General Discussion
Related: Editorials & Other Articles, Issue Forums, Alliance Forums, Region Forums"An Alternative Strategy for Democratic Success: Growing a New Electorate"
What if I was to tell you about a county in a red state where Democrats won almost every slot on the ballot in 2016 (some for the first time in decades) and Clinton won by over 160,000 votes, after Obamas margin was less than a thousand in 2012? That is exactly the story Andrew Cockburn tells us about Harris County Texas (Houston and the surrounding suburbs).
Cockburn credits the work of three women for those results: Michelle Tremolo, Ginny Goldman and Crystal Zermenotwo of whom met while working for the now-defunct organization ACORN. They created an organization called the Texas Organizing Project (TOP). Given that Texas has one of the lowest voter turnout rates in the country, the first order of business for TOP was to find out who was not voting.
Digging deep into voter files and other databases, Zermeno confirmed that Texas contained a wealth of non-voting people of color. Most of them were registered, but seldom (if ever) turned up at the polls. The problem, she noted, was especially acute with Latinos, only 15 percent of whom were regular voters. In her detailed report, she calculated precisely how many extra voters needed to turn out to elect someone who would represent the interests of all Texans: a minimum of 1.1 million. Fortuitously, these reluctant voters were concentrated in just nine big urban counties, led by Harris.
KittyWampus
(55,894 posts)Can require patience too.
Wounded Bear
(58,648 posts)a lot of these grass roots local organizing activities will probably not be as successful as the group in the article. That's the hard part. If you don't win, you still need to keep up the fight for the next cycle.
KittyWampus
(55,894 posts)Wounded Bear
(58,648 posts)everybody wants their jobs back now. Everybody wants immigrants out now. Etc, etc...
Repubs have been working their side for 40 years or so. I hope it doesn't take us that long to get it back.
Gothmog
(145,176 posts)Steve and Amber are very strong trial lawyers who funded TOP.
delisen
(6,043 posts)Wounded Bear
(58,648 posts)IMHO that implies that Dems need to abandon their current electorate.
We need to expand our electorate, especially into those red counties/districts that are vulnerable. Our current electorate is fine, we DO need to expand it, and the easiest source for new voters is in those groups that have not been voting at all.
The recent demonstrations are certainly hopeful, and it appears that people are getting organized and actually speaking up to their reps. Great stuff.
The actual work that the article describes is spot on and, adjusted for local conditions of course, is what needs to happen nation wide. There are literally millions of voters out there that haven't been participating in the system and I firmly believe that the majority of them would vote blue if they voted at all.
Hortensis
(58,785 posts)But in spite of the trashy intro, good news. I like to think the Republicans are also working with us on a nationwide turn-out effort.
crazycatlady
(4,492 posts)First approach is to expand your electorate by registering new voters.
Second approach is to turn out sporadic voters with GOTV tactics.
Third approach is to persuade swing voters (who always/often vote) to vote for your ticket.
A successful campaign is an all of the above approach.
sarah FAILIN
(2,857 posts)We went door to door registering people to vote. It is not a joke if you are willing to go door to door in the bad parts of town registering people in their homes. The Rep party is king in this state and that is why.
crazycatlady
(4,492 posts)Apartment complexes were key as there's more turnover there (1 year lease vs 30 year mortgage). I've also been in some pretty seedy transit centers, strip malls, etc.
My favorite place to register voters is at Pride events.
sarah FAILIN
(2,857 posts)I'm thinking Saturday evenings at Wal-mart lol
crazycatlady
(4,492 posts)Laundromats. Captive audience.
guillaumeb
(42,641 posts)Texas also has extremely restrictive voter registration regulations. Regulations that are designed to prevent organizations from helping voters get registered.
Jamaal510
(10,893 posts)come from the same people who claim to hate regulations.
guillaumeb
(42,641 posts)Gothmog
(145,176 posts)Since Texas used to have a poll tax, all voter registration is done by the tax assessor office. The Democrat who is the new tax assessor and is now in charge of voter registration is a lady who I trained as a poll watcher back in 2012.
Wounded Bear
(58,648 posts)Gothmog
(145,176 posts)Wounded Bear
(58,648 posts)actually cares about doing it.
JHan
(10,173 posts)leftstreet
(36,107 posts)ismnotwasm
(41,976 posts)I keep thinking about the millions that didn't vote--who aren't politically engaged. Who think no one represents their interests,--this is a good article
Gothmog
(145,176 posts)TOP did an amazing job in Harris county
Wounded Bear
(58,648 posts)Gothmog
(145,176 posts)Houston, Dallas, Austin, San Antonio, El Paso and the Rio Grande Valley are all blue. We need to expand into suburban counties next.
LAS14
(13,783 posts)One way to increase the probability of turning red to blue is to contribute to It Starts Today.
I've been spreading the word about It Starts Today because it is a nice add on to whatever more focused group(s) we want to support. They divide their money equally among the 438 (?? I might have that number wrong) Democratic candidates. It's appealing to me because who knows where a critical mass of Democrats might erupt in a red area if given enough financial support AND just plain attention?
Here's an e-mail I got from them today.
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