My high school senior worked as a student election clerk in the March primaries and is doing it again on election day, Nov 3. We are in Texas, early voting started on the 13th.
@Lindagaf I’m curious about driving people to the polls during Covid. You aren’t nervous about that?
I’ve had root canals and done phone banking. Hands down, I would choose the root canal again before I’d phone bank.
I drove people at the last,presidential,election, if I knew the neighborhood. I wouldn’t do that again this year.
Also, we had a table outside the polling place, with water and homemade cookies. The latter won’t be there.
@“Youdon’tsay” , I’ll wear an N95 mask. I’m more nervous about people not being able to vote, especially in the state I plan to drive to, than getting Covid.
For those who want to help drive people to the polls (or to ballot drop boxes), perhaps drive a convertible with the top down if you have a convertible (or can rent one at a reasonable price for the day)?
Just did my first shift yesterday on a National Voter Protection Hotline. This one is sponsored by the DNC but its purpose is purely to provide accurate information about voting, no electioneering. I had calls from IL, PA, VA, NC, and NJ in a 3 hour shift. My D is volunteering for another voter protection hotline sponsored by a lawyers’ for civil rights organization. In this crazy year it allows us to contribute without leaving home.
^^^ Love that @runnersmom
A relative of mine (works for an elected official) organized a phone banking operation and invited my wife and me to help. We politely declined because we really don’t like phone banking. We both worked our first day of early voting, and will be doing another 6. It was fun. Strictly nonpartisan, we walk voters over to the machine, check their name and precinct, explain the process and get them started. We are working in a large high school gym, everyone is masked, lots of disinfectant being spritzed about, numbers allowed inside are limited, people are spread out, so we feel relatively safe, but honestly I am a little nervous about doing this for 7 days.
@Lindagaf People where I live are continuing to take taxis. Everyone wears masks and they roll down the windows. No sitting in the front. Just a suggestion to minimize your risk!
Have done phone banks on and off. I’d LOVE to help at the polls this year but I am high risk. It’s unlikely they’ll need more folks. One of the great things about living in a small town is voting, it’s quick, they know you and you can find parking.
Still going to go early morning so it’s done.
Me - I discovered that 3 of my construction crew are US Citizens but not even registered to vote!! I sat them all down at lunch and registered them online. Then told them I would pay 1 hour if they can show that they went to a poll and voted on Nov 3!! I really feel proud of myself for pushing them
My 25yr old D is so passionate about this election. She is doing all kinds of stuff. Before COVID, she volunteered to work the booths for Rock the Vote at a bunch of music festivals. Probably the motivation was free entry to the festivals 
We have a huge dilemna at my house because she and her boyfriend use my address as their permanent registered address since they move around so much. Two out of the 4 ballots for this house arrived. But not theirs!! She is so frantic because she is away and needs me to overnight these ballots to them. So far the Registrar just keeps telling her ‘on the way’. But it has now been 12 days since she got a text that hers was mailed. And, it is our understanding that she has to ‘hand in’ her Mail Ballot if she drives all the way back home to vote in person. I feel really sorry for her. Biggest fear is that Mom accidentally threw the ballots away because there is so much junk mail right now!
D also signed up to volunteer to work at the polls. But, because they have reduced the number of voting places the only openings they had were out in Borrego Springs.
If in California (implied by Borrego Springs), an in person voter who does not turn in the absentee ballot that was mailed may vote with a provisional ballot.
https://www.sos.ca.gov/elections/voting-resources/voting-california/if-you-applied
I’m also doing letter writing with Vote Forward and have contributed to specific campaigns as well as an organization that works to help register people to vote.
Vote forward had an initial goal to send 10 million letters to low turnout underrepresented voters. When they hit that they increased to goal to 15 million. Today was “the big send” when all of the letters were to be mailed. We took our 560 letters to the post office and there was another woman there putting stamps on 100 envelopes. I smiled at her (beneath my mask) and asked “vote forward?” Yep. The last I checked, they had 16.5 million “adopted” voters in swing states. It is heartening to see this kind of enthusiasm and commitment to increasing voting turnout.
I also did Vote Forward, as did my family - 520 letters between the 3 of us in the house, and another 30 from kid out of state. I am texting almost obsessively. Also, while I share the “phone bank vs. root canal” feeling, I signed up for a phone bank specifically to help voters “cure” their rejected mail-in ballots (this one is for North Carolina). Though I just did the training yesterday so only had time for a few phone calls, which were 100% no answers. Will try again Thursday. As @“Youdon’tsay” said, even one success a shift matters.
To further that narrative and to keep people working on what might feel like a thankless task, I heard on a podcast this morning that Michigan was settled in 2016 by just more than 10k votes. That breaks down to 2.2 voters per precinct. So, yeah, every vote does count!
I am so glad you are doing that work @seren50 Yesterday in my state the 5th Circuit ruled that election officials can reject mail-in ballots over mismatched signatures without notifying voters until after the election that their ballots weren’t counted. Grrrr.
Soooo disappointed. I had signed up to be a poll worker several weeks ago. Finally just got a call about volunteering. Call came today at 11:20am. Asking me to attend a 3 hour in-person training with 30 other people today at 1:30 or 5:30 or tomorrow at 1:30.
Seriously? With that kind of notice? I was more than willing to take Election day off to help, but I work full time. And an in-person training for 3 hours? They only told me the # of hours and # of people there because I asked.
I wasn’t shy to say that it is their responsibility to provide volunteers with ample notice and DETAIL about training and such so people can make a decision with consideration for health and wellness.
SUPER disappointed. I need to figure out if there is anything else I can do on Election Day to help. I’ll be keeping my eyes open.
Thanks to each of you who are doing something!
As someone very involved as a local leader, I can attest to how challenging and frustrating it is to get folks to step up and do something. It always has been but with so much at stake in this election, I had hoped for more willingness by folks to play a role.
I can promise you that ANYTHING you do over these remaining 2 weeks will be greatly appreciated and impactful!
2 MORE WEEKS! Keep chugging along if you are already involved. If not, get onboard the train by contacting your local or state committee to get involved. Or contact a national org helping in purple states.
Signed up for a new job since the poll worker fell through - poll monitor. Helping people outside the polls with questions, handing out literature about how to vote, etc.
Now to hope for good weather.