It’s election season – let’s “Do Something!”
“The vote is precious. It is almost sacred. It is the most powerful non-violent tool we have in a democracy.” – John Lewis, CommonWealth interview in 2019
“We estimate that over 8 million environmentalists did not vote in the 2020 presidential election and over 13 million skipped the 2022 midterms.” – Environmental Voter Project, from their webpage (https://www.environmentalvoter.org) in August 2024
The Environmental Justice Team decided to take on the problem of low voter participation with a “postcarding party” this summer. We met as a group to write and prepare postcards to encourage voting participation this fall. We invited friends from Third Act Massachusetts to join us and enjoyed desserts and camaraderie.
Would you like to join us? There are more packets of postcards available at no cost, and some even with the stamps provided. These postcards have non-partisan voting messages, but often target certain groups of voters, especially those historically under-represented or discouraged from voting. Contact Mary Memmott from the Environmental Justice Team (memmottm@gmail.com) if you would like more information or a set of postcards to complete on your own.
And don’t forget to vote yourself! The Massachusetts primaries are Tuesday, September 3. The general election is Tuesday, November 5. There is still time to request a mail-in ballot for November – the deadline to request a mail-in ballot is October 29. You can find out more about the election and how to register, etc. at the website for the Secretary of State of Massachusetts here.