No “Off Year” Elections (9/17/23)

Welcome to our new members who have joined us in recent weeks. We’ve met some of you on Zoom and look forward to meeting more of you as we work together to elect Democrats and save democracy.

With less than two months to go until November 7th, we are in the home stretch for this very busy “off year” election. We put “off year” in quotes because we have learned that there are no off year elections, and this “off year” was busier than most with a crucial Wisconsin Supreme Court election in the spring, an important referendum in Ohio in August, and many special elections, including three that determined control of the Pennsylvania House of Delegates. But the races on the ballot in November may be the most important of all.

If you have been taking a break from political activism, including postcard activism, now is the time to get back in the game. There is a lot on the line this November, and every postcard, phone call, text, door knock, can make a difference. Some of these elections will be decided by single digits. Many of us remember 2017 when Shelly Simonds’ race for the Virginia House of Delegates ended in a tie, and she lost after her opponent won a random chance draw out of a bowl. One of your postcards could go to the voter who will decide whether the Virginia House of Delegates flips from red to blue or stays red, sending Virginia on a path to becoming the next Florida. If you have never written a postcard, now is a great time to start with five or ten postcards. The postcarding section of this newsletter offers an array of postcard-writing opportunities. If you want company while you write, join us on one of our five weekly postcarding zooms (plus in-person postcarding opportunities in NYC and an increasing number of pop-ups).
 

These are the states we are focusing on from now until November 7th and we hope you will join us:
 

Ohio
We wrote against a Republican referendum in August. Now we need to write to urge Ohio voters to vote YES on a referendum that would enshrine reproductive freedom in the Ohio Constitution. Active America and Postcards To Voters have addresses and the scripts are relatively short. 

New York
As Deshundra Jefferson, one of our inspiring guests last week reminded us, #LocalElectionsMatter. Local governments determine everything from whether streets get paved to whether water is safe to drink. Markers For Democracy is focusing on local races in NY this cycle because we saw what happened in 2022 when Democrats lost several competitive House races in NY, including seats on Long Island and in the Hudson Valley where some of our members live, and many of our members visit. By sending postcards to voters for important local races in 2023, we are engaging the voters we need to flip the House in 2024. The races on Long Island – for Suffolk County Legislature and Ken Colon for Islip Town Supervisor – are also critical for ensuring that Suffolk County residents get the clean water they deserve, and for building the Democrats’ bench for future elections. You will find our Long Island campaigns on our own Postcards For Democracy distribution site. But keep your eye on Postcards To Voters for other New York races. 

Pennsylvania
If you have been following the concerted effort by extremist and well-funded right-wing groups like Moms for Liberty (more properly known as Moms for Book Bans) to take over school boards around the country, you may have heard of the Pennridge school district in Bucks County, PA. As the Southern Poverty Law Center wrote recently, Pennridge is what happens when Moms for Liberty “Flips” a School Board.  
In addition to banning books like Toni Morrison’s “Beloved” and Stephen Chbosky’s young adult classic, “The Perks of Being a Wallflower,” the right-wing majority on the Pennridge School Board hired an inexperienced ideologue trained by and allied with conservative Hillsdale Curriculum to rewrite the curriculum. Parents, students, and teachers are appalled at the results, including his omission of the 19th Century from U.S. history. We’ve been asked by Pennridge parents to write postcards to help them flip their school board back to a majority that wants to teach history and won’t ban books. This campaign will be posted very soon on Postcards For Democracy.

Virginia
While several elections have been vying for the title of the most important election of 2023, it is worth noting that David Pepper took a day off of tweeting about Ohio to write:  “Focus your energy where you can make the most difference. And YOU can make a HUGE difference in protecting abortion access and democracy over the next two months.  In Virginia!” Simon Rosenberg also implored his readers of Hopium Chronicles to “take the great grassroots machine which has been winning elections across the US since the spring of 2022 and turn it to Virginia.” 
 
Markers For Democracy has been focused on Virginia since 2019 when we started our first giving circle, to raise money for Democrats running for the Virginia House of Delegates. We learned that Virginia’s elections can be a bellwether for the federal elections the following year and can help to set the narrative for the year. Thus, in 2019, when Democrats flipped the General Assembly, it seemed to foretell 2020 when Democrats took back the White House and the U.S. Senate. This year, however, with a Republican Governor, Glenn Youngkin, and a Republican majority in the House of Delegates, Virginia is only a few seats away from a Republican trifecta that will bring with it an abortion ban, leaving millions of women in the South without any access the full range of reproductive health care. The Republicans have also promised to roll back voting rights and gun safety legislation if they take over. It is crucial that Democrats hold the Virginia State Senate where they currently hold a 22 to 18 majority. But Democrats also have an opportunity to flip the House of Delegates back to blue and it is critical that we help them with our postcards, phonebanks, textbanks, and donations. Republican wins in Virginia will set a terrible narrative for 2024 and fuel Glenn Youngkin’s presidential ambitions. There are currently postcard campaigns for Virginia on Postcards4VA and Postcards For Democracy and we anticipate additional campaigns from Postcards To Voters.  

As David Pepper reminded us recently:  “Don’t spend most of your time simply watching and stressing about federal elections next year that we have no control over right now. Spend your time focused on protecting democracy where it’s at stake right now, where we can seize opportunities to protect it and stop attacks against it.”  Markers For Democracy knows that the cure for political anxiety is political activism and we invite you to join us!