Get Ready For Election Day!

Happy Tuesday, Activists!

We hope you're having a good week so far.  You can see last Tuesday's newsletter here  and last Friday's here for more information and actions.  

Today we have your election information to get you ready for May 19.  

And we thought you might like this palate cleanser, if you will, of this lovely part of a Pete Buttigieg speech.  It's a reminder of why we do this work. 

Election day is May 19.  Make sure you're ready!

The deadline to register to vote is May 4. You can register online at this link.  If you apply online you must do it by midnight.  If you apply in person or by mail you must do it by 5:00 pm. 

If you're not sure about your voter registration status, use this link to find out. 

The deadline to apply for a Mail-In Ballot is May 12.  But don't wait until then - do it now!  You can apply for a mail ballot online, in person at a county election office (or satellite election office if a county has them), or through the mail. Paper applications are also available for download in Spanish and Chinese, in addition to English. Applications must be received by your county election board by 5 p.m. on May 12.

You must provide identification to apply for a mail-in ballot. Acceptable options include a Pennsylvania driver’s license or the last four digits of a Social Security number. The Pennsylvania Department of State has a full list of the approved forms of identification here.

If you decide you want to vote in person or you made a mistake or damaged your mail-in ballot, you can still vote at your polling place.  You'll need to bring all of your mail ballot components to your polling location and turn them over to poll workers. You’ll be required to sign a form declaring that you haven’t voted by mail. After that, you should be allowed to vote on a voting machine at the precinct.  If you don't bring all of the papers from your mail-in ballot packet, you'll vote on a provisional ballot. All provisional ballots are counted.  You can even track your provisional ballot here.

If you have an emergency and miss the deadline, you may still be able to request an emergency application for an absentee ballot.

Your mail-in ballot must be received at the election office by 8:00 pm on election day.  If you mail it, mail it as soon as you vote that ballot because the Post Office delivery may be slower than usual.  Otherwise drop it in one of the many Philadelphia Satellite Election Offices and drop boxes.  

Make sure your mail-in ballot is counted!  Follow the instructions on your mail ballot, especially when it comes to correctly dating it.  You can also check more instructions in this good explainer with lots of details about mail-in ballots at the PA Department of State website.  

And you can vote in person by mail ballot before election day!  It sounds a little confusing, but here's how it works:  Once ballots have been distributed, you can apply for a mail-in ballot at your election board office before the deadline.  The office will hand you a ballot and you simply vote the ballot and drop it in the voting box there.

Check the status of your mail-in ballot at this link. You can track the status of your ballot online.  And you can call your county elections office for more information; for Philadelphia the phone number is 215-686-3469.

Satellite Election Offices and drop boxes in Philadelphia - Find the offices here and the locations of all of the drop boxes.  

What about college students who have moved here from other states?  Yes!  You can vote at your college address, whether on or off campus.  You just need to have lived there for 30 days before election day.  If you've moved to college from elsewhere in PA, you must update your voter registration to the new address by May 4.    

Of course all the other election rules will apply too, like for mail-in ballots.  You can see answers to a lot more questions for college student voting at this link.  

HERE'S HOW TO HELP MAKE OUR ELECTIONS SAFE

You can be a poll worker.  You can sign up to work at a polling place on election day to help make sure the voting runs smoothly.  Check out all the details here.  You can also become an election language interpreter at the same link! 

You can be a Poll Observer and work half a day at a polling place. This is a partisan position and you sign up for the Poll Observer program run by the PA Democrats by signing up for a training here:  Primary Election Day Poll Observer Training  

You can be a Designated Agent.  Join our friends at VotePro Pros (an Indivisible group) to be a Designated Agent.  DAs helps disabled voters whose submitted mail ballots that contain errors. They may need help picking up a replacement ballot and/or returning the ballot to a drop box or drop off site. Anyone with access to transportation can be a Designated Agent for a voter.  The whole process takes approximately 2-3 hours depending on the situation.  This is one of the most rewarding efforts you can do - you'll actually be helping get out a vote that otherwise wouldn't be counted!  Here's more info. 

You can sign up for a required training to learn more. This will start beginning about 3 weeks prior to, up to, and including May 19, 2026, Election Day, so now's the time to get started! You do not have to be a PA resident to be a Designated Agent.  

Plus, there’s another way to help if you’d like: call DA volunteers to match them up with voters.  The group will provide training on this activity as well. 

PHONE BANK TO PROVIDE VOTING SUPPORT!

Turn Pa Blue and Promote the Vote are calling voters every Tuesday and Thursday at 6pm ET to correct misinformation and offer voting support ahead of the May 19th Primary election. They provide training and support during every Zoom phone bank.Join and make a real impact on Pennsylvania's midterms!Sign up here

LOTS OF VOTER REGISTRATION DRIVES!

You can register voters and get them ready for this year's elections.  Join us and we'll give you a short training first and all the materials you need.  

Congressman Brendan Boyle's Office

When:  April 24, 1:00 - 3:00 pmWhere:  5675 N. Front St, Philadelphia, PA 19120

Sign up here.

Fairmount Arts Crawl

Where:  North 24th Street & Fairmount Avenue, Philadelphia

When:  April 26, Noon to 4:00 pm (two shifts)

Sign up here.

APRIL 24TH - JOIN THE WE ARE AMERICA MARCH IN D.C.

