How to Turn a Person Into a Voter
Last edited Mon Oct 29, 2018, 01:01 PM - Edit history (1)
'Our approach is specific to black Southerners. But our model can work for anyone.
This month, we got on a bus with some colleagues and made our way to a senior center in Louisville, Ga., a quaint town about 50 miles from Augusta. The trip was part of a bus tour across the South to talk to black people about building political power.
When we arrived, we led the group in a discussion, then sang freedom songs and James Brown’s “Say It Loud, I’m Black and I’m Proud!” They even had a dance-off.
It was a moment of fun, but moments like that are also a key part of our strategy for getting people to vote.
All year, our group, Black Voters Matter Fund, crisscrosses the South, focusing on progressive pockets in red states to find people who have been ignored. . .
Remind people they have political power.
This summer, we chatted with a nursing assistant at a restaurant in Americus, Ga., who had just decided to sit out the midterms. We asked her a few questions and learned that some of her family members didn’t have good access to health care. One even had to drive some 100 miles to get to the nearest hospital; eight rural hospitals have closed in Georgia since 2008, more than in any other state except Texas and Tennessee.
We asked her, “Do you know what’s happening with Medicaid?” She didn’t. So we explained that if Georgia followed the more than 30 states that have expanded Medicaid, rural hospitals could stay open and it could create thousands of new health care jobs.
Her face lit up. She walked across the street to our bus and filled out a voter registration form. And she persuaded her friend to do the same. . .
We never try to convince people they’re wrong or shame them. That doesn’t work. We listen and validate their feelings. We even admit that sometimes we don’t feel like voting. This is part of our strategy: You can make a more durable connection with someone if you empathize.'>>>
https://www.nytimes.com/2018/10/27/opinion/voter-voting-alabama-black.html?