Phone banks statewide tomorrow, Thursday; walks Saturday in Tacoma, Vancouver

(Sept. 15, 2014) –There’s 50 days left until the General Election and the question posed in today’s New York Times editorial is, “Will voters realize that decisions made on Nov. 4 will reverberate in laws not passed, roads not built and jobs not created?”

In Ferguson, Mo., where only 12 percent of voters showed up in the last city election, the cost of nonparticipation was a City Council wholly unrepresentative of the town’s population. On the national level, Democrats and independents — most of whom did not vote in the 2010 midterm Congressional elections — were swamped by Republicans who voted in much larger proportions. The result was a Republican House dominated by the hard right, which over four years became the largest impediment to economic growth and equality. The same thing has happened in many statewide elections.

In fact, it just happened here in Washington state in August.

Fewer than one in three voters bothered to return their ballots in August, which boosted the most conservative candidates for State Legislature. Right-wingers who control the State Senate already have created gridlock in Olympia, threatened a D.C.-style state government shutdown, and killed efforts to sufficiently fund public schools and provide job-creating infrastructure investments. Unless working people vote — and vote for candidates who support their priorities — the next two years could be even worse.

That’s where YOU come in.

With 50 days to go, there are lots of opportunities to volunteer for Labor’s Voice, the Washington State Labor Council’s grassroots political action program, and help reach out to voters across the state and explain which candidates have earned working families support, and why. NOW is the time to sign up to volunteer for phone banks and neighborhood walks.

Check the Labor’s Voice schedule and you’ll see that there are phone banks tomorrow (Tuesday, Sept. 16) in Bellingham, Everett, Olympia, SeaTac, Seattle, Spokane, Tacoma, and Vancouver. They are set to continue Thursday night in many of those cities.

And this Saturday, Sept. 20, there are critically important neighborhood walks planned in Tacoma and Vancouver. These walks are fun and way more efficient than years past because, instead of juggling maps and paper, an efficient new smart-phone app is being used that has gotten rave reviews from participants in Primary Election walks.

Volunteer online to participate. If you have questions, contact WSLC Field Mobilization Director Lori Province via email or by calling 206-351-2956.