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<back | home Activism from a Personal Perspective: Registering People to Vote... and more by Amy Landau My first step toward political activism occurred in an unlikely setting: at the Joshua Tree Music Festival one weekend while camping with two friends in early May. On that desert morning, I remember deliberating on such minute yet pivotal questions as these: How do I present my voter registration forms? What do I write on my sign? And lastly, how should I approach strangers with my mission? My friends coaxed me out of my shell to face the new world I was entering with courage. The first moment when my marker dared to scrawl the words “REGISTER TO VOTE” were personally cathartic. Finally, I was doing something -- something in my own small way to make a change. I made my political debut dressed in accidentally patriotic colors: a shocking red top with electric velvet blue pants and a straw hat. In this rave-ish garb, I set out, clutching my sign and my box filled with voter registrations I’d printed off the Internet. “Go on!” my friends coached in admiration as I headed out into the great unknown. What followed was the beginning of an education that has proven surprisingly rich in subtle yet powerful ways. Let me back up a moment and say that for months at a time I’d been near the boiling point with the Bush administration for its rhetoric of lies in regard to the Iraq war. I’d considered joining MoveOn (a grassroots, Internet-based organization with 2.5 million members) for weeks, until one day I received an e-mail from them which pushed me over the edge: a call for action in response to the torture of the Abu Ghraib prisoners. The horror I felt at the news of such hypocrisy, stemming from a fascist mentality I hadn’t deemed probable in my own country, unsettled me like never before. The fact that actual torture thrived in Iraq under the guise of Bush’s lip service to “freedom and democracy” finally spurred me to action. That day, I signed up as a volunteer, expecting to be flooded with directives. I waited in anticipation to be told what to do. Finally a weekend arrived with a MoveOn action plan -- in the form of phoning unregistered voters in the swing states. But, as luck would have it, I was already booked with my apolitical weekend at Joshua Tree. What was I to do? I began to investigate how I could make a small difference in my own creative way. A little searching on the Internet proved fruitful when I came across a site with federal voter registration forms: ideal for registering people to vote, regardless of state residence. All it took was photocopying the surprisingly brief form replete with directions and snagging a clipboard and some pens. Of course some small voices inside me mocked, asking: How effective will registering a few voters be? Are my actions necessary in a historically Democratic-leaning state? But other voices overruled these, saying that if I was doing this for anybody, it was for myself. If I could even register one non-Bush voting person, I would have accomplished something. If I could stir some talk, some awareness, even activism among others, I was spreading a positive ripple of change, however small. I registered about five people to vote that morning, including one new citizen of Brazilian heritage. I had the good fortune to meet up with two other activists from a group called “AWAKE Community,” who honored me with an invitation to join them on the Lollapalooza music tour where they planned to continue their work. My search grew. I contacted the Secretary of State’s office to question officials on my rights as a citizen registering others to vote. I was directed to a hidden order form filled with tiny legaleze that could grant me all the California registration forms I ever wanted. Perhaps riding on too much adrenalin, I wrote “1000” in the tiny blank and faxed in my request and, in due time, received the heaviest package of my life. I learned that I had a legal right to set up on any public street and that I could be as partisan as I chose in my role. I could declare my dislike of Bush on my signs as loudly as I pleased, a thought that delighted me. And even though I knew that I was unwelcome at the Sunday farmer’s market in Ojai (ever since peace protesters were booted out for their alleged lack of support for American troops), I could still set up my table across the street and speak my mind. Even so, I found that a more subtle approach gained me wider access to public spaces. The organizers of the new Thursday farmer’s market at the American Legion space were initially reluctant to allow my participation, fearful that my presence would cause conflict with the veterans. I vowed not to get visibly partisan and they agreed. As for my sign, I settled on a classically effective line: “If not you, who? If not now, when?” At the farmer’s market, I was astonished to find myself suddenly transformed into a public persona by the presence of my table. People now passed me furtively with their eyes glued to the ground, fearing my intrusion on their privacy. How many times I’d taken the same tactic when approached by others on the streets of New York City! Now I was the one hoping to come into focus from the periphery of people’s