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Sign this PetitionMoveOn Member Stories: Change Starts From the Bottom-Up
Written by Kimm, MoveOn member
I come from a long line of people who have served this country and people who, despite there being so many odds stacked against them, have pushed through and said, “The American dream is for me too. I am going to vote and you will respect this right to vote.”
I cannot, after seeing my grandparents never miss an election, sit on the sidelines and just let things happen to me. I know that my vote and my voice counts. That’s why I will be working with MoveOn as a Vote Mobilizer to make sure my vote and the votes of others in my community are heard on Election Day.
As a Vote Mobilizer with MoveOn, I’m committed to getting 10 people I know to the polls on November 3rd. I’ve been using my son’s football games as a means to identify people who may not be registered to vote here in Georgia. I sit with people, especially young people, during half-time and speak with them one-on-one about their voter registration status or if they’ve moved recently. I’ve gotten several people registered to vote and are now excited about voting, so my job after that is to get them to the polls.
I’ve taken the day off work on Election Day so I can make sure the members of my community cast their ballot and that their votes are not suppressed. Mask on and mask up, I’m going to stand there and I’m going to press those buttons for the candidates of my choice. I’m going to watch my ballot be scanned. I’m going to get my confirmation back, and you’ll see me post my Georgia peach sticker saying that I voted.
On Election Day, I want to be a resource for the mother who’s concerned about their kids being hungry. I want to be able to tell her that she can stay in line so she can vote, and I’ll go get her kids a happy meal. I want to help the older person who is standing and fatigued by giving them one of the several chairs that will be in my SUV. I even plan on having large coolers of water ready for people when they need it.
My time with MoveOn has really caused the passion I have inside me to overflow, and I think it’s becoming contagious. My husband, who works at a university, had a Zoom call with 65 football players and his colleagues to make sure they were all registered to vote before the October 5th deadline. I hope that the football team is transferring that passion to their other friends, and that together we can burn this light that brings about change.
I am turning out myself and others to vote because I am a Black mother, an educator, and a health care worker. As a Black mother, I have a Black son and daughter. So seeing the murders of Black men, children, and women at the hands of law enforcement becoming more rampant sparks an urgency to address systemic oppression today. As an educator, I see the unequal access to and quality of education that burdens so many who look like me, be it the Black community, single mothers who work multiple jobs, or those who simply cannot afford having broadband or Internet at home.
As a health care worker, I have also seen what not having insurance does to so many. I’m a clinical pharmacist who specializes in pain management. By the time so many patients reach us, their pain is out of control. Here in Georgia, we are unfortunately one of the few states that did not accept the Medicaid expansions that could have helped thousands of people get insurance under the Affordable Care Act. All of my concerns are things that our government is responsible for fixing, so I will use my voice to choose my government.
It is so important to vote for responsible leaders from the bottom-up, be it your city councilors, sheriffs, mayor, attorney general, senators, or president. This year, I’ll be voting early and in-person for Joe Biden and Kamala Harris. The Biden-Harris ticket is a ticket of stability and decency, but it is also a ticket of good policy. I trust that Biden and Harris will fight for the Affordable Care Act, the Voting Rights Act, and for the families being separated at detention centers in the border. I firmly believe that the Biden-Harris ticket will work feverously to do the right thing.
I vote because I know that it is the source of change. I know that from the bottom-up, meaning from my local elections to the highest office in the nation, that my vote matters. On a local level, I select my mayor and that mayor may fill the police chief or school board positions. This effect exists in the state and national environment as well, so I will vote, because I know that it makes a difference.
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MoveOn members and Vote Mobilizers like Kimm want to make sure that we can remove Donald Trump from office. Vote Mobilizers are building teams of at least 10 eligible voters across battleground states to make sure people have plans to get out the vote in November. Together, we’ll create a better tomorrow.