Do Something!

It’s happening. All across the country, volunteers are writing postcards and letters to targeted Democratic voters in those half-dozen “battleground” states we keep hearing about.

These are the people who will decide which president we will get — Kamala Harris or Trump.

Could the stakes be higher?

In my neighborhood, East Rock in New Haven, folks are putting up Harris-Walz lawn signs. But we know that’s not enough.

Sure, no doubt about it, we’re feeling much better than when Joe Biden was on the ticket and we were being subjected to doomsday polls. We felt positively giddy after the Democratic National Convention and we’re still feeling giddy after watching Harris clobber the Trumpster in the debate this week. We were tense going in; my wife and I fortified ourselves with wine and in my case some Jim Beam vanilla bourbon whiskey. But right from the start — Harris striding confidently across the stage to shake hands with Trump and telling him her name in case he couldn’t remember how to pronounce it — we were feeling upbeat. And when he lapsed into what the Haitian migrants in Ohio are eating, we knew it was going to be a winning night for our side.

May I quote him? “In Springfield, they’re eating the dogs. The people that come in, they’re eating the cats. They’re eating — they’re eating the pets of the people that live there!”

Harris smiled at him with a look that said: “Can you believe this guy?”

Yes, a good night. A fun night. But it ain’t over, not by a long shot. When Michelle Obama addressed the DNC, she noted the euphoria in the air. But she told us not to get smug or complacent. She rallied the troops: “Michelle Obama is asking you — no, I’m telling y’all — to do something!”

And so that’s why many of us in our neighborhood are joining forces with groups that have done the boots on the ground work to identify voters who will do the right thing on Election Day, perhaps with a little nudge. Lists of those voters with their addresses have been provided to letter writers and postcard writers. And then we do the rest.

Two of my neighbors directly across the street from me are doing it. One couple is working with the Movement Voter Project (see movement.vote). Another is handing out voter lists on behalf of the group Postcards to Swing States, a program of the Progressive Turnout Project. (Turnoutpac.org/postcards). So far she has given to my wife and me a half-dozen sheets for more than 100 voters in Pennsylvania and Arizona.

What’s interesting is that none of these messages mention Harris or Trump. We’re simply reminding them to vote, sometimes by noting the importance of health care. The field workers who went door-to-door or did phone work know that if these voters can be motivated to get to the polls (or vote absentee ballot) they will do the good thing.

For example: “Dear ___Thank you for being a voter! Please remind your friends and family to vote. Please ask them to vote in the Tuesday, Nov. 5 election!” Then you sign your first name. You either return the filled-out postcards to your neighborhood pal or buy the stamps yourself (I’ve bought about a hundred stamps so far) and mail them yourself.

Another neighbor two blocks up from us organized a party of sorts, inviting people to spend last Sunday afternoon sitting at tables in his house or on the back porch, writing letters on behalf of Working America. This group sends canvassers to the doors of working class non-union members and tries to win them back to the Dems side by connecting them to services and building trust.

On that beautiful Sunday afternoon I would be missing the New York Giants season opener, the final men’s game of the U.S. Open and the Yankees-Cubs game — but sacrifices have to be made! Besides: the Giants suck, the Yankees also lost and the tennis match wasn’t even close.

Working America had the cards with the health care angle. Our host gave us some guidelines on what to write. In my message encouraging their vote I wrote: “I believe all of us have the right to good health care. It shouldn’t be just for the rich!”

When my wife and I were walking up to that house (I made sure to wear my Kamala cat cap), we noticed a gray-haired woman walking slowly up the hill in front of us. I had a hunch where she was going. Sure enough, she walked to the front door of the host’s home and knocked just ahead of us. We learned her name is Priscilla and she sat down at a picnic table with us. She quietly wrote letter after letter for more than two hours. Occasionally we made short comments about the election but mostly we just sat and wrote.

The letters my wife and I wrote were being sent to Georgia and Wisconsin.

There were about 20 other people inside and outside. Writing, writing, writing.

As we left, our host informed us there will be another letter-writing “party” in our neighborhood on the afternoon of Sept. 22. We’ll be there. So will Priscilla!

Meanwhile, we’re still writing at home, to voters in Philadelphia, encouraging them to vote absentee: “Dear ___ Voting by mail — from the comfort of home — is safe and easy. Request your ballot today: turnoutedu.org/ballot. Election Day is Nov. 5 — sign up right away so there’s time for the mail. Thanks for being a voter.”

And down in Alexandria, Virginia, my brother is writing letters on behalf of Vote Forward.

I’m telling you, it’s a movement!

Every day counts.

Every vote counts.