Recent Cartoons by Clay Jones
Events
Voter Protection for the November Election!
Our new head of Voter Protection, Jeremy Jones, is looking to expand the VoPro Team to not only cover all the Charlottesville precincts in November, but also hopefully to help out in some other key VA races across the state, so everyone who’s eligible to vote gets to do so.
Voter protection requires a lot of behind-the-scenes work, so there are many ways you can pitch in. The main three:
1. Observe polling place operations and use an online system to file reports of any problems with the State Democratic Party’s boiler room of lawyers ready to handle them. You don’t have to be a lawyer to do this! The only prerequisites are:
- Taking a 2-hour training session before Election Day (since it’s all about making sure the rules are followed, step #1 is having lawyers explain what the rules are!).
- On Election Day you must work either the entire long exhilarating day (5am to 8pm!) or a more moderately thrilling half-day shift, either 5am-1pm or Noon-8pm.
- Being able to keep your cool and speak diplomatically if any problem(s) should arise.
Two examples of issues last year’s team helped with:
- Explaining the new same-day registration and provisional voting rules to make sure that all such votes could be validated and counted.
- Dealing with a traffic accident in front of Tonsler Precinct that temporarily blocked voter access.
2. “Chase and cure” (remote work, flexible schedule over the six weeks of early voting) — after a bit of training, help voters fix problems with their mail-in absentee ballots so those ballots can be counted (e.g. when someone gives a PO Box mailing address rather than the required street address).
3. Help staff the Voter Protection Hotline (also remote) — answer problem report phone calls and then try to resolve those problems. This also requires training.
If you might be willing to get involved in these kinds of efforts, please contact Jeremy: hijeremyjones@gmail.com
Successful “Summer Fun in the Sun” Picnic with the Albemarle Dems (7/30/23)
75 people turned out on July 30 and did have a lot of fun… and got to hear good, short speeches from most of our local candidates!
The Albemarle Dems were super well-organized and had everything running smoothly and brought plenty of good food; thank you Karen Combs and crew!
John McLaren coordinated getting gas grills (thanks to Rodney Beard and Jules Tatum for providing the equipment and transportation) and Martha Donnelly (game buyer extraordinaire), Emily Little, and Dan Doernberg organized the games, with cornhole provided by Josh Throneburg and Jason and Tom Vandever.
Erin Monaghan took the games and miscellaneous other things to our storage locker for the next picnic (everyone said we should do this again, and hold more joint events with Albemarle!).
Creigh Deeds
Amy Laufer
Sunday 7/30: Albemarle & Cville Dems Summer Picnic!
Come have fun and meet all our November candidates!
Date & Time: Sunday, July 30, 2pm-?? (original 6/26 was rained out)
Where: Darden Towe Park Picnic Shelter — Enter the Park, turn right at the T intersection, take the road to the end to reach the picnic shelter and Dog Park).
We provide: Hotdogs/Burgers/Vegan food options + games for adults and kids (we’re bringing cornhole, balls for soccer/kickball, bocce/petanque, and bubbles for little ones; feel free to bring more of the above or your own favorite picnic games/activities!).
You bring: Non-alcoholic beverages, a side dish or dessert, 1 chair per person, family and friends (kid-friendly!), and your Democratic Spirit!
Food, games, meet candidates, and lots of Dems… what’s not to like? Bring family and friends (especially those who aren’t as politically engaged!) and help spread the word!
RSVPs (optional but helpful) to: karencombs6522@gmail.com
“Turn-Out-the-Vote Thursdays” Resumes 8/10!
Turn-Out-the-Vote Thursdays will resume on Thursday, August 10, 4-7pm, on the grass at Ix Art Park. It’s a friendly group, with plenty of time to chat and catch up while we work, and we’ve added the extra hour (4pm start) to accommodate as many people’s schedules as possible.
Mary Ann Harris, Nancy Damon, Suzanne Michels, Noemi Paz, and John Shepherd have been planning goals and volunteer opportunities for November’s election (less than four months away!).
As in the previous election cycles, the group will be:
- Writing postcards and making follow-up phone calls to the newly Charlottesville registered voters signed up by our Voter Registration Team. That combination has been very successful, resulting in voting at an 80% rate in 2020 and 2022, and at a 75% rate in 2021.
- Distributing “walk sheet” name and address lists of Dem-leaning people for our campaign canvassers to visit.
- Sending some specific issue-message postcards (a new idea we’re considering).
- Writing postcards and phoning Albemarle residents we’ve registered.
- Writing postcards and phoning for campaigns near Charlottesville; we really want to win control of the House of Delegates and hold the Senate!
- Perhaps organizing a canvassing trip or two!
Consider one or more of these options and hopefully join in on whichever one(s) sound good to you!
Please contact Mary Ann Harris with any questions: harrisma49@gmail.com
2nd Annual Summer Bash Fundraiser is just Days Away!
The 2023 Summer Bash, our annual fundraiser, will be an outdoor event with Lynlee Thorne, Political Director of Rural GroundGame, as our guest speaker. Last year we had a great time, and having the event right before the June 20 primary also gives us the perfect chance to chat with our City Council, House of Delegates, and State Senate candidates.
Date: Friday, June 2
Time: 6-8pm
Cost (includes dinner!): $25 per person (only $15 if this is your very first Bash!)
Location: on the Jefferson School African American Heritage Center (JSAAHC) lawn, 233 4th St. NW
Food: fried chicken or vegetarian dinner options.
Event sponsorships by our members are our main source of funding for everything we do: supporting campaigns, writing to newly registered voters, providing scholarships, and generally encouraging people to exercise their rights as citizens.
There’s still time to be a sponsor, at a level of your choice:
- $100 or $250 (both include 2 dinner tickets)
- $500 (includes 4 dinner tickets)
You can also buy two tickets and bring a friend…or bring your whole precinct! And you can always donate purchased tickets so some newcomers can afford to come (e.g. if you’ll be out of town or just want to treat it as a donation).
Our speaker, Lynlee Thorne, lives in the beautiful Shenandoah Valley on a small farm with her 2 young children and a menagerie of livestock. She has served as Chair of her local Democratic Committee and as campaign staff for multiple local and statewide campaigns over the past 5 years, including multiple statewide coordinated campaigns and local races. Both farming and being a rural Democrat require a long-term commitment to hard work, perseverance, and cultivation of resilient communities, which Lynlee brings to her work with Rural GroundGame.
