I’m not much of an activist, but I’d like to support efforts to get unregistered voters signed up before the mid-terms — and also support efforts to transport elderly/infirm people to polls on election days. So, I’m thinking I should toss money at the problem.
What’s the best way to help (without doing any actual work)? What organizations would be the best to donate to, etc.?
The League of Women Voters advocates for things like universal voter registration, fighting voter suppression, and campaign finance reform. It is officially non-partisan, but many of its stances tend to be embraced by more progressive politicians. They are one of my favorites even though I am male.
Voto Latino is another one:
Focused on registering and encouraging Latino American voters.
Bipartisan, yes; nonpartisan, no. Some years ago the League sponsored a debate for California governor candidates after the primary and invited only the Democrat and Republican, but none of the small party candidates. I pointed this out to a member I knew and asked how that was nonpartisan. She said she’d get back to me after asking about it; she never did.
Easy enough: the rules say the debate was open only to candidates that had some foreseeable chance of winning the election.
How you define that can vary.
In Presidential debates, it has been either that they are on the ballot in enough states that they could possibly win the Electoral College, or that they are polling over 15% in a national poll. Similar debates at state & local level usually rely on similar criteria, generally based on polling data (usually the easiest to obtain).
This is a good thing. 3rd party candidates are an unfunny joke at best. No, I don’t need to hear what they have to say. May as well invite a drunk from the local bar or the loudmouth who monopolizes the professor’s time in a poly sci class at college.
If it was up to me, I’d bring the 3rd party candidates on the stage before the debate begins to first laugh at them and then boo them off the stage like a bad opening act at a rock concert.
After today’s news, I thought I’d throw in a plug for Mississippi Votes. Turn out voters for two Senate races for the price of one!