The once simple message, “Get out the vote,” now has a corollary: “Protect the vote.”
That message was hammered home Saturday for dozens of voting rights groups, community organizations and unions attending a rally to recruit and train poll watchers for the November election.
Organizers for several groups brought together under the banner of Love Powers L.A. offered scenarios of the threats that could materialize on Nov. 4 — from ICE raids to intimidation by the Proud Boys — and detailed strategies to counter them.
Their goal was to raise a cadre of volunteers for a Neighborhood Vote Protection Program to observe 650 polling places throughout the 11 days of voting and to turn fear and confusion sought by election deniers into a celebration of the right to vote.
“We want to make it a season of excitement,” said Jeremy Payne of the social justice group Catalyst California.
The event kicked off with multicultural music by Native American, Korean and West African drum ensembles.
Speakers from groups as diverse as Can’t Stop California, Inner City Struggle and Strategic Concepts in Organizing and Policy Education: SCOPE detailed the threat and their programs to respond to it for 300 prospective volunteers.
“L.A. is a target for retribution and spectacle,” said John Lee, also of Catalyst California. “When they try to steal an election, it is a sign they know they are losing.”
The event, involving numerous nonprofit organizations, stayed away from endorsements or political messages aimed at the coming election. But speakers didn’t hold back on their views of President Trump.
“Trump is a chicken and a loser,” said Jung Hee Choi, of the umbrella group We Are California.
Choi described two personality types, skeptics and frozen, that the group is targeting.
She urged volunteers to hold ballot parties in their homes to move skeptics “from the couch to the poll” and routine voters from the “frozen mode to the fight mode.”
“We need people out at the polls,” she said. “You are the greatest tool to fight back and grow our movement.”
The groups held their event just a day after Trump’s latest move in his attempt to reshape voting in America.
The Supreme Court upheld Trump’s expanded use of government data to search for noncitizens who are registered to vote. The impact of the decision is likely to be limited, other than to highlight Trump’s distrust of elections and his unproven claims that a large number of illegal voters are casting ballots.
Breakout sessions covered how to plan a ballot party, activist dances and street activations.
Attendee Joe Pugh, who works for the community services organization ATAP, said she planned to host a block party to push the importance of voting in South-Central.
“They’re always talking about ‘my vote doesn’t count,’” she said.
During the poll monitoring session, Emma Olson Sharkey, a partner at the Political Law Group, outlined what poll watchers should look for and what they should do about it.
Their role, she said, is not to engage. They will observe and report any attempt to intimidate voters or poll workers.
The organization provides an online report form to report incidents.
“We hope it is boring,” Payne said. “In most cases, nothing will happen.”
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