Tag: voting

Voting – Why Bother? Part Two

Voting – Why Bother? Part Two

After the 2016 Presidential election, any enthusiasm people had about voting was torn away. How could Donald Trump still be president after it was exposed that the election was fraught with Russian meddling, and with the majority of votes —more than 3 million— being cast for Hillary Clinton? Many of us lived in denial up until the moment of the inauguration.

It was truly an election that made you wonder what the point was in voting.

But then reality hit like a ton of bricks. Yes, we’re living in the time of Donald Trump, and yes, we’re angry, but that doesn’t mean we give up control and let other people rule —  quite the opposite, in fact.

In times when it feels like so much is out of our control, voting is one of the few means we have to exercise decision-making power. The reality is that voter turnout is historically low in this country. In turn, when voter turnout is low, every single vote cast counts more. A single vote can make the difference.

Elections can be so close that they result in a tie, like in Irvington, NY[1] or in Virginia this year. One was decided by the flip of coin and the other by the drawing of one name out of a can[2]. NYS Senator Andrea Stewart Cousins lost by 18 votes in 2004[3], and then turned around and won in 2006.  In the 2016 New York State Senate race for the 8th district seat, Democrat John Brooks beat Republican incumbent Michael Venditto[4] by only 33 votes out of 128,965 votes cast.[5]

Even more recently, the 2017 Alabama Special Election for the U.S. Senate seat vacated by Attorney General Jeff Sessions showed the importance of individual votes. The unimaginable actually happened: Alabama voters elected a Democrat to the Senate. Doug Jones claimed victory over his Republican opponent, Roy Moore. Jones won by around 20,000 votes. That was the first time a Democrat won in Alabama in decades. If those voters had stayed home because they thought a Democrat could never win, a child molester would have been elected.

Still not convinced that going to the polls makes a difference? In September of 1975, the closest Senate election ever took place. After two separate recounts, the original win by Wyman of 355 votes was narrowed down to a two (2) vote margin.[6] This is the best possible example of why the votes of individual citizens matter. In this race every vote truly did count and matter.

A good time to sit out on an election is NEVER. Every election from school board to president matters. You have to start at the base to build a pyramid.

Granted, it’s impossible to know when your vote could change history. But do you really want to risk it? After all, if you sit out an election, you’re giving up control of your life to others. You’re letting go of the only control you have of who governs you and how.

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[1] https://www.irvingtonny.gov/DocumentCenter/View/54

[2] https://www.npr.org/2018/01/04/573504079/virginia-republican-david-yancey-wins-tie-breaking-drawing

[3] http://query.nytimes.com/gst/fullpage.html?res=9C07E1DE163AF93AA35751C0A9639C8B63

[4]http://www.liherald.com/westhempstead/stories/Brooks-Venditto-tied-in-89th-District-senate-race,85449

[5]https://www.nytimes.com/elections/results/new-york-state-senate-district-8

[6]https://www.senate.gov/artandhistory/history/minute/Closest_election_in_Senate_history.htm

The 2013 Pro-Choice Voting Guide

The New York State Board of Elections issued an opinion prohibiting 501(c)(4) organizations, such as WCLA – Choice Matters, from “endorsing” or saying we “support” a candidate. To comply, our endorsements will now be made by WCLA PAC.

WCLA PAC will make its endorsements based on the candidate ratings made by the Board of Directors of WCLA – Choice Matters. Any messaging must come from WCLA PAC. Therefore, WCLA PAC will be the voice used to comment and share information during this election season.

To that end, WCLA PAC will have its own website which you will be able to access through a link on Choice Matters’ home page or by going directly to: http://wclapac.org/ (It is still under construction!)

Donations
We need you to make a donation!
You can do it on the website or you can mail it to:
WCLA
235 Mamaroneck Ave, #103
White Plains, NY 10605

WCLA PAC will use the contributions for election-related items, such as to build out its website, political outreach and to mail, if possible, voting guides to those unable to access the web. For more information, call: 914.946.5363

Unfortunately, due to a lack of funds, I regret to inform you that Choice Matters and WCLA PAC are unable to mail our newsletter and yellow voting guide county-wide this year. Mailing the newsletter and voting guide out to over 80,000 Westchester residents costs $32,520. We were not able to raise that money.

