Happy Wednesday, Activists!
160 DAYS TO THE NOVEMBER ELECTION
We hope you had a wonderful (although distanced) holiday weekend. We at Indivisible Philadelphia HQ are STILL working hard on an exciting new project that we’ll roll out in next week’s newsletter (promise!). We will be doing everything we can to get voters to the polls to take back the White House, the Senate and keep the House. It involves voting by mail and we are doing it for one and only one purpose – to make sure Philly shows up in November 2020! Remember, as we often say, Philadelphia has to carry Pennsylvania and Pennsylvania has to help carry the country to a Blue Wave Victory in November.
VOTING BY MAIL – REMEMBER TO RETURN YOUR BALLOT!
Your ballot must be received at the election office by 8:00 pm on Tuesday, June 2. And great news! The City put a mail box outside City Hall so you can deposit your ballot there. Follow the directions that come with the ballot to fill it out correctly.
If you haven’t signed up to vote by mail, no worries. You can still do it for the November election. Sign up here if you haven’t already. You can also download a printed application at that site and mail it in. Or call to have an application mailed to you at 877-VOTESPA.
You can track your ballot status here. You can even see that your ballot has been received and recorded!
You can see all the reasons to vote by mail in a recent newsletter here.
CALLS TO ACTION
Call our Senators and tell them to vote to pass the HEROES Act.
Sen. Casey – Phila office 215-405-9660; D.C. office 202-224-6324; email link
Sen. Toomey – Phila office 215-241-1090; D.C. office 202-224-4254; email link
House Democrats passed their version of a fourth coronavirus relief package – the HEROES Act. There’s still room for improvement, particularly in protecting workers and our public health, but the bill improves significantly on the CARES Act, especially on democracy issues and protections for immigrants.
Some of the items included are:
$3.6 billion in election funding to expand vote by mail and safe in-person voting locations
$25 billion in funding for the United States Postal Service
Additional $1,200 payments to individuals, including immigrants and dependents over the age of 16
A moratorium on evictions and foreclosures
Expanded paid/sick/family leave for all workers
Free testing and treatment for all, including immigrants regardless of status
Call and tell our Senators you want them to pass the HEROES Act. It only takes a minute!
Call our Representatives and tell them to stand up for the Postal Service.
Check out a script from our previous Call To Action, on our website here.
Rep. Evans – D.C. office 202-225-4001; Phila. office (215) 276-0340; email link
Rep. Boyle – D.C. office (202) 225-6111; Phila office (215) 335-3355; email link
PHONEBANKING
It’s GOTV Time!
With six days to go until the primary on June 2, we’re not letting up. Data has shown that friendly reminder calls make a HUGE difference in how many mail ballots get returned in time. Our goal this week is to ensure 500,000+ Democratic voters with outstanding mail-in ballots return their ballots safely and securely. This sets them up to be in the voting habit and vote again in November.
Here’s what you can do:
Join Back to Blue’s GOTV PHONE BANKS! SIGN UP FOR A SHIFT HERE!
· Thursday, May 28, 4-8 PM
· Friday, May 29, 4-8 PM
· Saturday, May 30, 10 AM-8 PM
· Sunday, May 31, 1 PM-8 PM
· Monday, June 1, 4 PM-8 PM
· Tuesday, June 2, 10 AM-8 PM
Training on the ThruTalk dialing system is available on Thursday at 6 PM, Friday at 6 PM, and Saturday at 2 PM. Sign up here. If the training times do not work for you, here's a video about the dialer.
Check out the GOTV ballot chase SCRIPT HERE.
If the automatic dialer isn’t for you, you can dial manually in virtual phone banks, which are narrowed to regions in PA:
Turn PA Blue Phone Bank Office Hours: Training for new and/or reluctant phone bankers on how to use an open virtual phone bank (manual dialer) on Friday, Saturday, or Sunday at 12 PM. Sign up for office hours here.
Tell Philly to Complete The Census!
We know that responding to the 2020 Census is critical for your community, whether it’s a geographic community like our city, of a community of college students or healthcare workers. Complete Census numbers makes a huge difference in the dollars allocated to all our communities. So fill out your Census form!
Then, sign up here to make some calls to our fellow residents to ask them to fill out their Census form. It’s really easy and the system removes the rings with no one home or an answering machine. So you get only real people on the other end. Here are instructions on how to set up your account for the phone bank.
POSTCARDS
Let our member postcard writers tell you how rewarding it is to write postcards:
“I really enjoyed meeting new people, and getting work done at the same time. You guys from Philadelphia are really inspiring with your efforts.” – Fran, after her first Virtual Cards & Coffee party last week.
“My mind is still blown daily at the incompetence and ill will coming from the WH . . . and utter disregard for life: human and otherwise. So I am in need of finding a positive focus to put my energy behind. This activity helps . . . as does the support of the group. Thanks, and “see” you soon!” – Lucinda
Last week our Zoom postcard parties went a full hour over because people simply didn’t want to leave! I’m not sure what to make of that, but I’ll tell you they were having fun.
And of course, if you don’t want to write postcards with a group, no problem – just write cards at home. It all helps! Details are below.
We’ll been writing to voters to tell them to sign up to vote by mail. This is guaranteed to relieve your anxiety and give you confidence you are making a difference.
Here’s how it works:
– Step One: Order postcards from the Postal Service at this link. They are 39 cents each, including the stamp, and are the cheapest way to buy cards and stamps.
– Step Two: Email us at info@indivisiblephiladelphia.com and let us know you want to write cards and we’ll get you all the information you need.
– Step Three: We will send you addresses, a script, and instructions for you to write the cards. We’ll replenish your supply of addresses as needed.
Our weekly virtual postcards parties are listed below, each on Zoom so we can write postcards “together.”
Virtual Postcard Events
We’ll be doing these events every week, so order your postcards now. They’re taking about 10 days to arrive. The Zoom meeting link will be at the bottom of your confirmation email. For easy access, all of our events are at this link.
Virtual Cards & Coffee
When: Every Wednesday,11 am to 1 pm (stay for as long as you want)
Pick the date(s) you choose when you sign up here.
Virtual Cards & Cocktails
When: Every Thursday, 6-8 pm (stay for as long as you want)
Pick the date(s) you want when you sign up here.
MORE IDEAS FOR SPENDING QUALITY INDOOR TIME
Here we go with more fun stuff! If you missed our ideas from last week, find them on the Newsletter page on our website here.
1. TONIGHT at 7:00 PM and FREE– National Constitution Center Virtual Town Hall: The Living Presidency: From The Founding To Today. Pulitzer Prize-winning columnist George F. Will joins Saikrishna Prakash, professor of law at the University of Virginia, for a conversation on Prakash's new book, The Living Presidency: An Originalist Argument against Its Ever-Expanding Powers. They will explore the expansion of presidential power from the founding era to today.
2. More animals!! Here’s a recommendation from one of our members!
Wild Earth's live safari: https://wildearth.tv/safarilive/ It's a free, twice-daily (9:30 am and midnight) real-time feed of an actual safari drive in a South African game park (also available on-demand as recordings). Lots of elephants, lions, hippos, hyenas, and more, but since it's live you never know what you'll get.
3. Virtual tours, cooking classes, dance classes from around the world. Flamenco classes anyone? Some are very low cost, some are free.
4. Music NPR Style! Have you ever watched NPR’s tiny desk concerts? They literally take place in the small offices of NPR studios. Here are NPR’s 5 favorite solo tiny desk concerts. Here are the 5 favorite tiny desk concerts to get you moving! I know they improved my day.