580,000 registered Philadelphia voters — the vast majority of them Democrats — did not go to the polls in 2014, the last time we had an election for Governor.
266,000 registered Philadelphia voters didn’t go to the polls in 2016, when Donald Trump won the state by barely 40,000 votes.
If we don’t want to repeat history we have to learn from it. This year that means moving heaven and earth to get those no-shows to the polls. Otherwise, the catastrophe of seeing Governor Wolf replaced with a far-right Republican, and Senator Casey being replaced with an equally atrocious Republican substitute, could happen. And don’t believe the polls that tell you these things aren’t possible. Remember how confident we were in 2016 because of what the polls told us.
Given all that, Philly Neighborhood Networks has signed up to do the work of getting reluctant voters to the polls in Northwest Philly. We’ve hired a Get Out the Vote specialist to train us all, ward by ward, division by division, on how to increase voter turnout among those who are normally tuned out. We think with this training, and a little determination, we can increase voting by 10% throughout Northwest Philly this year, 15% next year, and 20% in the 2020 election. We want voting to be habitual, customary, not a casual last minute choice.
To accomplish these goals, we need the help of everyone in Northwest Philly who is reading this. We’re holding workshops for residents of most of our wards. (If you don’t know your ward, click on this link, then enter your address and click on the dot on the map to find it.) You’ll see the schedule below, with sign up links. Please join us.
If you don’t see your ward listed, want to volunteer, or have questions, contact NN’s GOTV organizer, Tim Brown (tim@phillynn.org)
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