Here’s your anything-could-happen-but-there’s-hope-so-vote kit (new with multilingual resources!)

Updated November 3, 2020

1. Safety first! How to protect historically marginalized people from hate crimes or violence & change laws
2. Comic relief: PAC That Ass! Join the PTA & help people vote Democrat
3. Surprising ways to talk to a Trump supporter without screaming. See if it’s more effective with people you know via Zoom, call, text, email, or snail mail.
4. How not to accidentally spread fake news. Change laws too!
5. How to persuade Asians to vote Democrat
6. Why vote in local & national elections
7. How to make progress on any issue you care about: vote to stop legal bribery
8. How to fight unconscious bias & research before voting
9. Get paid time off & vote if you’re a US citizen anywhere (abroad, unhoused/homeless, etc.) & possibly almost 18 or have a felony
10. Why email a calendar invite to yourself & others on where to vote
11. When & how to vote in-person or by mail
12. Keep your ballot stub receipt to see if you’re vote was counted
13. How to report if you’re told you can’t vote or help people fill their ballot
14. Why join me in re-using your “I voted” sticker with a safety pin to your shirt
15. Jobseekers/overachievers (that’s you!): Get hired & promoted quicker on a political campaign (compared to some other fields)
16. Tired yet? Why the USA has longer & more expensive presidential campaigns than some countries

1. Safety first! How to protect historically marginalized people from hate crimes & violence

The Anti-Defamation League (ADL) is seeing an “alarming rise in election-related hate.” There were 6,578 right wing hate incidents (extremist murders, terrorist plots and attacks, white supremacist events and propaganda ) from 2019–2020. Hate crimes don’t have to be violent. If someone disturbs people of color or the queer community or their things, consider filing a police report so researchers can track crimes. ABC News searched police reports and found at least 54 criminal cases where mostly white men were violent or threatened violence towards historically marginalized people while using Trump’s name. ABC News could not find a criminal case filed in federal or state court where an act of violence or threat was made in the name of President Barack Obama or President George W. Bush.

See more ways to protect yourself, be a good bystander, where to share your story, how to create better laws, promote empathy, and manage unconscious bias personally and in organizations. For example, share your story:

• When you file a police report, save the officer’s name and badge number. Make sure the officer files an incident report form and assigns a case number. If a police report is not taken at the time of your report, go to the police station and ask for one. Ask for your own copy, even of the preliminary report. If you believe the incident was bias-motivated, urge the officer to check the “hate/bias-motivation” or “hate crime/incident” box on the police report.
• Text pictures to MapLight so their researchers can pressure Facebook executives and Congress to stop hate speech and violence. Text-to-Report at (662) 667–1234. Report web content via their Election Deception Tracker browser extension for Chrome and Firefox.
• Share in Asian languages on discrimination (even graffiti) against Asians anywhere (work, online, shops) at Stop AAPI Hate. You don’t have to answer all their questions: you can click arrows in the bottom right.

2. Comic relief: PAC That Ass! Join the PTA & send Republic asses packing

PTA is a Super (fun) Political Action Committee (PAC) that supports the Democrats who are going to send Republican asses packing. They say:

Super PACs are political organizations that have no caps on how much money they can raise or how much they can spend. That lack of oversight allows Super PACs to interfere in the political process, often serving as an unofficial liaison between politicians and corporate interests.

Is it legal? Yup. Totally shouldn’t be. But it is. That’s why our motto is Spank the System.

Linh Nguyen, PTA Director, was the 2020 presidential primary cycle National Director of Coalitions for US Senator Cory Booker.

3. Surprising ways to talk to a Trump voter without screaming

Seven out of ten Americans have an unfavorable view of Trump. The key to dissuade someone from voting for Trump is to try not to dissuade them. Flinging facts can be futile. Here’s what works based on studies.

4. See surprising tips to not to accidentally spread print and web disinformation

How to take one or all five steps in this order:

a. Fact check

b. Don’t reply publicly. It’ll spread disinfo.

c. Click “report”

d. Easily report election print or web #disinfo:

e. Share fact checked news

5. How to persuade Asians to vote Democrat

Say why Trump is making Asians unsafe

After you’ve tried tips in #3 and #4 above, you can try using logic with these talking points: STOP AAPI Hate received almost 3,000 incidents of discrimination against Asian Americans and Pacific Islanders since COVID from March 19 to August 5, 2020. Yet 164 Republican Congress members voted against a resolution denouncing hate incidents toward Asian Americans during the pandemic.