consciousness. Likewise, going public made me open season for strangers with soapbox rants of their own. I heard from smug conspiracists and from those who had renounced the entire electoral process (in reaction to the last election). I heard from a guy who boasted with John Wayne’s swagger that he could vote at any poll without ever bothering to register. I met people who refused to vote because of fear of jury duty or the draft. I shooed away a couple who argued, “What if Kerry murders someone tomorrow?” wishing I’d had the presence of mind to retort, “Hasn’t Bush murdered enough?” And, of course, I crossed paths with a startling number of apathetic souls (usually young people in their 20s). By the same token, I met people -- particularly older women -- who thanked me profusely for my work, two of whom actually gave me some free food from the table at their restaurant. More than one woman asked for multiple registration forms in a scheme to register their teenage children: they planned to bribe them with the promise of free restaurant meals. One of my most meaningful experiences was registering a group of homeless people in Ojai. When I spotted the group sitting together on the grass in Libbey Park, I hesitated to approach them, wondering if they’d reject me as a representative of “the system.” But, on the contrary, they displayed the sincerest form of gratitude. They seemed touched by my recognitionof their citizenship… and on a deeper level, moved that I saw them as human beings. All but one person, a Vietnam vet, readily agreed to register, many of them listing the local community assistance center as their home address. I was delighted to discover solidarity with these people who were definitely not voting for Bush. Each of us shook hands and made eye contact: a rare avowal of our equality as human beings that proved as meaningful to me as to them. I discovered that one woman was also from New York (White Plains). “I’m from New York too!” I told her. “What brought you here?” I asked, forgetting our differences for a moment. “That’s a long story,” she said with a sigh. Through my activist involvement, I had a chance to get to know Adrienne Prince, who is running for the 37th State Assembly in Ventura County as a Green Party candidate. Adrienne has taken her belief in the power of local activism to an inspirational level, demonstrating a refreshingly genuine perspective [see her ad in this issuee]. One night, she turned up at a MoveOn house party in Ojai to encourage others to follow in her footsteps and run for a local seat in a state office as she is. She also managed to raise $100 in about five minutes for a voter registration banner with a slogan invented by her 14-year-old daughter: “Vote: Make them Count You.” On the topic of the presidential election, Adrienne sympathizes with disillusioned people who have given up on the election process, admitting, “I can’t blame anyone for not voting.” She understands the cynicism of the populace in regard to the two-party system and believes the answer lies in Instant Runoff Voting (IRV), a system that would enable voters to select a second choice candidate, thus eliminating the monopoly of the two-party system. If this method were adopted, one’s vote for a less popular candidate (such as someone not tied to corporate interests) would “run-off” to Kerry, for example, rather than Bush. No one can deny that a deep level of mistrust has filled the minds of many in response to the last presidential election. The electoral system and voting process is far from perfect and urgently needs work to correct and improve it. At the same time, I know we need to continue our efforts to register the “other 50%” of Americans, as Michael Moore says, who are unregistered. I can’t convey the sheer exhilaration I felt when I convinced one woman in Ohio to turn over a new leaf by registering to vote this year for the first time. “I’m turning 61 this month and I’ve never voted,” she said when I phoned her from a MoveOn house party. “I don’t know how to vote!” The infectious thrill that filled the house each time one of us MoveOn members convinced another person to register was truly something to treasure. Of course, registering people to vote is a first step, a beginning, in precisely the same way that my activist jaunt was a beginning. If people can be convinced to care enough about what’s happening right now to register to vote, they may begin to take other steps as well, such as writing to congress, supporting independent media and speaking out more often on what they truly believe in. And if people like you, reading this article, can be convinced to take a stand in even a small way, as I did, to get the vote out or to join a MoveOn house party in your community – well, then, we really do have hope of making a lasting change by November 2nd and beyond. Like Adrienne Prince, we may even run for office one day… Wherever you are on the continuum of activism, now’s the time to join in. • Move On: http://www.moveon.org • ACT (America Coming Together): http://actforvictory.org • Verified Voting: http://www.verifiedvoting.org • Instant Runoff Voting: http://www.instantrunoff.com • Adrienne Prince: http://cagreens.org/ventura/prince • Contact Amy at Amy.Landau@gmail.com <back | top^ |