These are more energizing scenes from my long weekend of canvassing in New York, New Jersey, and Pennsylvania with Senator Cory Booker, Sue Altman, Mondaire Jones, and for Vice President Kamala Harris and Governor Tim Walz.
Now election day is here! My heart is full of hope. The great Congressman John Lewis said so beautifully, “Freedom isn’t a state; it’s an act.” So is democracy. So is joy.
Voting is how we reaffirm and recommit to our well-being, to each other, to the world, and for our collective future. It is how we evolve this grand experiment of a country. It is, like our favorite characters in novels and throughout history, deeply flawed and deeply loved. Today is the day we exercise our right to make it better for all of us. Please vote.
Early voting starts in New York and New Jersey today, October 26, 2024. In New York City, we have a number of races and proposals on our ballot. Here are informational links about them. Thank you for being a voter, encouraging your friends, family members, and neighbors to vote, and participating in our democracy.
Early voting days, times, and location
Saturday, October 26, 2024 — Sunday, November 3, 2024. Hours vary by day
The location of your early voting polling station may be different than your election day polling station.
November 5th is the last day to postmark your early mail ballot and absentee ballot return envelope. It is also the last day to deliver a ballot in person at the Board of Elections or drop it off at a poll site. Find your poll site at https://findmypollsite.vote.nyc/
Candidates on the New York City ballot this year
We will be voting for candidates for the following offices: President and Vice President U.S. Senate Congressional district State Assembly State Senate
Here is the name and direct link to each proposal that explains what it means as well as arguments for and against it. Proposal 1 aims to prevent discrimination and enhance civil rights. Proposals 2 — 6 grant increased power to the mayor and the mayor’s appointees.
On Sunday, I hopped on a bus in New York and made my way to Philadelphia, Pennsylvania to canvas for Kamala Harris and Tim Walz with the organization Swing Left. This is the first time I’ve ever gone door-to-door for a candidate and I wanted to tell you about my positive experience. With only 3 weeks left before Election Day on Tuesday, November 5th , and early voting and vote by mail already in full swing in many states, now is the time to do everything we can to get out the vote.
Structure of the day: At 9:30am, our bus left from 34th Street and 11th Avenue in Manhattan near the Jacob Javits Center.
We received training on the bus with a sample script that we were encouraged to make our own. We used an app called Minivan that had our voter lists and the script (more on that below). We pair up with another volunteer on the bus to canvass together.
At 11:15am, we arrived at campaign headquarters in Northeast Philadelphia. We had one more quick training with the campaign team, downloaded our voter lists into the Minivan app, and someone drove us to the area where we were going to canvas.
At 12 noon, we started working down our voter lists, knocking on each door. We had a lot of wonderful conversations with voters about the issues that mattered to them. We encouraged them to vote and explained that Pennsylvania is one of the swing states in this election that would likely decide the final outcome. A lot of voters didn’t know how much their vote matters!
There were a few people who weren’t interested in talking to us. That’s okay. We thanked them, wished them a good Sunday, and left. With limited time, we have to focus on those who want to engage. If people weren’t home, we left literature for them at their door.
We kept track of our conversations and if someone was home or not in the Minivan app so that the campaign got all of this information. Once we were comfortable, we split our lists — I took one side of the street and my buddy took the other. We visited 205 homes with 322 voters. (Collectively, our bus visited 4,000 homes!)
At 4pm, we finished our lists. Someone from the campaign picked us up and brought us back to headquarters. We gave feedback to the campaign. Once everyone returned, we got on the bus, debriefed with the Swing Left bus captains, and were back in New York by 8pm.
Messaging: We were not there to be policy experts. The basic script is to knock on the door, smile, state our name, and explain we’re with the Harris Walz campaign. Then we hit the 3 main points: thank them for being a voter, explain we’re talking to their neighbors who support Kamala and Tim, and ask them about the details of their plan to vote (where, when, and how they plan to vote). We could also ask who they support and why, and which issues matter most to them. What matters most in this work is listening to these voters, and sharing our stories about why we support Kamala and Tim. Before leaving, we thanked them for their time.
Research shows door-to-door canvassing is the single best way to engage voters and turn them out at the polls, increasing voter turnout for a candidate by as much as 10%. Phone banking as well as writing letters and postcards to voters are also effective ways to reach voters, increasing turnout between 1% and 3%. While that might sound small, remember that this is a tight election and every single vote matters. With 21 days left, the race is on. Do everything you can to turn out the vote!
While I’m glad to see the flip in the House, and the election of the first Muslim women to Congress, the first openly gay governor, and the largest number of women to ever serve our country, I can’t help but think about how much it took for those narrow wins and the painful narrow losses. I know many of you worked hard phone and text banking, canvassing, posting, donating, volunteering, and running. And a huge thank you to those who turned out to vote.
We have elected the most diverse set of candidates this country has ever had! I know you’re tired. I’m tired, too. And I also know that 2020 begins now. Literally today. We have a huge amount of work ahead of us. And this isn’t about Democrats versus Republicans. This is about the bedrock of our democracy. This is about basic human decency and dignity. And I’m ready to do what’s needed today and every tomorrow I have. I love this country, and I believe in its future. I believe in our ability to collectively restore what’s been gutted by this administration.
