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Newsletter September 15, 2022

LWVIN | Published on 9/15/2022


The LWVIN Voter Services Coordinating Committee offers timely resources and reminders in this issue of the LWVIN Voter.
Thank you to Patrice Waidner, Ken Jones, and Jorgena Watson!

Planning a GOTV campaign? See below
Register & Acti-VOTE for a plan
•National Voter Registration Day(September 20!) for resources
•Various Get-Out-The-Vote Ideas
•Connecting Voters to Issues They Care About
•GOTV resource websites


Focusing on voters 18-24 years old? See below
LWVIN Voter Services Chairs Challenge
•Ideas for conducting high school registration
•Youth Voter Resources
•Registration and GOTV Efforts at Colleges/Universities, Ivy Tech, Etc.


Finally, a reminder to check out the Voter Services Resources on our LWVIN website—particularly
• t
heStudent Registration Workshopand
• theDebate/Candidate Forum Workshop


And take pictures to share!


CREATE A GOTV PLAN!


a) Assess available resources (personnel, money, time, etc.).
b) Focus the GOTV actions on an assessment of the data and where your efforts will have the biggest impact.
c) Consider if past practices/activities are targeting the voters you need to reach and have been an effective use of resources.
d) Assign responsibilities and target dates.
e) Consider how to seek volunteers and partners.
f) A clear, articulated plan that is backed by buy-in and commitment has a greater chance for success.
g) Visit https://lwvin.org/content.aspx?page_id=22&club_id=42001&module_id=414322 to access LWV Montgomery County's plan for a model.


National Voter Registration Day is one of the best resources for Get-Out-the-Vote activities. The LWV is a Premier Partner of this organization.

 Toolkits, media support, and trainings are provided to support GOTV activities.
 Sign-up and become a 2022 partnerhttps://nationalvoterregistrationday.org
 Leagues are encouraged to share their NVRD event information and photos. Share your pictures with the LWVIN so your civic actions can be featured on lwvin.org.

LWVIN Voter Services Chairs Challenge: Increase the voter turnout of 18 to 24 voters in 2024 by 20% as compared to this age group’s turnout % in 2020. (The Indiana Civic Health Index: In 2020, 18 to 24 registration--48.3% and voting--38.8%.)

Rationale: For more than a decade, Indiana has ranked in the bottom 10 states for voter turnout.
Youth voting is particularly low in Indiana. While many states experienced an increase in youth voter registration in 2020, an analysis from Tufts University showed Indiana’s youth voters, ages 18-24, exhibited a staggering 54% decline in voter registration when comparing August 2020 with November 2016 registrations. This was the largest decline in the nation.

Ideas for conducting high school registration:

1. Directly register students at their school.

2. Create a partnership with key high school teacher(s). League prepares and provides all materials to register students during their class time. Visit https://lwvin.org/content.aspx?page_id=22&club_id=42001&module_id=414322#Registration%20-%20Youth/for documents.

3.Train students to lead and conduct their own high school voter registration with the League providing all needed trainings and support to facilitate the process of registering fellow students. Visit Civic Center thecivicscenter.org and When We All Vote whenweallvote.org/takeaction/schools.

4. Work with the building administration or classroom teacher. Ask them to display posters in the hallways or classroom with information on how to register online. This idea can be used independently or in combination with other approaches.

5. Propose to the high school administration that they post on the student web page information on voter registration.Visit Perry H.S. web page to see an example.www.perryschools.org/referendum/voter-registration


Check out the Youth Voter Resources materials by following this QUICK LINK on the Voter Services Resources page.Be sure to view the PowerPoints on high school voter registration from the LWV Greater Lafayette and the LWV Indianapolis.

Follow-up registration to activate voting!

1. Ask students when they register to sign-up to receive emails or texts with voting information or reminders about voting. Or connect students to other voting groups who have the infrastructure to send out reminders, such as, ROCK THE VOTE.

2. Have students develop a voting plan, take a picture of their plan and save it on their phones.

3. Ask students to self-address postcards that will be mailed to them just before early voting begins.

4. Provide teachers signs to post in their classrooms or hallways with important voting information, i.e., early voting hours and sites, general election voting sites, ID requirements, etc.

5.Share lesson plans and slides from NVRD Early Voting with teachers.

6. Share information about the Hoosier Hall Pass program. 16-and 17-year-olds are invited to be poll workers even if they are not eligible to vote. 18-year-olds can register to become poll workers, also. Let students know they will be paid for their work.


REGISTRATION AND GOTV EFFORTS AT COLLEGES/UNIVERSITIES, IVY TECH, ETC.

Forge partnerships
• Look to adjacent LWV Leagues who would be willing to help build and execute campus voter registration and GOTV efforts.
• Consider campus organizations that the League could partner with or support that are already doing this work.

Additional Ideas

1. National Voter Registration Day has a Campus Takeover Toolkitthat provides strategies for registering and engaging university/college students to vote. https://civicholidays.org/campus-takeover/

2. How to Vote in College: Know Your Rights: Web site designed for college students to find all the information they need to vote. www.bestcolleges.com/resources/voting-in-college

3. Campus Vote Project www.campusvoteproject.org/ is another resource.

4. Download LWV Greater Lafayette Powerpoint on High School & University Registration/Activation on our Voter Services Resources page under Youth Registration Material.