We will put the newsletter and voting guide on our website. You can print it there.

Any additional dollars we raise will be used to mail out copies to those who do not access the web.

We know that this is a terrible loss. So many of us rely on the bright yellow ProChoice Voting Guide and newsletter arriving in our mailboxes every year. And so many of us do not have the  time or opportunity to use the web. Unfortunately, the power of the pro-choice vote will be greatly diminished on Election Day, November 5th.

Hopefully, with your help, we can start raising funds now for next year when New York goes to the polls to vote for Governor, all of the State Senate and Assembly, and for all the members in the House of Representatives!

News Alert: There will be NO ProChoice Voting Guide This Year unless…

There will be no bright yellow ProChoice voting guide in your mailbox this election year unless we can raise $33,000 by September 30th.

The implications of this are huge, and all are negative for the pro-choice community.

Anti-choice candidates will win, and pro-choice candidates will lose, because you will not know one from the other.

Albany will not pass the Reproductive Health Care Act and all funding to Planned Parenthood could be cut — and that’s only for starters.
 
All because — for the first time since we began our mailing decades ago — you will not have received your ProChoice Voting Guide.
 
The most effective way to reach voters is the US Postal Service mail, not email.

Unfortunately, no one—not Planned Parenthood, not NARAL, not the League of Women Voters—mails guides anymore because it is simply too costly.

And emails are not the answer. Some people receive hundreds of emails every week, and some even hundreds each day. But, where an email doesn’t stand out, a Bright Yellow Voting Guide in your mail does.

Until now, WCLA – Choice Matters has always mailed because it is THE BEST WAY to communicate with voters.

We have over 90,000 pro-choice identified voters in our database!

Pro-choice voters rely on our ProChoice Voting Guide. They grab it out of their mail, read it in the car, or while having a quick cup of coffee, or even as they go to vote. With real-life schedules that start long before dawn and go late into the night, many pro-choice voters have no time to access a personal computer. Click Here to Help Save the Voting Guide

And don’t forget our seniors. Pro-choice seniors are the population most likely to vote, by a large margin. Many do not use computers. They value the mail, specifically the mailing of our Bright Yellow ProChoice Voting Guide, easy to see and to hold.

That is exactly why — despite the ever-growing cost of postage and printing — we have fought to mail the ProChoice Voting Guide every year.  Every year it has gotten harder.  And every year we’ve had to struggle to live within our ever decreasing budget going from mailing three newsletters a year, to two, to just the Voting Guide, cutting them down from 24 pages to 16 to now just 4.  There is simply just no where else to cut – except the Voting Guide itself.

Choice Matters trumpets the truth in its guide. We endorse only those candidates who are 100% pro-choice — and we expose the imposters. We endorse candidates based on their answers to our questionnaire, interviews, voting records, and who is best positioned to help protect and advance a woman’s right to comprehensive reproductive health care.
 
It has always been difficult to fund the newsletters and voting guide — and every year it gets harder.

And make no mistake about it, this comes at a terrible time.  There is an all out war being waged locally and nationally against women and the rights that we have fought for all these years since we won the right to vote.  From attempting to legislate forced vaginal ultrasounds, to battles to deny women contraception, to the veto of the Clinic Access Bill here in Westchester, to Albany’s failure to pass the Reproductive Health Care Act – everything is on the line.  Remember, if they win, we lose. We lose our control over our bodies and with it our  independence, socially and economically. This election –  with the state, congressional and presidential offices all up for grabs –  may very well decide our fate for decades to come.

This is not a story of the boy who cries wolf. It is a sad fact for the women of Westchester County and New York State, and the country.  This year, without your help, there will be no Bright Yellow ProChoice Voting Guide in thousands of mailboxes all over Westchester. We Need Your Help

We need your contribution to save our voting guide. Please donate today to help us mail the voting guide to all pro-choice households in Westchester County.