Why share videos in Asian languages

According to Asian Americans Against Trump (AAAT):

In 2018, they helped flip three Congressional districts with sizable Asian American populations in the conservative stronghold of Orange County, California: Half of all Asian American voters consume Asian language media, yet none of the California Democratic House candidates planned to make significant Asian language ad buys.

Donate and share videos of why Asians are voting for Biden:

• They’re scared to go out (Chinese subtitles). They’re voting Biden even though they used to vote Republican (Chinese subtitles).
• Korean people and businesses are suffering (Korean subtitles).
• Indian people are being physically attacked.
• Hmong people worried about being deported (also with Hmong subtitles)

Phone bank or get involved

Join AAPIs for Joe and Chinese Americans For Biden.

Why & how to contact conservative Chinese Americans under 30

Check out The We Chat Project and Fresh Off the Vote’s podcasts.

6. Why vote in local & national elections

Be a voter! Some political candidates and propositions (ballot measures) that could have improved your life lost by just a few votes. Even if they lose, your vote helps their policies get more votes in the future. Who you vote for local government could eventually be your next mayor or governor and beyond! It’s especially important to vote for who you believe in during primary elections in the spring.

7. How to make progress on any issue you care about: vote to stop legal bribery

Vote for candidates and propositions that will stop legal bribery of judges and politicians. One of the worst examples of our corrupt political system is that Americans pay high drug prices. Before the Supreme Court case Citizens United, drug companies lobbied Congress to pass an industry-written bill. After Congressmember Billy Tauzin ushered it through Congress, he earned $11.6 million as the highest-paid health law lobbyist. Even if Citizens United gets overturned, it’d still be legal to buy politicians.

Professors Martin Gilens (Princeton University) and Benjamin Page (Northwestern University) found that the rich, businesses, and lobbyists carry more influence on what becomes law than the average person. There are 12,000 registered lobbyists in 2015 in Washington, DC compared to 250 in 1960. To win a Senate seat, candidates had to raise $14,351 everyday in 2014. Only 0.05% of Americans donate more than $10,000 in any election. So politicians try to get money from big donors.

Vote for Represent.Us and Common Cause legislation to stop legal bribery.

8. How to fight unconscious bias & research before voting

Unfortunately, some people unconsciously vote for candidates just based on their face. You wouldn’t want someone to not hire you just because of your face, right?

Be skeptical of apps or websites that claim to help you decide, even if they seem nonpartisan. Why? I researched an affordable housing ballot measure once for months. I already knew I was going to vote yes. But one website asked if I cared about affordable housing. I said yes. They said to vote no without citing sources as to why. If I had listened to them, I would have accidentally voted to increase evictions. So I told the ballot measure organizers. They filed a complaint against that site to the appropriate government agency.

It’s always best to do your own research.

If you don’t have time to research before you vote

1. Take the nonpartisan I Side With quiz to see which presidential candidate matches your views. You might be surprised!
2. For voter guides that I trust, contact me.
3. When you vote, you can leave any question blank that you didn’t research.

If you have time to research before voting

Read the legal text of proposed laws (proposition/ballot measure). Find it at your department of elections website. Unlike politicians that promise more than what they deliver, ballot measures have to follow through on what’s in their legal text.

See Ballotpedia for a comprehensive, nonpartisan online guide to federal, state, and local elections in the USA with the legal text of proposed laws, in-depth information, and most importantly, who’s paying to support and oppose them.

You can also use VoteSmart (recommended by the NY Times) to see a candidate’s voting record and campaign funders. A good predictor of what someone will do is what they did and who funds them.

Track money like journalists do to with Maplight’s tools to track:

• Groups like Super PACs via Dark Money Watch.
• The US Congress and the California and Wisconsin state legislatures. You can also search donors/contributors or expenditures of political campaigns via Maplight’s California Power Search. It seems to have more data than other sites. And it searches past and present elections.

For San Francisco campaign finances by election, see the Ethics Commission dashboard.

