Let's Do This: Five Ways to Make a Difference During the Final Weekend Before the Election
And three ways to stay calm
To help you through the final weekend of the election, here are five ways to make a difference, and three ways to help stay calm.
Five ways to make a difference:
Vote
Above anything else that you do, this is the most important and direct way that you can influence the outcome of the election. So, if you have not done so already, please, go to Vote.org, and make a plan for how you will vote this year.
Donate to the Harris campaign and Democrats in toss-up races
We have reached the point in the campaign where it is very difficult to know who to donate to, for four reasons:
You are receiving the maximum number of fundraising requests from candidates;
Campaigns are making, or have already made, their final decisions on how to spend their remaining funds before Election Day;
It is genuinely difficult to get your donation to campaigns in time for them to spend it;
So much polling and early voting information is floating around, making it difficult to know which campaigns are the true toss-ups that will determine which party controls Congress, and which ones are at this point foregone conclusions.
To solve this problem, I have developed a way for you to make an effective last minute donation that will go to all Democrats in toss-up races for the White House and Congress both in 2024 and beyond. I did this by putting together an Act Blue page that includes:
Vice President Kamala Harris, who will need funds after Election Day for post-election recounts and lawsuits. After that, anything remaining can be used for her 2028 re-election bid or sent to the DNC to help a different 2028 nominee win the White House.
The Democratic Congressional Campaign Committee (DCCC), which supports Democratic House candidates in the most competitive races around the country. The DCCC can also use funds you send it now to pay for post-election recounts and lawsuits, in special elections that arise over the next two years, and in the 2026 midterms.
The Democratic Senatorial Campaign Committee (DSCC), which supports Democratic Senate candidates in the most competitive races around the country. Like the Harris campaign and the DCCC, any funds the DSCC does not use before Tuesday can help with the post-election aftermath and future elections.
Through one donation on this single Act Blue page, you can support all Democrats running in every key race for Congress and the White House at the same time, in 2024, in the aftermath of 2024, and in future elections, too.
Post persuasive social media content in support of Kamala Harris
Keyboards for Kamala is a new a service that lets you share empirically tested, persuasive, positive pro-Harris content on social media. If you are reading this article, that means you already have the ability to participate in Keyboards for Kamala, right now. Further, I know one of the founders of Keyboards for Kamala, and he is a good, smart man. So while this is a new operation, I very much believe that you can trust it. Please go to Keyboards for Kamala and give it a try.
Talk to a friend or family member you know who is genuinely undecided
While there are not many people who are undecided, chances are you know someone who is. If you really want to make a difference for Kamala Harris and other Democratic candidates, contact someone you know who is truly undecided about who to vote for or whether they will vote, and see if you can arrange to talk with them for five or ten minutes before next Tuesday. Friends and family are far more effective at persuasion than candidates or strangers. If you do make a connection, please be polite, be positive, and make your best pitch.
Sign up to help get out the vote
Please make sure to go to Mobilize.us and sign up for a Get Out the Vote activity for the final weekend of the campaign. You can sign up for textbanking in Georgia or Pennsylvania, you can help voters get rides to the polls by signing up with Rideshare2Vote, you can sign up for a phonebanking shift, and much more. Mobilize has thousands of Get Out the Vote activities, filterable by type and sorted by location, so check out their offerings and sign up to turn out Democratic voters.
While you are working to make a difference, remember to stay calm. Here are three ways to do it:
Accept the limits of your ability to influence the election outcome
Once you have taken the five steps above, you will have reached the limit of your ability to influence the outcome of the election. Voting, donating, posting on social media, talking to friends and family, and volunteering—honestly, that is about all any one of us can do to shape the result. While I entirely understand how easy it is to be anxious about the outcome given the vast stakes, as long as you have taken the five steps above, there is nothing else that you can personally do to alter events. As such, once you have done all you can, do your best to leave your anxiety about the outcome behind.
Decide what you are going to do after the election, no matter the outcome
Once you have done what you can to make a difference, make a plan about what you intend to do after the election, win or lose. I have written about this before, and you can read my lengthier explanation here. Personally, win or lose, I plan to continue fighting for Democrats and democracy in much the same way I have done for my 20 year career in digital, grassroots political activism. However, you need to decide what makes sense for you and plan accordingly.
Remember that it is a wonderful time to be alive
This can be a hard one for many people, because we seem to have collectively decided that no time in history has ever been as chaotic, crisis-ridden and generally awful as the moment we live in. This is unfortunate, because it simply is not true. Every moment has its challenges and trials. There are no golden eras. But every moment also has things that should make us grateful. Despite our significant problems, we have never before lived in a time of such high prosperity and low poverty, both in America and in almost every place in the world. Life expectancy is at, or near, all-time highs, both at home and abroad. Science and technology have never produced such wonders as they are capable of doing now. Bigotry is quite widespread, but a cursory look at history shows that it has been in steep decline in recent decades. The same can be said for violence, despite the wars that have rocked the world in recent years. Humans have made a tremendous impact on the climate and the natural world, but never has the awareness of these problem been higher, and our ability to generate wealth sustainability increases every year. Most of all, it is a wonderful time to be alive because this is the time that we have to be alive. That is always something to be grateful for, come what may.
Thank you for being a part of Bowers News Media and Wolves and Sheep. In these finals days of the 2024 election, please stay calm, stay active, stay hopeful.