep. Lee’s Oakland office
The centerpiece of the gathering was a series of speeches by Indivisible members highlighting their participation in building the Blue Wave — especially via the canvassing done by IB in CA-10 and by IEB in CA-21. The speakers also expressed their hopes for what the 116th Congress will accomplish, focusing on (as with CA-11’s message) H.R. 1 and the Green New Deal.
Following the speeches, Congressional Aide Chrissy Anecito joined the group and read a statement from Lee’s office.
CA-15 (Eric Swalwell)
Meeting at the Castro Valley District office of Eric Swalwell, IEB members presented District Director Mallory De Lauro with a backpack to welcome the Representative back to the new blue Congress. As with CA-11, the backpack contained appropriately labelled school items. A message urged Swalwell to stand firm on all parts of H.R. 1 and to not provide funding for an immoral border wall.
IEB members Ward and Andrea meet with Swalwell District Director Mallory (on left)
Ted Lam, Nick Travaglini and Ward Kanowsky contributed to this report. CA-11 photos courtesy of Mary Martin DeShaw.
This first-hand account was written by CA-11 team members Toni Henle, Ted Lam, and Kristen Law
Representative Mark DeSaulnier met with us on December 7 to discuss his plans for the new blue Congress, and our request that he support Indivisible East Bay’s planned January 3, 2019 rally. The rally will be part of Indivisible National’s coordinated day of action at Members of Congress’s offices nationwide as the new Congress convenes. One primary aim of the January 3 rallies is to urge the House to pass H.R. 1 (House Resolution 1) as soon as possible without watering it down or breaking it up. The bill, titled “Strengthening Our Democracy,” is a bold democracy reform package focused on voter empowerment and access, getting big money out of politics, and cracking down on corruption.
We particularly wanted to hear DeSaulnier’s plans for two key committees of which he’s a member: Education and the Workforce, and Transportation and Infrastructure. He may become Chair of the Workforce Protection Subcommittee of the Education and the Workforce Committee, and told us that if he does his priorities for the subcommittee include:
Holding field hearings on worker protection issues in West Virginia, Michigan and other states, since the current administration has not pursued violations related to worker protection.
Updating the WARN Act (Worker Adjustment and Retraining Notification Act of 1988), which now requires employers to notify the government and workers when layoffs are planned; changes would require employers to mitigate the effects of layoffs.
Changing calculations of tax incentives for local jurisdictions that want to bring in large businesses, in order to make it harder for corporations to play local governments off each other; this would be done, among other ways, by requiring “proscriptive” cost-benefit analysis of any proposed deal.
Making higher education more accessible through a constitutional amendment guaranteeing a free public education through college.
On the Transportation and Infrastructure Committee, DeSaulnier is committed to infrastructure development that will both reduce climate-warming pollution and improve our economy. He told us: “In California, we’ve been able to demonstrate that both are possible.” In his position on the Subcommittee on Highways and Transit, DeSaulnier shared a desire to model “value capture” for transportation and infrastructure improvements: that is, using public financing tools that recover a share of the value transit creates. Revenue from value capture strategies can be used to repay debt incurred in financing the upfront costs of building infrastructure and fund the operations and maintenance costs of transit systems.
DeSaulnier is also a member of the House Committee on Oversight and Government Reform, which will be conducting hearings on the Trump administration. We didn’t have time to get into specifics, but very much look forward to following that committee’s work and engaging with him about it in the future.
Other items we discussed included the Green New Deal, election security, increasing youth civic engagement, and working with Rep. John Sarbanes (D- MD) to address independent campaign expenditures, also known as dark money.
Rep. DeSaulnier agreed to provide a statement for our January 3, 2019 rally and said his staff would work with us on the specifics.
Interested in working with the CA-11 team? Email us at indivisibleca11@gmail.com
Toni Henle is retired after a career in policy work at non-profits focused on workforce development. She is a member of the IEB Governance Committee, co-lead of Outreach to Organizations and a member of the Indivisible East Bay CA-11 team.
Ted Lam is retired from the USCG and currently works as a civil engineer. Ted is a member of the Indivisible East Bay Governance Committee and is co-lead of the Indivisible East Bay CA-11 team.
Kristen Law lives in East Richmond. When she is not working as a Community Engagement Specialist or teaching and practicing yoga, you can find her snuggling her pets, saving butterflies or testing vegan recipes. She was one of the founding members of Indivisible East Bay and co-leads the CA-11 team.
More than 150 activists joined TJ Cox and his family on December 9 to celebrate his nail-biting win of the California District 21 (CA-21) Congressional seat, called nearly a month after the election. The party, crammed into the Alameda home of Mary McFarland, a tireless organizer from East Bay for TJ, included several Indivisible East Bay members.
