If voting didn't matter, they wouldn't try so hard to stop you.

September 28, 2020 3:48 PM

VotingWorks.us is a resource for people who are skeptical about voting, or know people who are skeptical and want to talk with them.

The website lists a series of 5 myths that dissuade people from voting, and gives evidence-based responses to address them including

* Reconstruction and modern era examples of the power of holding a majority in the US political system.

* Evidence from rainy/sunny election days - a natural experiment - that Democratic politicians who win by larger margins vote more progressively.

* Encouragement to activists who don't feel represented by the parties to say "Yes, And" to voting in the general election.

The site is designed to help power conversations with people close to you who may not be planning to vote (or to inspire messages for writing to voters.)

Previously on metafilter: Get your booty to the poll!

posted by heyforfour (6 comments total)

The fact that this is a thing at all is nice little encapsulation of precisely why I worry. I hope it helps. I would add some of the recommendations from the Preventing a Disrupted Presidential Election report I've been linking to frequently. The bullet points in the executive summary are something it would be good to spread as much awareness of as possible, especially with this much ambient distrust of voting, elections and democracy.
posted by Lonnrot at 8:00 PM on September 28, 2020

Anybody have banner ad recommendations for those who have house ad inventory?
posted by RobotVoodooPower at 9:15 PM on September 28, 2020

Just to emphasize that the plan to deter and suppress the vote is not subtle, millions of Black voters were specifically flagged for “deterrence” measures in Trump’s 2016 database.
posted by darkstar at 10:59 PM on September 28, 2020 [3 favorites]

In federal elections - after the right-wing strategic win vote all you want, with a packed Supreme Court you'll still see every progressive law Congress passes and the President signs (and some old rulings offensive to the sponsors) get overturned for decades.

Voting does still matter for Governor, state house, local elections, school board, referendums, etc.
posted by lon_star at 9:29 AM on September 29, 2020

Evidence from rainy/sunny election days - a natural experiment - that Democratic politicians who win by larger margins vote more progressively.

Fascinating. What I've been recently telling people who think that withholding their votes from Democrats will somehow cause the party to pander more to them is that, in my experience, politicians pay a lot more attention to the interests of people who *do* vote than to the interests of people who *don't* vote. This would seem to jibe with that.
posted by Artifice_Eternity at 1:11 PM on September 29, 2020

In federal elections - after the right-wing strategic win vote all you want, with a packed Supreme Court you'll still see every progressive law Congress passes and the President signs (and some old rulings offensive to the sponsors) get overturned for decades.

If Biden wins and the Dems take the Senate and hold the house, they will have the opportunity to expand the Supreme Court.
posted by Artifice_Eternity at 1:14 PM on September 29, 2020 [1 favorite]