9. Get paid time off & vote if you’re a US citizen anywhere (abroad, unhoused/homeless, etc.) & possibly almost 18 or have a felony

See how many paid hours you can take off from work to vote.

See who can vote at Rock the Vote (English).

Or see how to vote in federal elections in multiple languages.

10. Why email a calendar invite remind yourself & others with where to vote

If you don’t set a time and place, you’ll be less likely to vote. So set a calendar invite and email a calendar invite your friends. Here’s when polls close in all states.

11. When & how to vote in-person or by mail

Try these steps:

• Election Day is often twice a year (once usually January through June, and again the first Tuesday in November).
• Tips from sources like ProPublica: Ideally at least a month before, check online to see if you’re registered to vote. See Vote.gov if any of the following applies to you to update your registration: you changed your signature from when you registered, moved to a new county since you last voted, changed your name, want to change your party affiliation, are newly convicted of a felony, didn’t respond to a mailer to confirm your address and didn’t vote in the last few elections.
• See voting dates, dates to register to vote or opt to permanently get your absentee vote-by-mail (so you won’t accidentally miss your chance to vote if you’re sick or out of town around an election). You can still vote at a polling place with or without your vote-by-mail ballot.
• If you can, vote days before Election Day at a polling place without your vote-by-mail ballot. If you requested a vote-by-mail ballot, but are afraid it won’t get counted, bring it with its envelope to a polling place. Then ask for a standard ballot and feel instant satisfaction feeding it through the vote counting machine. (Only fill out a provisional ballot as a last resort. They are hand counted and sometimes don’t get counted). See where to vote in-person in California before Election Day.
• If you use your vote-by-mail ballot, here’s how to not get your vote-by-mail ballot rejected: Use the right pen color and envelope. Don’t use correction fluid or tape. Put one ballot per person per envelope. Sign your ballot envelope the same way when you registered to vote, which is usually an electronic signature from the Department of Motor Vehicles. It can look different than a paper signature. You can buy first-class stamps at any post office or even online. Don’t drop it off at fake ballot boxes that Republicans won’t take down. For example, see California official ballot box locations. Vote once (by mail or in-person). In California, mail your absentee vote-by-mail ballot on or before Election Day, or drop it off yourself or via someone you choose at any polling place by 8pm on Election Day in the county where you are registered to vote.

12. Keep your ballot stub receipt to see if your vote was counted

Check your local elections office website. Or see if your California vote-by-mail or Provisional Ballot was counted.

For mail-in ballots in other states, see BallotTrax.

13. How to report people saying you can’t vote and/or help people fill their ballot

You can help people fill out their ballot, if you have their consent.

If you need help in Spanish, Arabic, Asian languages, or sign language or are told you can’t vote, collect evidence and contact ProtectTheVote.net’s hotlines and/or ProPublica’s ElectionLand (text “VOTE,” “VOTA (for Spanish)” or “投票 (for Chinese)” to 81380, in WhatsApp, 1–850–909–8683, or use Facebook Messenger. Or fill this form. According to the American Civil Liberties Union, it’s illegal if anyone doesn’t let you vote because your name isn’t on the list of registered voters, if someone questions your citizenship, criminal record, or other qualifications to vote, falsely poses as an elections official, displays false or misleading signs about voter fraud and penalties, spreads false information about voter requirements, says you need to speak English to vote, or makes you take a test to vote.

14. Why join me in re-using your “I voted” sticker with a safety pin to your shirt

It’s glamorous and it reminds people to vote.

15. Jobseekers/over-achievers: Get hired & promoted quicker on a political campaign (compared to some fields)

I spent my two-week vacation at an intense political campaign management class. I learned that it’s like a startup and volunteers get hired and promoted quicker than in other fields. If you want to take classes I took on how to manage a political campaign, contact me.

16. Tired yet? Here’s why: the USA has longer & more expensive presidential campaigns

In the USA, political campaigns are run year-round, which means politicians have to fundraise more. Political campaigns spend a huge part of the money they raised to pay for TV ads. It’s not like that in other countries. According to Wendell Potter and Nick Penniman:

• In the UK, politicians are banned from TV and radio ads.
• The Canadian election campaign season is only three months.

Tell me if there’s anything to add!

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