IEB was part of the Congressional District 21 (CD-21) Action Coalition steering committee, made up representatives from many local progressive groups brought together by the amazing Kook Huber in early 2018. Several of us from the CA-11 United team represented IEB at the celebration: Alice Towey, Matt Blackwell, and Ted Lam and his son. Although most of us at the large gathering hadn’t met many other people there in person, we’d emailed, texted, messaged, and Slacked one another for most of the year as we worked to get TJ’s message out to CA-21 voters. And many IEB members phone and text banked, postcarded, and canvassed for TJ in the Central Valley from the March before the primaries through October.
Matt, Alice, Kook and Ted at TJ Cox celebration party
TJ, Kathy, and their two teenage sons arrived early and were mobbed by well-wishers. Eventually, they made it into the living room where East Bay for TJ leaders spoke about the hard work that went into the campaign. Chills went up and down our spines as, one after the other, speakers spoke movingly about why they got involved. On a lighter note, a running joke during the party was that one woman, Carol, would finally get her husband Jim back: Jim spent nearly a year and a half in CA-21, laying the groundwork for the eventual Democratic candidate. On one of the living room tables was a picture of Carol holding a sign: “Free Jim!”
When TJ got the mic he opened on a humorous note. He said that since his was the final Congressional race called, he was asked to speak to the entire House Democratic caucus, and joked that with his election the Republican delegation from California could now fit in his wife Kathy’s 7-passenger minivan. He also mentioned that his late win allowed him to score a great office — since soon-to-be former Representative David Valadao waited so long to concede, his office was not in the pool to go to incoming House members, so TJ gets Valadao’s spacious office with a great view.
TJ Cox celebration party, photo by Mary McFarland
Turning serious, TJ spoke about some of his motivations to run for Congress, including his wife Kathy, who as a pediatric physician feels that health policy must change at the federal level. He spoke about climate change, immigration reform, and the need to bring safe, clean drinking water to all Central Valley residents. TJ said that he wants his future constituents to see themselves reflected in their representatives, and announced that he got a commitment from Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez to visit his district in 2019.
At the party our CA-11 team chatted with Dave from the San Leandro group Kitchen Table Resistance. We vividly recalled Dave and his wife Jen canvassing in Mendota over Saint Patrick’s Day weekend, when Dave wore a green Leprechaun jacket! Dave gave us the backstory about the hard work he and his friends in Kitchen Table Resistance put into canvassing in CA-21, including developing (and spending a lot of their own funds to print) flyers in English and Spanish to inform voters about TJ in the first weeks of the campaign. We all reflected that this was way before the “professionals” got their act together to support TJ’s campaign.
Matt and Alice even got a chance to speak personally with TJ! When we congratulated TJ on his victory, he looked around at all the people there and commented that it was a team effort.
Matt and Alice with TJ Cox, at the celebration party
Leaving the party, we all had the same thought, “What a journey and what incredible friendships we made along the way!”
Alice Towey is a Civil Engineer specializing in water resource management. She lives in El Cerrito, where she and her husband Matt Blackwell are active in Indivisible CA-11 United.
Ted Lam is retired from the USCG and currently works as a civil engineer. Ted is a member of the Indivisible East Bay Governance Committee and is co-lead of the Indivisible CA-11 team.
At November’s Indivisible East Bay All Members Meeting we spent more time eating than meeting. Several dozen members and guests gathered to enjoy tasty food and each other’s company for our potluck and post-election celebration.
November 25, 2018 All Member Meeting
We also fit in a bit of business — Governance Committee (GC) member and CA-11 team co-lead Ted led us in a round of applause for the momentous blue wave, and used the victories to inspire us to keep it up. Some actions Ted urged members to take were for now-resolved races, such as Mike Espy’s failed bid to win the Mississippi US Senate run-off election. And at the time the CA-21 congressional race was nail-bitingly close, though as we know now TJ Cox finally pulled ahead of Republican Valadao the day after the meeting, Monday Nov. 26, and by mid-day Wednesday TJ’s vote count had increased to the point that he declared victory! This race is particularly dear to IEB’s heart; many of us wrote countless postcards and canvassed for TJ, after our friends and allies in Team Blue Wave Contra Costa and East Bay for TJ showed us it could be done (despite the fact that the so-called experts didn’t think it was worth a try!)
Newsletter team co-lead and GC member Ann proudly read IEB’s statement endorsing CA-13 Representative Barbara Lee for Democratic Caucus Chair and announced IEB’s role in spurring other groups to endorse Lee for this important position. Sadly, Rep. Lee narrowly lost her bid for this position. We are deeply disappointed that her history of bravery, experience and wisdom was bypassed. But we remain hopeful that the new Chair, Rep. Hakeem Jeffries, will be a strong supporter of progressive policies.