The WAAM organizers are setting up buses to go to Washington, D.C. for a lobby day at the end of their march.  Want to tell Sen. Fetterman what you think of his votes and his "thoughts"?  You can do it with this group at his office!  Take the bus and join this short rally, followed by office visits.  Friday, April 24th.

Sign up here and get more info as it comes out.  The organizers are asking for $20 per person to defray the cost of the bus.  

MAY DAY RALLY!

Join our local unions at City Hall on May Day at 4:00 pm to say Workers Over Billionaires!  Besides hearing from speakers, their plan is for folks at the rally to ratify their Working People's Vision for Philadelphia.  See you there!

When you're at the rally you can bring signs to say thank you unions: for our 40 hour work week, no child labor, etc. 

NO WORK. NO SCHOOL. NO SHOPPING.

This is another part of the May Day effort.  It's about flexing our economic power on May 1, sending a message to Trump and his oligarch enablers: We refuse to do business as usual as you trample our rights, terrorize our communities, and conduct your war. The goals is to be a day of mass refusal to engage with the American economic engine.  

Part of this effort is the rally noted above.  Of course, not everyone will be able to refuse work, school, or spending entirely, but it's vital that each of us does whatever we can do to show the regime that we don't just have numbers -- we have economic leverage. 

This type of action is new for Indivisible - our national movement has never done this type of economic disruption before. But we need to be prepared to do it in the future. 

We know that Trump and his cronies are going to try to sabotage the election. And when that happens, it won’t be enough to pull from our regular playbook. We will need to demonstrate a widespread backlash that lets Trump know that we won’t just go along while he tries to rig our democracy.  So we’re taking inspiration from the powerful organizing in Minnesota. 

Next Citizens Bank Protests

Citizens Bank has long financed private prison and detention facility companies even though there have been years of allegations of forced labor, healthcare neglect, and other abuses. Citizens is a lender to companies like CoreCivic and GEO Group, which have caused widespread, documented harm to people in their facilities.

Here in Pennsylvania, GEO operates the Moshannon Valley Processing Center, the largest ICE detention facility in the Northeast. When people in our communities are abducted by ICE, they are usually taken to Moshannon.

Join us to tell Citizens Bank that we want them to stop supporting this cruelty. We will protest peacefully with signs on the sidewalk outside the branch and we will have handouts for passersby, to tell them about Citizens' support of abusive detention facilities.

Two protests in Philadelphia on May 2nd!

Chestnut Hill Citizens Bank

Where:  Corner of Germantown Avenue and Bethlehem Pike

When:  May 2, 10:00 - 11:00 AM

Sign up here.

Center City Citizens Bank Branch

Where:  1515 Market Street

When:  Saturday, May 2, 11;00 - Noon

Sign up here.

JOIN OUR DETENTION CAMP LABOR PROJECT

Write Some Letters!

Join the 800 others who are writing two letters a week in our new Detention Camp Labor program!  You can join the team too and write a couple of letters a week to the companies we are focusing on. Sign up here and we'll give you all the information you need!  Check out the project's background at this link.

JOIN OUR LEAFLET PHILLY PROJECT

Today is the last day to sign up to get your leaflets for May.  This month we're focusing directly on getting out the vote for the May 19 primary election. 

Join over 450 of your fellow Indivisible Philadelphia activists making a real difference! Just one time every month you’ll hang one hundred eye-catching leaflets on doors in your neighborhood.  Sign up here!

MORE PROTESTS YOU CAN JOIN

1.  Springfield protest - Every Saturday, 1:00 - 2:00 at the intersection of Baltimore Pike and PA Route 320.  Bring your signs on your favorite topic!  

2. Tesla Takedown Protest - Every Saturday - 11:00 - Noon

Tesla Takedown Devon - At the Tesla showroom, 470 Lancaster Ave, Devon, PA 

3. Every Friday -- 11:15 am - Join Fridays@Fetterman's for the weekly Friday vigil for peace in Gaza/Palestine outside of Senator John Fetterman's office at 200 Chestnut Street from 11:15 am to 12:15 pm. Register here  

4.  NEW/OLD TIME Fitz Friday - 5:00 - 6:00 pm -- Protest at Congressman Brian Fitzpatrick's office at One Summit Square, Langhorne, PA. Bring signs about whatever you want. There's a lot to complain about!

5. Every Wednesday 5:30 - 6:30 pm -- Join this resistance group at #WeThePeopleWednesdays for Singing for Sanity at Unitarian Universalist Church, 6900 Stenton Avenue.  More information is here.

6.  Every Wednesday at noon - Outside the Philadelphia ICE Office, 114 N. 8th Street.   Sponsored by New Sanctuary Movement.  This is a 40-week series of Interfaith Prayer Vigils.  

7. Every Monday at Noon - Monday at McCormick's -- Join our friends at Peace, Justice, Sustainability NOW for Monday's at McCormick's,, in front of Senator McCormick's office at 20th and Market Streets.

8.  Every Monday at 11:00 AM - Vigil outside the ICE office, 114 North 8th Street, Phila. sponsored by State Senator Art Haywood and led by local clergy.

9.  Every Friday at 3:00 - Join a vigil outside the ICE office at 114 North 8th Street.  

10. Are you outside the Philadelphia area?  You can see all the protests planned by Indivisibles in your area at this link. 

And A Few More Things:

We can send you our No Kings t-shirt!  For the short sleeve shirt, make a donation of $35 and then sign up for your choice.  Or, for the long sleeve shirt, make a donation of $45 and then sign up for your choice.  Your shirt will be mailed directly to you. 

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