Why?

So this is the 4th federal election in which I've done some level of organizing and strategizing. I don't have false hopes that change trickles down from the top. I do think there is an untapped potential power where community organizing meets electoral organizing, as election seasons can catalyze communities around issues that grassroots organizers are trying to change every day. But as folks who do radical work every day, or at least think radical thoughts, supporting communities to get heard on election day is not optional.

Each election, I have watched the swell of hope, dreams, plans and focus whip up for (or against) a candidate (or party). Each time I have watched people watch from the sidelines, pontificate on the pros and cons and then all of the sudden it's go time, and folks want to be useful. I love those people! That last minute energy is crucial!

This year, we want to make it as easy as possible on the last minute types! We've been thinking through action scenarios at The Ruckus Society, and have an Election Action Kit and other resources for y'all. But I also thought it might be useful to write up everything I know about last minute non-partisan election actions.

(Note: Some folks are comfortable jumping into the plans of one of the campaigns. Others have been doing electoral organizing for months. If you're already tapped in, this isn't for you. Do your thing! Pass this to folks who may not have a thing to do yet!)

These are the best last-minute tips I can gather for organizations who want to make sure their voter organizing work is reflected in the number of votes counted. This is for organizations that don't do usually do electoral work, but want to contribute their efforts at this moment.

This is for folks who have suddenly realized that voters names are being purged off the rolls and folks are being turned away from the polls, and that we have no idea how big of an impact any planned election fraud and unplanned systemic break downs will be.

This is for folks who have put all of their eggs in the voter turn-out basket and have gotten wise to the reality that turn-out doesn't matter if the votes don't get counted.

This is for folks who are down to be a part of the action solution and just need to be plugged in.

This is for groups or individuals who are down to take autonomous actions in the event that the fraud and incompetence do overwhelm the system.

INFORMATION:

- 866 OURVOTE is a central source of information needed to protect the vote, including the registration and identification guidelines for each state. This site is also covering the legal side of election protection!

- Twitter Vote Report is a space to do a quick and easy report of how your voting experience is going. The most important part of this is the change to Twitter in calls for Election Protection support.

- In terms of educating voters, Generation Vote has developed an amazing youth agenda and voter guide which is vetted and on-point. Also check-out a community developed ballot for your community at www.theballot.org . Organizations - direct all your members to ballots in their area!!

ACTION:

- Poll watchers are still needed in many locations around the country. In some places poll workers are also still needed. Poll workers handle checking names and deciding who can and can't vote, and in most states it's too late to score this all-powerful job. Poll watchers are assigned by various parties to be witnesses, make sure things are functional for a fair election. It makes a big difference to have our folks out there. Google "local county election office" and your zip code or the name of your city to get the number, call it, and go be the eyes on the street. This is a great last minute volunteer opportunity. Employers, give your folks the day off to volunteer!

- Video the Vote: Having citizen documentation of voter issues is crucial in terms of being able to prove that our folks are being disenfranchised. It helps on the day of to support media outlets to keep a story live until it's resolved, and it helps afterwards in terms of showing the specific issues. You can be a videographer, you can drive a videographer to poll sites, or be a dispatcher. If you got the skills, go sign up!

- Direct Action: Ruckus has brainstormed a variety of potential scenarios, and the most logical targets and messages we could think of for each of those scenarios. We will have action experts on call around the country (email Sharon@ruckus.org if you want in that loop!), and we've partnered and developed relationships with several organizations working on election protection. We also want to honor the power of autonomous actions. Get together with your friends, your collectives, your organizations, alliances and coalitions, and take action. Employers, encourage your employees to take action, this is work too!

We've posted our action planning manual, action checklist, action ideas, creative visuals manual and other resources on a wiki and as a downloadable PDF for y'all, so the actions can be effective. All of this is at www.ruckus.org/electionaction. Our goal is to have actions prepared to protect our voters, and encourage our politicians and election officials to stand up for election integrity.

- DONATE! If you've been holding out on throwing your financial support behind a fair election, this is the time to contribute. Pay for travel, materials and media for actions!!

Of course our hope is we won't need any of this :) But history repeats itself, and we want to be prepared for the most strategic action possible if/when it does.

Love, luck and plans!
AMB