Looking ahead, Ted announced some upcoming events:
Indivisible National is sponsoring a National Day of Action on January 3, 2019, the first day of the 116th Congress. As Indy points out, this is our movement’s first chance to speak with our united national voice about issues that are important to us. On that day, IEB is planning to hold gatherings outside the local offices of our three representatives: Mark DeSaulnier (CA-11), Barbara Lee (CA-13, and Eric Swalwell (CA-15). Check the newsletter for further details.
Indivisible East Bay CA-11 team co-leads Kristen and Ted, and IEB member Tom, met with Congressperson Mark DeSaulnier and his D.C. Chief of Staff Betsy Marr before his Congressional Update Town Hall in Richmond on October 23. We updated DeSaulnier on CA-11 team members’ recent work helping elect Contra Costa County District Attorney Diana Becton, our involvement in pushing Sheriff Livingston to cancel the ICE contract, and our various Get Out The Vote actions in CA-21, Northern Nevada, and Arizona. DeSaulnier was impressed and immensely grateful, and Marr encouraged us to keep at it. DeSaulnier shared his unvarnished summary of the “goings-on” in D.C. with us, and we had a great back-and-forth on that.
Looking to the future, we asked about DeSaulnier’s priorities after the elections, and what he’d recommend for our post-midterm grassroots efforts. To our specific question about whether the Democrats would re-establish the Office of Technology Assessment that was killed by Newt Gingrich in the Clinton era, DeSaulnier agreed that it should be a priority. Wrapping up, DeSaulnier offered to meet with the CA-11 team after the midterms to check in and dive deeper into our post-election ideas. We will hold him to that!
About 70 people attended the 90-minute Town Hall. There was an underlying tone of optimism in the Representative’s presentation about the midterms. One of his post-election priorities is to work on overturning Citizens United, banning stock buybacks, strengthening anti-trust enforcement, and updating the Worker Adjustment and Retraining Act (WARN). The WARN Act of 1988 is a US labor law that protects employees, their families, and communities by requiring most employers with 100 or more employees to provide 60 calendar-day advance notification of plant closings and mass layoffs of employees.
IEB and CA-11 team member Janis Hashe asked two questions on what can be done about coal rail shipments through Richmond, and whether the interstate commerce clause can be utilized to help. DeSaulnier’s response was supportive, and he gave some suggestions. Obviously fascinated with the second question, he said he’d give it further thought.
Janis Hashe & friend at Rep. DeSaulnier Richmond Town Hall, photo by Ted Lam
It was satisfying to hear our Member of Congress espouse progressive values and be so responsive to his community.
Ted Lam is retired from the USCG and currently works as a civil engineer. Ted is a member of the Indivisible East Bay Governance Committee and is co-lead of the Indivisible CA-11 team.
Yep, last week sucked. And now we have the Honorable* justice** Kavanaugh. But there’s no crying in baseball, don’t give up at halftime, take a breath and come back out swinging. If you’ve ever said you’d contribute some day — that day is TODAY. The task is clear: we need to get control of at least one house of Congress on November 6. It’s time for EVERYONE to step up to canvass, phone, text, postcard, donate . . . all of the above . . . today and every day through November 6!
Here’s just some of what Indivisible East Bay members and friends, heroes all, did last week:
Canvassing in Sanger for TJ Cox:
IEB members Fiona and Carl, and CA-11 team co-lead Ted canvassed with SwingLeft in Sanger for TJ Cox, who’s running for Congress in CA-21. Read their report here. TJ is a charismatic and progressive Democrat running against incumbent Republican David Valadao. By day’s end, the entire group had knocked on 710 doors and had 174 targeted conversations, got 21 pledge cards and two vote-by-mail forms filled out, ending up with a 24% contact rate! The IEB trio even got three people to put up TJ Cox yard signs in very noticeable locations!
Carl, Fiona and Ted canvassing in CA-21 for TJ Cox – that’s TJ between Ted and Fiona!
Canvassing in Reno and Manteca:
IEB member Mandeep writes: “I’ve also had an awesome time canvassing streets in Reno and Manteca, in addition to the phone canvassing I’ve been doing. I like looking people in the eye! Sure, most doors are not answered, and a few people are clearly right-leaning and don’t want to talk with you further (though even then, I’ve only had civil and polite exchanges) — but some folks are hungry for information on voting, how to get more involved, and are grateful that you’ve shown up at their door. Just a couple of these kinds of interactions in an afternoon of canvassing can really make your day, and make you feel it’s all worth it. And of course, it just intrinsically is, as in-person canvassing has been shown to be the NUMBER ONE way to have an effect on voters. And, as I say regularly — we happen just to have a country to save here. So yes — it matters. Always remember: the founders of your nation are smiling upon you as you walk the streets.”