5. Ivy Tech sites are more contained than a college campus so posting signs for voter registration and other voting information may be a feasible option. Connecting with instructors at an Ivy Tech campus may be a way to access students while in class for registration.

6. Contact the campus newspaper about running ads sponsored by your League on registering to vote, voting options for college students, applying for an absentee ballot, and local voting sites and hours.

7. Provide information to students about how to become poll workers. Some students may be interested since poll workers are paid.

VARIOUS GET-OUT-THE-VOTE IDEAS

  • Post a sign in front of the Courthouse showing the # of votes cast daily during early voting (like the one above that Montgomery County posted).

  • Signs: yard, main street banners, store windows, etc. advertise early voting with hours, vote, and VOTE411.

  • Ask businesses, libraries, etc. with electronic signs to run hours for early voting and other voting information.

  • Create a GOTV display for the public libraryproviding important information about voting: a list of candidates on the ballot; polling locations early and the general; absentee ballot requirements, how to apply, deadlines, etc.

  • Use your local radio station to announce early voting information and how to apply for and vote using an absentee ballot.

  • Utilize this Polling Place Vote Tripling Guide at https://voteearlyday.org/toolkit/

  • Use a display rack to hold voting information handouts for the public to pick up at libraries, post offices, restaurants, stores, schools, etc.

  • Request the list of registered voters from your county clerk. Send postcards or make calls to those who are registered to encourage voting or focus contacts on those who are registered but did not vote in the last election.

Care About Jobs? VOTE
Care About Schools?VOTE
Care About Equal Rights? VOTE
Care About Healthcare? VOTE
Care About LGBTQ+ Rights? VOTE
Care About the Environment? VOTE
Care About the Economy? VOTE
Care About Democracy? VOTE
Care About Justice? VOTE
Care About Guns? VOTE

CARE ABOUT CAMPAIGN: CONNECTING VOTERS TO ISSUES THEY CARE ABOUT

LWV of Greater Lafayette GOTV Strategy

The objective is to give each voter a personal motivation to go to the polls. This call to action can also be tied to and promote the League’s positions on critical issues.


The Care About message is simple.It always opens with the issue and ends with voting. (See samples above).Methods for communicating the “Care About” message: Yard signs, t-shirts, door hangers, stickers, refrigerator magnets, social media posts, memes, etc.

This campaign strategy also provides an avenue for the League to educate voters about the League’s position on key policies.
For example: Care About Guns? The League of Women Voters U.S. believes that the proliferation of handguns and semiautomatic assault weapons in the United States is a major health and safety threat to its citizens. The League supports strong federal measures to limit the accessibility and regulate the ownership of these weapons by private citizens.

 


WEBSITES TO AID GOTV


Restore Your Vote
—a website to help those who were previously incarcerated learn about their voting rights and help them register to vote. https://campaignlegal.org/restoreyourvote


Vote America--helps voters create a plan by providing names of candidate and information on voting initiatives. https://votesaveamerica.com/plan/

Rock the Vote--Designed for young people: https://www.rockthevote.org/

How to Vote in College: Know Your Rights https://www.bestcolleges.com/resources/voting-in-college/

Campus Vote Project: Fair Elections-- https://www.campusvoteproject.org/ downloadable voting information for Indiana https://www.campusvoteproject.org/stateguides/indiana


Power to the Polls Resources--- www.powerthepolls.org/resources


NBC News Plan Your Vote Indiana--easy to use-- https://www.nbcnews.com/specials/plan-your-vote-2022-elections/index.html?language=english&state=IN


VoteRiders—voter ID laws and assistance in obtaining an ID for voting: https://www.voteriders.org/staterules/


Fair Elections Center-- https://www.fairelectionscenter.org/


ELECTION PROTECTION HOTLINE: Call or text 866-OUR-VOTE or Tweet @866ourvote

 

Please check out the GOTV and Youth Voter resources posted on Resources page on the LWVIN website. If you have GOTV or Youth registration documents, videos, or PowerPoints you’d like to share, please contact jkwatson138@gmail.com and they will be posted. A BIG THANKS to Tom Gardiner who has organized and posted resources for members to access.


Also be sure to access these two program videos HERE:


Student RegistrationWorkshop 7/26/22

Ken Jones, Voter Services Chair, LWV Greater Lafayette, discusses the how and why's of student registration.
https://vimeo.com/747411488

Debate/Candidate Forum Workshop 3/24/22

Dr. Elizabeth Bennion, Chancellor's Professor of Political Science at Indiana University South Bend, discussed best practices for organizing and moderating candidate debates based on her experience organizing non-partisan debates for municipal, county, state, and national candidates for multiple communities.

And finally remember to take pictures of your GOTV, National Voter Registration, and voter activation activities. Be sure to share those pictures with Linda Hanson (lhanson43@gmail.com) and Barb Shilling (bartim@att.net) to be posted on the LWVIN web page.


Many thanks to all Leagues for their tireless work!

Patrice Waidner, Ken Jones, and Jorgena Watson