Why Are We Worrying About the November Midterm Elections NOW?
HOW MANY PEOPLE DON’T VOTE?
Midterm elections are held halfway through a president’s term and will be held on Tuesday, November 8 this year. All 435 seats in the House of Representatives and 34 Senate seats are up for election in 2022. An additional 36 governors will face voters this year as well.
Nationally, about 50-60% of registered voters turn out for presidential elections while only about 40% go to the polls for midterms. (In Texas – which consistently has some of the lowest turnout of any state – midterms generally attract between 25-35% of eligible voters.) The national trend has been in existence for decades with one exception – the 2018 midterms. Additionally – with few exceptions – the President’s party generally loses seats during the midterm elections.
There are many reasons why people don’t vote (to be discussed in a future “Voting Bite”); however, there is one general motivator to vote:
You vote because you believe.
You believe in democracy, You believe in a candidate.
You believe you make a difference.
You believe voting is important. You believe you have a voice.
During presidential elections, more voters know who the top candidates are and believe one will be better as president than the other, therefore they vote. Midterm candidates are generally much less known to their potential constituents who - as a result – don’t feel motivated to express their opinion by voting.
What are we going to do?
Your advocacy team, in collaboration with RAC (Religious Action Committee), and Center for Common Ground, will be rolling out a campaign to write postcards to encourage voters at risk, to VOTE. We plan to schedule at least two letter writing parties, one each in September and October. In addition, we want to engage our friends at Adante and other organizations to join us!
We also are working in collaboration with League of Women Voters SA on registering voters at various venues. This includes Naturalization ceremonies, providing the opportunity to new US citizens to vote.
And if you are interested in registering High School students to vote, we have a program for that also, in conjunction with EVRI.
(Editor’s note: This has been such a rewarding program, to go into the SA area high schools and register young voters, who will hopefully become lifelong voters!)
Please contact Barbara Baruch at the email below, if you are interested in writing postcards to GOTV! We will provide additional information in a separate post.
DAYS LEFT UNTIL MIDTERMS: 100