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The Charlottesville Democratic Committee

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Winning in the November 7 Local Elections: Thursdays 4-7pm at Ix Art Park

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Poster using a wide variety of different letter and background colors used with the words "Turn out the Vote Thursdays phone bank grab a bite at a food truck write postcards to voters"We’ll be meeting every Thursday 4-7pm for “Turn Out the Vote Thursdays” at the Ix Art Park on the Brazos Tacos lawn, weather permitting. Come when and for how long your schedule and mood dictate; it needn’t be every week or the entire three hours! This week we’ll be writing postcards to newly registered City and County voters; if you can, bring a chair to sit on and a clipboard or something similar to write on.

There are lots of different ways to help over the next few months, do what’s most comfortable for you: door knocking, phone calling, voter registration, postcard writing, etc. For questions, please contact Mary Ann Harris: harrisma49@gmail.com .

For the past three years, we’ve been fortunate to have so many dedicated people join us at Ix Art Park to eat, drink, chat, and pitch in together to help our Democratic candidates win. In 2022, we had 100+ volunteers who attended at least one time, with many attending almost every week. If you’ve joined us before, please join us again. If you haven’t tried it yet, come on down and meet fellow Dems and enjoy yourself while working for a big win on November 7!

Mary Ann Harris, Nancy Damon, Suzanne Michels, Noemi Paz, and John Shepherd have been planning goals and volunteer opportunities to help hold the Senate and win back control of the House of Delegates! As in the previous years, the group will be:

  • Writing postcards and making follow-up phone calls to newly registered voters. That combination has been very successful, resulting in this group voting at a consistent 75-80% rate in 2021-2023.
  • 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.

Local Elections: Canvassing with the Albemarle Dems

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We’re partnering to ensure we win our local races (with several uncontested City races, it makes sense to shift our efforts!):

  • Photo of Creigh Deeds in a suit and tie talking with constituents. Caption is "Deeds State Senate"State Senate: Creigh Deeds is favored to win our crucial Senate District 11, but the district has some very conservative areas, and we can’t be complacent if we’re going to keep this seat. His opponent, Phillip Andrew Hamilton, is quite a piece of work; among other claims to fame, he’s publicly misgendered his own 12-year-old, claiming that school teachers had poisoned his child’s mind into being non-binary. This is not someone we want representing us; please donate to or canvass for the Deeds campaign!

 

  • Photo of Amy Laufer 2023House of Delegates: Amy Laufer (our Albemarle County neighbor running in a competitive District #55 race) and Katrina Callsen (running unopposed in our District #54)
  • Charlottesville City Council: Natalie Oschrin, Michael Payne, and Lloyd Snook
  • Charlottesville School Board: Amanda Burn, Shymora Cooper, Chris Meyer, and Nicole Richardson
  • Albemarle County Board of Supervisors: Bea LaPisto-Kirtley, Ann Mallek, and Michael Pruitt
  • Albemarle County Board of Education candidate Allison Spillman wearing her campaign t-shirt holding a microphone
    Allison Spillman

    Albemarle County School Board: Rebecca Berlin, Judy Le, Ellen Moore Osborne, and Allison Spillman. A special note about Allison’s race: she’s running against Meg Scalia Bryce, the daughter of the late Supreme Court Justice Antonin Scalia. Scalia-Bryce is (a) very concerned that the ACSB has been treating LGBTQ kids with respect and support, and (b) is very offended by its anti-racist curriculum. Scalia-Bryce has been winning the fundraising race by a wide margin, and we can’t let extremists like her start taking over our local schools. Please help Allison’s campaign any way you can, especially via donations and canvassing help.

If you’d like to canvass locally (figure roughly 3 hours):

  1. On a weekday, please email karencombs6522@gmail.com .
  2. On a weekend, use SignUp Genius to participate in one or more of the coordinated canvasses we’re doing with the Albemarle Dems, see the table below.

Spreadsheet screenshot showing dates + start times + cities + locations of Fall 2023 Democratic canvasses as of 8-18-2023. Some rows are highlighted in yellow.

Sign up using this Signup Genius link!

Maps:  Combs’ Office  Mudhouse Crozet

Note: yellow highlights show “Weekends of Action” emphasis

Successful “Summer Fun in the Sun” Picnic with the Albemarle Dems (7/30/23)

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photo of people sitting at picnic tables listening to speeches75 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!).

 

photo of Creigh Deeds speaking and holding a microphone wearing informal shirt and slacks

Creigh Deeds

 

Photo of Amy Laufer wearing a white blouse and blue skirt and sunglasses at the picnic

Amy Laufer 

Albemarle County Board of Education candidate Allison Spillman wearing her campaign t-shirt at her booth under a tent
Allison Spillman

 

Photo of Lloyd Snook, Sheila Haughey, and Madison Cummings at the Albemarle+Cville Dems Picnic 20230730
Lloyd Snook, Sheila Haughey, and Madison Cummings

 

Dems standing in the food line at the Albemarle+Cville Dems Picnic 20230730
The food line

 

Photo of grill cooks Lewis Combs and Rodney Beard making meat and plant-based hamburgers at the 20230730 picnic
Grill cooks Lewis Combs and Rodney Beard

 

Photo of Tom Vandever and Brian Pinkston at the Albemarle+Cville Dems Picnic 20230730
Tom Vandever and Brian Pinkston

 

Photo of Karen Combs wearing a blue "Get Vocal Vote Local" T-shirt at the Albemarle+Cville Dems Picnic 20230730
Karen Combs

 

Photo of Carrson Everett wearing sunglasses and a blue "Get Vocal Vote Local" T-shirt at the Albemarle+Cville Dems Picnic 20230730
Carrson Everett

Photo of Dems at the at the Albemarle+Cville Dems Picnic sitting around before the speeches began

 

Sunday 7/30: Albemarle & Cville Dems Summer Picnic!

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Cville Dems round blue and white logo with Albemarle Dems stylized donkey logo

Cartoon showing a family sitting at a picnic table

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!

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Poster using a wide variety of different letter and background colors used with the words "Turn out the Vote Thursdays phone bank grab a bite at a food truck write postcards to voters"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

Cville Dems Have a New Voter Protection Head!

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Jeremy Jones with a straw hat and an "I voted" sticker standing in front of an "Early Voting Here" sidewalk sign.Jeremy Jones is taking the reins from Bekah Saxon and Kristin Clarens after two election cycles of their good and gracious tutelage (and his prior 2020 experience working as an election official on Election Day). Jeremy really enjoys helping people on Election Day, when everyone’s excited about casting their ballots and having their say in who governs.

Jeremy 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

NOTE: Threats to our elections are not hypothetical… VA counties not so far from us are under attack and we need to stay vigilant! For example:

“Allegations of misconduct and incompetence have bombarded the Buckingham County election office since last November …. after the entire office chose to resign rather than tolerate the accusations, a staff of four has been replaced by a staff of two …. The chairwoman of the Buckingham County Republican Committee who is now trying to assuage voter concerns may be the very reason voters had concerns in the first place … two sources told The Daily Progress that [Republican Committee chairwoman Ramona] Christian emailed an unsubstantiated document to the local Republican Party that claimed absentee ballots in the county’s 2022 General Election came from nonresidents.” Daily Progress, 7/11/23