Not voting is voting – it’s voting to hand your power over to someone else. The greatest enemy to our democracy is not a person, a party, or a policy. It’s apathy. It’s a lack of action. It’s not voting. Today, claim your power. Vote. Your rights depend on it. My rights depend on it. We are in this together. Please vote.
What’s your plan to vote? I’m ready to use my fully-healed tattoo of Thor’s hammer in the name of justice tomorrow by casting my vote for the midterms. I hope you will, too. NY doesn’t have early voting and I expect long lines in my district so I will be there as soon as the polls open. Get to the polls. Help other people get to the polls. Stay in line. Care. Be heard. Participate. Vote! (And thank you Mehai Bakaty of fineline tattoo nyc!)
“Not everyone starts their work in politics by running for Congress. School & community boards have critical impacts on local communities. Run!” ~Vicki Eastus
My friend, Vicki, said this to me this week and it empowered me to consider running for a hyperlocal local office in my New York City community. If you’ve had similar thoughts, or you’re just curious about the whole election process on any level, there are so many resources available:
Today marks a significant day in history: a public Senate hearing on Russian interference in the 2016 Presidential election. I am attending and will live tweet it on my Twitter feed at @christanyc.
The HonorableSally Q. Yates, Former Acting Attorney General of the United States, and The HonorableJames R. Clapper, Former Director of National Intelligence of the United States, will testify in front of the Senate Committee on the Judiciary, Subcommittee on Crime and Terrorism.
The first economic casualty of this election found me yesterday. My favorite staff member in my apartment building told me that my landlord is outsourcing the staffing of the building in preparation for a recession that they think will hit in the coming months. The staff is being offered the chance to interview for the outsourced company, though there is no guarantee of a job and even if they do get a job, their pay will be cut and their housing subsidy will be taken away.
“Even if I get the job, they’re going to cut my pay by $3.50/hour,” he said to me. “And that’s going to hurt a lot. My last day could be November 30th if I don’t get this job. I was wondering if you could do me a favor, Christa. Would you write a recommendation letter for me that I could bring to the interview?”
My eyes teared up. This man has been a good friend to me, and really makes my building feel like home. He’s professional, kind, and caring. He loves his job and the people who live in my building. I’d pay double my rent to help him and the rest of the staff who do such a wonderful job helping all of us. I was prepared to take out my checkbook right there, and instead what he asked for was a letter. $3.50/hour is a lot to him; it makes the difference between being able to pay his bills and not being able to pay his bills. Let that sink in. He lives in D.C., a very expensive city, and makes less than $35,000/year before taxes, and that could drop to $27,000/year. That’s what he’s fighting for. That’s what he’d be grateful to get. This is the working poor. Right. Next. Door.
The President-elect, ensconced in his 3-story, 24K gold penthouse on Fifth Avenue, doesn’t care a lick about people like my friend. But you know what? I care. I can do something, and I will. I wrote my heart out in that reference letter for my friend. I’ll be writing a lot of letters in the coming days, weeks, and months. I’m not going to standby and watch our economy and our country go to hell in a hand-basket at the hands of an inexperienced madman and his cabinet of ignorants. Deplorable? Yes. Unstoppable? No.
To say that I am sad, disillusioned, and disappointed is an understatement. And here is something I won’t be: silent. I will raise my voice louder, clearer, and stronger than ever because now it counts more than ever. I am sick and I am tired of sexism, racism, bigotry, crudeness, narcissism, disrespect, and this fundamental belief that somehow dedication and experience isn’t important when it comes to government. If the new administration and its supporters think that for one second I will quietly live in a world of their design, they are in for a very rude awakening. Most of those states were won by very narrow margins which means that there are an awful lot of people who believe what I believe and the only way I’m going to find them is to call out in as loud, determined, and tenacious a voice as I have.
I believe in democracy. I believe in the people’s right to select its political leaders. I believe in our institutions. What I don’t believe in is change for change sake with no modifiers or qualifiers to tell us exactly what kind of change we’re getting. The markets are tumbling, and my great fear is that the rights of women as well as racial, ethnic, and religious minorities will follow. These 4 years could be the worst in our history, though I can’t in good conscience stand idly by. And I won’t.
Under the anger and disbelief, I am hopeful. Not hopeful about the abilities and intentions of the new administration, but hopeful about ours. I don’t need healing. I’m already healed. This election didn’t break me down. It made me tougher. What’s needed now is action, and I’m going to put my energy into building a better world and a better country that aligns with my vision of fairness, kindness, love, a strong work ethic, opportunity, compassion, and empathy. You with me?
Not voting is voting – it’s voting to hand your power over to someone else. The greatest enemy to our democracy is not a person, a party, or a policy. It’s apathy. It’s a lack of action. It’s not voting. Today, claim your power. Vote. Your rights depend on it. My rights depend on it. We are in this together. Please vote.
What’s your plan to vote? I’m ready to use my fully-healed tattoo of Thor’s hammer in the name of justice tomorrow by casting my vote for the midterms. I hope you will, too. NY doesn’t have early voting and I expect long lines in my district so I will be there as soon as the polls open. Get to the polls. Help other people get to the polls. Stay in line. Care. Be heard. Participate. Vote! (And thank you 
Christa Avampato 