Canvassing in Manteca. Photo by Mandeep S. S. Gill
Phone banking AND postcarding at Red-to-Blue HQ:
Double duty in Dublin! CA-15 Team co-lead LeAnn reports that it was “sitting on the floor room only” at the IBEW Hall in Dublin, where close to 50 highly motivated progressives filled up two rooms and the hallway during back-to-back postcarding and phone banking events on October 6. The union hall is being made available by CA-15 Representative Eric Swalwell and his staff to serve as the “Red-to-Blue” headquarters through the mid-term elections to organizations that want to help get out the vote in battleground districts across the country.
Postcarding in CA-15, photo by LeAnn Kanowsky
We wrote 400 postcards in support of Jessica Morse, who’s challenging incumbent Rep. Tom McClintock in CA-4; the crowd was big enough that there was also an opportunity to write an additional 50 cards for Harley Rouda, running in CA-48 against Rep. Dana Rohrabacher.
Overflow crowd postcarding in CA-15, photo by LeAnn Kanowsky
Phone banking overlapped with the postcarding and carried on into the afternoon; several die-hards opted to participate in both! IEB Governance Committee members Nick, Linh, and Ward joined a host of others to phone bank for Jessica Morse or for Andrew Janz, who’s running against Devin Nunes in CA-22, or for Iowa candidates J.D. Scholten (IA-4) and Deidre DeJear (Secretary of State).
Phone banking for Arizona Democrats:
Fifteen phone bankers gathered in Richmond, spreading out around the home and beautiful garden of CA-11 Team co-lead Kristen and phone bank superstar Tom.
Hammock phone-banking! CA-11 member Tom calling AZ voters
A lot of new people were trained to use Hubdialer and quickly got to work talking to Arizonans, helping identify supporters of Senate candidate Kyrsten Sinema and down-ticket Dems, and hitting the phone bank jackpot once in a while to sign up a volunteer. When we were using the system we did an average of 1,500 dials and had a 20% contact rate. Our partners, the AZ Democratic Party, would love to get more folks involved in calling to Arizona. Sign up here or email tpagan@azdem.org
George phone banking to AZ, with an assist from Henry the Indivisi-bulldog
Phone banking in Oakland for Issue Voters of Northern Nevada:
An enthusiastic crowd of 25 gathered at former CA-13 team lead Janine’s in Rockridge to call into areas around Reno. IEB phone bankers had whipped through the original database of Non-Partisan Voters in Reno and we were now able to expand to areas that our partner organization, Issue Voters of Northern Nevada, hadn’t expected to reach. Callers were able to either congregate (sometimes good for morale after a difficult or successful call) or spread out into more quiet areas. We called in the neighborhood of 1,200 households and reached the usual one in ten, or around 120 people. Our work making calls helps IVNN’s canvassing: they can target people we identify as “persuadables” who are still making up their minds, rather than knocking on every door, and canvassers will also be aware in advance of voters’ top issues that will motivate them to go to the polls.
Phone banking in Oakland, photo by Toni Henle
Writing postcards to low-turnout Nevada voters:
And more help for Nevada! More than 30 IEB members and friends at our postcard party in El Cerrito wrote more than 350 postcards to a carefully targeted list of voters registered as “non-partisan” who didn’t vote in 2016. Scripts created by Issue Voters of Northern Nevada politely but firmly urged the addressees to vote, including: “If we don’t vote, we can’t complain. Make sure your voice is heard this year: VOTE!”
Postcard party writing to Nevada voters, photo by Heidi Rand
The party started shortly after the Kava-nauseous vote occurred, and we were all grateful to be among kindred souls taking direct action to fight back. Almost double the number of RSVPs showed up and IEB’s outreach team co-lead Toni worked miracles to provide more addresses to the eager writers.
Here’s what you can do in the days ahead:
Canvassing and phone banking are the top two most effective ways to contact voters and make the Blue Wave happen. We need your help!
Join Indivisible Berkeley in phoning Nevada voters from home to help flip the critical NV Senate seat. Info & sign up here. Check out other IB events too.
See the East Bay for TJ Cox events calendar to support the CA-21 congressional candidate.
Knock on doors to help flip CA-10 for Josh Harder. Info & sign up here.
Swing Left Contra Costa hosts monthly voter registration in Tracy (CA-10) on the 3rd Saturday of each month. Check their event calendar.
Canvass with Working America AFL-CIO in CA-10 (Modesto) and CA-21 (San Joaquin Valley). You’ll get excellent training and can then sign up for volunteer shifts.
Can’t canvass yourself? Donate to support one of the great groups listed above. You can even sponsor a canvasser in CA-21 by donating to Valley Forward, which helps employ people living in the district.
