Last Thursday afternoon,
I announced that Kevin Scott and I were running for State Democratic Committee in Pennsylvania as write-in candidates in order to fill two of the five vacancies in our district. Since that time, a lot has happened. With Election Day tomorrow, this post explains everything we have done over the past four days, and what you can do to get involved.
1. What you can do
- Learn why we are running. You can read my original announcement post for more on this.
- Find out how to vote for us. You can find that information right here.
- Check out district maps. To find out if you or anyone you know lives in our district, you can see a map of the district here (PDF). If you are still unsure after looking at the map, use this nifty tool built by the Committee of Seventy.
- Print and distribute our literature. On Friday, I made 1,000 copies of our campaign flyer (PDF). The flyer contains precise information on how to cast a write-in vote in Philadelphia. Print, download, and distribute the flyer here. Sned it to anyone you know in the district. I will be making another 500 copies of the flyer this afternoon.
- Post online. I will not be around to post on MyDD tomorrow, so if you live in Philadelphia and have a blog or contribute to a message board online, please reprint this article tomorrow morning on my behalf. We only have to reach 100 voters in the district with the appropriate information, so no matter how small your blog, you can make the difference.
- Volunteer.You can email me at chris@mydd.com if you want to join our campaign.
2. What we are doing:
- Talking with friends, family and colleagues. The core of our campaign remains our friends, our family, and our colleagues living in our district. We believe that if we get in touch with all of our close contacts in the district, and if all of our colleagues on our ward committee do the same, that alone should bring us close to the 100 votes we need. If you have any friends or family living in the district, please contact them about our campaign, and provide them with information on how to cast a write-in ballot for both of us.
- Targeting voters. In addition to our friends, family and colleagues strategy, we have also identified 190 voters in our ward who voted in both the primary and the general election each of the last four years. We have distributed this information to the other members of our ward committee, and asked each member of the committee to be responsible for the 8-10 super voters in their division on Election Day.
- Canvassing. Kevin and I spent most of Saturday canvassing our neighborhood. I went door to door meeting people and passing out literature to likely voters. Kevin canvassed a festival in Clark Park. On Election Day, we will both be out in front of our precincts from 7 am when the polls open until8pm when the polls close. Our colleagues on our ward committee have been given 500 flyers for our campaign to assist with our canvassing efforts.
- Email. On Thursday night, I sent out an email to 150 Democratic activists in the Philadelphia area asking them to support our campaign. They have all been provided with information on how to vote for us, and how they can get their friends to vote for us on Election Day. On Friday, West Philadelphia Neighborhood Networks sent out an email to their activist list with information on how to vote for us.
- Phonebanking. Kevin has spent the last two days phone banking committee people and supporters. He says that almost everyone is on board, and that almost everyone has the literature and the information they need to bring their friends and family to the polls to vote for us.
- Fundraising. On Friday, I held a quick fundraiser to cover costs for the campaign. In just two hours, we quickly met and surpassed our goal of $375, with money left over for Anne Dicker. No more fundraising is need for our campaign.
- Making it easier to vote. Kevin and I have purchased 22 sets of stamps, and 50 gel pens to make writing in our votes as easy as possible tomorrow.
So, that is the complete scope of our improvised, one-week campaign. I believe it will be enough, but I remain nervous.
Tomorrow's forecast calls for rain all day, which will both drive down turnout and make it difficult to talk to voters outside the polls. Also, write in campaigns are notoriously difficult, and our full names must be spelled precisely. Further, we won't find out for certain if we have won until Friday, when the official vote count takes place. Completing the silent revolution will never be an easy task, and it will take the combined efforts of thousands. Please, give us whatever help you can. More importantly, take charge of your local party, and run for Democratic party office where you live.
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